HISTORIC 1910 LOS ANGELES TIMES NEWSPAPER BOMBING PERPETRATOR.
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Winning Bid:
$40.66 (Includes 12% Buyer's Premium)
Bids:
2
Bidding Ended:
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 1:00:00 AM (20 Minute Clock Begins At Wednesday, March 29, 2006 1:00:00 AM)
Time Left:
Ended
Auction:
Auction #187 - Part I
Item numbers 1 through 926 in auction 187
Value Code:
D/E - $25 to $75 Help Icon
Item Description
7/8" issued by A.F. of L. in support of their member "Kidnapped" by authorities. Button is Exc. On October 1, 1910 an explosion destroyed the printing plant of the Los Angeles Times. Harrison Gray Otis, the publisher, immediately blamed unionists for the bombing. Prior to the Times Building incident, Secretary-Treasurer John McNamara of the International Association of Bridge And Structural Iron Workers Union (based in Indianapolis) dispatched his brother James and associate Ortie McManigal to Los Angeles to protest anti-union ordinances. Investigator William J. Burns was hired and eventually came to focus on the trip to Los Angeles by James McNamara and Ortie McManigal. When Burns confronted McManigal, he offered to tell all in exchange for immunity. The McNamara brothers were arrested and extradited to Los Angeles. Both pleaded not guilty. Famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow was persuaded to take the case for the McNamaras. He believed his clients were as good as sentenced to death row. Prosecutors feared that the labor movement would make the McNamaras into martyrs but with the judge's approval, the McNamaras agreed to change their plea to guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. James McNamara admitted he had placed a dynamite-laden suitcase with timer in an alleyway between two sections of the Los Angeles Times plant.
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