A large bomb destroyed the Los Angeles Times building, killing 21.
The suitcase bomb, carrying 16 sticks of dynamite, was purposely set by a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers.
Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, was vehemently anti-union. Employers in Los Angeles had been successfully resisting unionization for nearly half a century.
Brothers John J. (“J.J.”) and James B. (“J.B.”) McNamara were arrested in April 1911 for the crime. J.B. admitted to setting the explosive, was convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. J.J. was sentenced to 10 years in prison for bombing a local iron manufacturing plant, and returned to the Iron Workers union as an organizer.
