Today in Labor History October 1, 1910: Twenty-one people were killed when the Los Angeles Times building was dynamited during a labor strike. Anarchists were immediately blamed. The Iron Workers Union had been engaged in a brutal and protracted battle with U.S. Steel and the American Bridge Company, which was busting their union with spies, informants, scabs and agents provocateur. Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Otis, who was viciously anti-union, provided propaganda for the bosses. By early 1910, the owners had driven nearly all the unions from their plants, except for the Iron Workers union, which had instigated a bombing campaign starting in 1906. In April 1911, private detective William Burns and Chicago police sergeant William Reed kidnapped union organizer James McNamara and held him hostage for a week prior to illegally extraditing him to Los Angeles for the bombings. Burns later arrested his brother John, but denied him access to an attorney. Both McNamaras had been arrested based on the confession of a third man who had likely been tortured. And both were likely innocent of the bombings. Eugene Debs accused Otis, himself, of the Times bombing. James McNamara spent the rest of his life in San Quentin, dying there in 1941. John served 15 years and then went on to serve as an organizer for the Iron Workers.
Roberta Tracy’s wonderful historical novel, Zig Zag Woman (2024), takes place in Los Angeles at the time of the bombing. You can read my review of “Zig Zag Woman” here:
Michael Dunn
Review of Roberta Tracy's "Zig Zag Woman" - Michael Dunn
Book review of Zig Zag Woman by Roberta Tracy, an historical mystery that takes place in Los Angeles in 1910
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Image is of the bombed-out Los Angeles Times building, 1910.
