On this day, Oct. 1, in 1910, a suitcase bomb exploded, sparking a fire that destroyed the Los Angeles Times building and killed 21 people.
Publisher Harrison Gray Otis was anti-union and had resisted unionization for decades.
Two members of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, brothers John J. and James B. McNamara, were arrested in April 1911 and charged with the bombing.
Their attorney, Clarence Darrow, discovered that the police had a considerable amount of evidence against the men, and was convinced that the men would be executed if convicted.
James McNamara admitted to setting the explosive and was sentenced to life in prison. John McNamara was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing a iron manufacturing plant.
– Scott McCabe
