J.B. McNamara
James B. McNamara, (A.K.A. J. B. McNamara), was an American labor activist responsible for the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing.
Biography edit
J. B. McNamara was a member of the Iron Workers Union, a labor union led by his brother John J. McNamara involved in arranging strikes against US Steel and the American Bridge Company. After the two companies used strike breakers to prevent the strikes, the Union, under John McNamara's direction, began a campaign of Terrorist attacks, blowing up 110 iron works between 1906 and 1911. On September 30th, 1910, McNamara left a suitcase full of dynamite at the offices of the anti-Union paper the Los Angeles Times, and other explosive-filled suitcases at the apartments of the newspaper's publisher and the chairman of another labor union under the control of the Los Angeles Times. The next day, the bomb placed in the offices of the Los Angeles Times detonated, killing 21 people. The other two bombs planted by McNamara were discovered by the police, although one detonated as the police attempted to disarm it, killing no one. The McNamara brothers escaped arrest until the following year, when a private detective infiltrating the Iron Workers Union overheard J. B. McNamara and fellow Union member Ortie McManigal talking about the Times bombing. McNamara and McManigal were both arrested soon after. McManigal pleaded guilty to terrorism and revealed that McNamara had committed the bombing in return for a shorter sentence. John McNamara was arrested soon after. The McNamara brothers pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life imprisonment. J. B. McNamara died from cancer in San Quentin Prison on March 9th, 1941.