Ann Otto
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Books

Blog

Domestic Terrorism in 1910

7/3/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
We've all followed recent events in Charleston. Domestic Terrorism is nothing new. As Howard Blum so well documents in his narrative nonfiction, American Lightning: Terror, Mystery and  the Birth of Hollywood . By the time the smoke cleared at the Los Angeles Times Building on October 1, 1910,  the building was in ruins, twenty-one people died, and dozens more were injured. As Anna writes her brothers from Los Angeles in Yours in a Hurry,  there is no need to worry about the rumors of more bombs in the city as no one can do anything about it.
​
Background
Los Angeles employers had successfully resisted unionization for nearly half a century. Desperate union officials turned to violence after setbacks they had suffered since 1906. Harrison Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, was vehemently anti-union. Since 1896 he had been in control of the Merchants and Manufacturers' Association, spearheading a 20-year campaign to rid the city of its few remaining unions. The strongest, the Iron Workers, started a unionization campaign in the spring of 1910. A strike in June resulted in thirteen new unions by September, increasing union membership in the city by almost sixty percent.
​
The Los Angeles Times Building Bombing              
It was a quiet night at 1st Street and Broadway until 1:07 a.m. when a bomb went off in an alley outside the three-story building. Many fell to their deaths by jumping out windows to escape the resulting fire, and many couldn't escape the flames. The "crime of the century" was carried out by members of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Workers who were not adept at planning. The bomb was supposed to go off at 4:00 a.m. when the building would have been empty, but the clock timing mechanism was faulty. There was not enough dynamite for the job. They didn't know that natural gas main lines ran under the building, and they were unaware that 115 people were still in the building working on an extra edition for the next day.

Organized labor was immediately suspect.

Aftermath
The investigation and trial brought experienced private detectives to town who searched the country to solve the case, but national labor leaders didn't like the way the situation was handled.

Brothers John J. and James B. McNamara were arrested in April 1911 for the bombing. James admitted to setting the explosive, and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. John was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing a local iron manufacturing plant, and returned to the Iron Workers union as an organizer. Another fifty five members and officers were eventually arrested and the investigation revealed the Dynamite Conspiracy, which was linked to more than 100 bombings across the country. The Iron Workers asked Clarence Darrow to defend the McNamaras, adding more national attention to their cause. The labor movement in Los Angeles collapsed in 1912 and only began to show signs of growth again in the 1950s.

Sources:
Howard Blum,   American Lightning: Terror, Mystery and  the Birth of Hollywood
Wikipedia
Photos and additional information: Library of Congress


Next time:  Cy Young in Cleveland

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    African-American
    Ann Otto Author
    Appalachia
    Architecture
    Asia
    Authors
    Aviation
    Biography
    Blog
    Burma
    California
    Cartoons
    CBI
    Coal
    Food
    France
    Geneology
    Germany
    Historical Fiction
    History
    India
    Influenza
    Iraq
    Japan
    Literature
    Little Cities Of Black Diamonds
    Los Angeles
    Military
    Netherlands
    Nonfiction
    Ohio
    Paris
    Philippines
    Quotes
    Real Estate
    Research
    Thomas Wolfe
    Travel
    Unions
    Women's History
    Writing
    WW1
    WW2

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Books