THE LAWRENCE DYNAMITE

CONSPIRACY.

By SAMUEL Gompers.

HE secret ways and means of business organizations are rarely revealed to public view. Consequently it is most difficult for one not actually in the fight to realize the subtle forces, drastic and insidious powers brought to bear upon any hindrance to profits, and especially upon the workers, to prevent agitation and organization on their part to secure a more just proportion in the distribution of the wealth which they create. So subtle and intricate are the ramifications of these forces, to such sources do the trails of influence lead, that the uninitiated place little credence in the frequent charges made by those who know against the men "higher up." Yet even a superficial study of modern business reveals the tremendous. power wielded by those who have amassed great fortunes-power often so used as to militate against progress, and the freedom and virtue of those coming in contact with the wealth possessors.

The already famous Lawrence textile strike has recently developed a more startling sequel and apparently is yet to perform another service to the workingmen in furnishing public substantiation for such charges against men "higher up." The re-opening of the dynamite case, the suicide of a prominent man summoned to appear before the grand jury, the arrest of a prominent manufacturer and of the head of the great woolen trust of New England, have attracted universal attention.

Last January, at a most propitious time, when the public mind had been prepared by the recent revelation of conditions in the industrial world, public sympathy and attention were distracted from the main issues in the Lawrence textile strike by dynamite explosions and by the "discovery" of dynamite in the houses of some of the working people. So effectually did the plan succeed that few followed carefully the subsequent development and the strange facts that appeared in the course of the dynamite trial. But a most curious story was brought out. As a result the simple foreigners arrested on the dynamite charge were acquitted and a certain John J. Breen was arrested and convicted.

John J. Breen, son of the late ex-Mayor of Lawrence, was a wellknown man about the town and had hosts of friends among the mill owners and politicians. He had been elected alderman at one time, and was then serving as school committeeman. Among his most intimate friends was a reporter working on a Boston paper who had run a Lawrence weekly paper that was largely dependent upon its political advertisements. Another special friend was an employe in the woolen mills, reputed to be in confidential relations with his employers, and from whom money was said to come. Two other particular friends were Inspector Rooney of the Boston

force and Patrolman Woodcock of Lawrence who had been demoted from the position of inspector.

All of the evidence and information brought out in the dynamite case lead directly back to Breen. It appeared that during the week previous to the discovery of the dynamite a certain Boston paper had been making vague and indefinite reference to the existence of dynamite in the possession of the Lawrence strikers. No other papers seemed to possess such information; no other reference was made to the dynamite. The police who made the alleged discovery told the following story: On January 19 Mr. Breen visited his friend, Inspector Rooney, in Boston, and told him that he had positive information that dynamite had been brought into Lawrence, and so positive and reliable was his information that he would soon be able to locate the dynamite exactly. He wished his friend, Inspector Rooney, to have the credit for the find. Inspector Rooney took Mr. Breen to see Chief Dugan, where he again told his story and expressed his absolute certainty of being able to locate the dynamite within a very short time. Chief Dugan delegated three men to hold themselves in readiness to act upon further information from Mr. Breen. That night, about 11:45, after the last train had left for Lawrence, Breen telephoned the men that he had located the dynamite. They offered to come out immediately in a taxicab, but Breen assured them there was no particular hurry, and that the first train in the morning would be soon enough. The three men came out from Boston early in the morning and found the local police force amazed at their story. Inspector Kelleher was the first to appear. He said that Breen told him the evening before to be at the station early the next morning, as Chief O'Sullivan had a big piece of work for him. O'Sullivan himself knew nothing of the affair. When Breen arrived at the station he told the men that part of the dynamite was distributed among some Syrians, and would be found in the house of Joseph Assef, at 292 Oak street. He asked to have his friend Woodcock made one of the party, that by distinguished service he might regain the office of inspector. The police found this house occupied by foreigners, chiefly Syrians. After searching the house they found in a closet in an empty back room, under some papers, several sticks of dynamite. The Syrians, who could speak very little English, protested their innocence and seemed ignorant of the nature of the "find." This alleged find was made in the morning.

In the afternoon Breen told the men that another lot of dynamite would be found in Saint Mary's Cemetery, just beyond the Arlington Mill. The men went out, searched long and carefully, but could find nothing. They returned and told Breen that the dynamite was not there. Breen assured them that the dynamite was there; that his information was unfailing; he even offered to go out with them and show them the spot, but the police would not permit this. He then drew for them a rough sketch of the ground and showed them exactly where to look. Again his party of discovery sallied forth; this time they found the dynamite. One of the men in the party said that the dynamite must have been placed there between the first and second trips, because they had been over exactly the same territory the first time.

Meantime, Breen had sent another group of men to find dynamite in. the house of an Italian cobbler, Urbano De Prato, who lived at 76 Lawrence street. The would-be discoverers, came back reporting no dynamite. Breen sent them back again, giving them yet more definite directions. They found the dynamite after the second effort.

The foreigners living in these houses in which the dynamite had been found were arrested. They all told substantially the same story. Some stranger, who spoke English, came and requested permission to leave certain bundles with them. These were the bundles which the police found. The evidence that lead to Breen's arrest was a piece of paper that had been wrapped around the dynamite. The paper had been torn from an Undertakers' Journal-Breen is an undertaker-and Breen's name and address were on the paper. An undertaker who was put on the witness stand, testified that the paper had been torn out of the December issue of the Undertakers' Journal. A search of Breen's house disclosed a file of the Undertakers' Journals; the January issue was there but the December issue was missing. The foreigners were acquitted, and on January 31 Breen was arrested.

Another curious circumstance connected with the affair was the appearance on the streets of Lawrence of a Boston paper containing the story of the dynamite "find." simultaneously with the discovery of the dynamite by the police. It is stated that this was the paper on which Breen's friend was working. When questioned by the police as to the source of his information, Breen told the following story: He had received a mysterious letter telling him to go to Rowe's wharf in Boston where he would receive "most valuable and useful information." He went to the wharf and there met a stranger who told him that dynamite had been brought into Lawrence and gave him specific directions in what places it could be found.

Breen's trial occurred in May. He had been indicted on two countsconspiracy to discredit the textile strikers and placing dynamite in the houses of innocent foreigners. Every effort was made to prevent Breen's being placed on the witness stand. He did not testify. He was acquitted of the conspiracy charge, but convicted of placing the dynamite and fined $500. Meantime local sentiment was aroused. Local papers asked why Breen had not been put on the witness stand. They demanded that a thorough investigation be made and that Breen be called before the grand jury of Essex County. The leaders of the textile workers claimed that the dynamite was a "plant" and demanded in the name of justice that an effort be made to reach those behind the conspiracy.

In pronouncing sentence upon Breen, Judge Brown gave utterance to this statement: "If what I hear is true, it was a foolish attempt on the part of any man to help a friend." He did not explain what he meant. Speculation was rife. The public felt that some great power had dropped a baffling, impenetrable curtain, shutting them out from the facts in the case, that the trial and sentence placed upon Breen was but an attempt to whitewash. Apparently the truth was to remain a part of the unwritten history of business life-that unwritten history of which the general public

occasionally catches appalling glimpses. It was evident that Breen could not have been acting for himself. He had nothing to gain even in his profession as undertaker, for his financial profit from blowing up poor foreigners could not compensate him for his risk.

Most unexpectedly, within the last two weeks, it became known that the grand jury was investigating the dynamite case. The first reports said that it happened in this way: Ernest W. Pitman, a prominent mill builder, chanced to meet District-Attorney Pelletier at Young's Hotel on August 23. Pitman was perhaps under the impression that the sentence of Breen closed the dynamite case. When the conversation happened to turn upon the Lawrence strike, Pitman related to Pelletier some of the inside history. He told him how four of his friends among the mill owners had deliberately planned to end the textile strike by throwing upon the strikers the discredit of using dynamite and violence. These men met in Boston, he said, and planned how to get the dynamite, how to distribute it among the textile workers, and then how to set in motion the machinery that would involve the poor starved wretches and bring upon them the odium of the world so that they would be forced to give up their fight to secure a few cents more a day that their lives might contain more of the decencies and the necessities of living. He told enough to reveal the dreadful crime that these financial despots had willed to commit against the protesting striking workers. Following the telling of this story, Pelletier summoned Pitman to his office and there subjected him to a most rigid examination, securing facts, details and names. He then summoned John J. Breen to appear before him, and by thorough examination, secured from him corroboration of the entire story. Breen, surprised by the detailed information of the District-Attorney, revealed all he knew. This information District-Attorney Pelletier laid before the grand jury. It is expected that Breen will be one of the chief witnesses for the State.

District-Attorney Pelletier denied this version and gave out the following statement:

"Regarding the statement in the press that Mr. Pitman was an old friend of mine and met me at Young's, where I learned his story, I want to say that this is an absolute misstatement of facts. I never knew and never saw Mr. Pitman until he came to my office in the courthouse and told me his story in my official capacity."

The story of Pitman and his relations to the dynamite case are most suggestive of the abuses of financial powers. Pitman was a man of about forty-five and had been engaged for some time in building big mills. He had always sustained friendly and intimate relations with the big mill owners. Perhaps he owed his rapid success to the influence of these wealthy men. Since last spring, following an attack of grippe, he had been in very poor health and in an extremely nervous state. One of his friends related how during the last week in May, after having acted very queerly, he disappeared and was finally located in the woods where he had been wandering for days. Some strange terror or fear seemed to possess him. His friends say that his nervous state was due to financial losses. Although he had lost considerable money, at his death his fortune was estimated at $200,000.

Rumor says that he had been expecting aid in his finanical distress from some of these big mill men, but for some reason had not been able to get it. Some suggest that the mill operators refused to pay for the bungling work done at Lawrence.

According to the bits of information coming from the various sources, the story of the alleged conspiracy reads something like this: A reporter on a Boston paper, in discussing the Lawrence strike with a confidential employe of the mills, casually asked why they didn't let something happen. The remark was carried to the officials, and evidently bore fruit. Apparently it was determined that the best way to put an end to the strike would be to destroy labor organizations by discrediting the workers and their leaders. One way to do this was to show that they were lawless users of dynamite and other violence. To carry out such a plan involved many risks and difficulties. They had to find some source from which the dynamite could be secured, and an agent to place it where its discovery would benefit their cause. Then they must arrange for the discovery.

There was a certain wealthy contractor who had built many big mills, but who was then suffering from financial reverses. As a contractor, he might find it comparatively easy to secure the dynamite for the purpose. Since he was not only in need of money, but to a certain degree was indebted to some of these wealthy mill owners for his rapid rise to success in the financial world, he might be "persuaded" to procure for them the necessary dynamite. There was in the town of Lowell a practical politician of considerable influence and well acquainted with the class of men who were accustomed to do the bidding of those "higher up." These two men might be induced to undertake the work. Some one saw the politician Breen and asked him if he could use any dynamite. Breen was sure that he could and agreed to get an assistant for the Lawrence affair. It is said that the conspirators met in Boston. The mill contractor was in an office with a prominent mill owner; Breen in the office of a prominent manufacturer. By telephone further arrangements were agreed upon. This contractor, according to the story, was Ernest W. Pitman.

After the conference, Mr. Pitman, in a hired automobile, went out to East Molten where he called upon a business associate of his, Wm. H. Rice. Mr. Rice tells substantially the following story: Pitman talked over financial affairs connected with the quarry which he, Rice, took to be the object of his visit. Accordingly he invited Mr. Pitman to stay to supper. Mr. Pitman accepted the invitation and dismissed his hired automobile. In the course of the conversation he told Rice that he was building some mills over in Worcester and in laying the foundation had struck several large boulders. He asked Mr. Rice to sell him some dynamite. Rice refused, but after much urging consented to loan him a few sticks. Rice considered himself an expert in handling dynamite and assured Pitman that there would be no danger in carrying it since it had been frozen. Pitman asked Rice to help him to carry the dynamite to Boston where he was to meet his foreman and then they could finish their business discussion. The two men