Los Angeles Times Building Bombed (1910)

On 1st October, 1910, a bomb exploded by the side of the Los Angeles Times building. The blast weakened the second floor and it came down on the office workers below. Fire erupted and spread quickly through the three-story building. By the time the fire brigade had put out the fire, twenty-one of the people working for the newspaper had died and several more were seriously wounded.

Another bomb exploded in the home of Harrison Gary Otis, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, and a third bomb was found at the home of the secretary of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association. The police assumed that all three bombs were the work of one group. The third bomb was made safe and the police were able to trace the dynamite to James B. McNamara, of the Typographical Union, and the brother of Joseph J. McNamara, the secretary-treasurer of the International Union of Bridge and Structural Workers.

The two brothers were arrested and charged with murdering the twenty-one workers at the Los Angeles Times. Some believed that it was another attempt to damage the reputation of the emerging trade union movement. Charles Darrow, who had successfully defended, William Hayward, the leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), when he had been falsely charged with the murder of Frank R. Steunenberg, in 1906, was employed by Samuel Grompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, to defend the McNamara brothers.

Although many trade unionists believed the brothers had been framed, Charles Darrow discovered that the police had a considerable amount of evidence against the men. Darrow became convinced that the men would be found guilty and would probably be executed. After much discussion, the brothers agreed to admit their guilt in exchange for a prison sentence. The judge agreed and James B. McNamara was sentenced to life in prison. His brother, Joseph J. McNamara, who could not be directly linked to the Los Angeles bombing, received a 15 year sentence.

(1) Clarence Darrow, The Story of My Life (1932)
The one reason that made me most anxious to save their lives was my belief that there was never any intention to kill any one. The Times building was not blown up; it was burned down by a fire started by an explosion of dynamite, which was put in the alley that led to the building. In the statement that was made by J. B. McNamara, at the demand of the State's attorney before the plea was entered, he said that he had placed a package containing dynamite in the alley, arranged the contraption for explosion, and went away. This was done to scare the employees of The Times and others working in non-union shops. Unfortunately, the dynamite was deposited near some barrels standing in the alley that happened to contain ink, which was immediately converted into vapor by the explosion, and was scattered through the building, carrying the fire in every direction.

(2) The journalist Lincoln Steffens visited the McNamara brothers in prison during their trial.
I spoke to Darrow, who gave me permission to see his clients, and that afternoon, when court adjourned, I called on them at the jail. There were J. B. McNamara, who was charged with actually placing and setting off the dynamite in Ink Alley that blew up part of the Times building and set fire to the rest, bringing about the death of twenty-one employees, and J. J. McNamara, J. B.'s brother, who was indicted on some twenty counts for assisting at explosions as secretary of the Structural Iron Workers' Union, directing the actual dynamiters. He was supposed in labor circles to be the commanding man, the boss; he looked it; a tall, strong, blond, he was a handsome figure of health and personal power. But his brother, Jim, who looked sick and weak, soon appeared as the man of decision. I had never met them before, but when they came out of their cells they greeted and sat down beside me as if I were an old friend.