Mooney, Thomas J. 1882-1942

LABOR RADICAL AND PRISONER

The Bombing.

In the early afternoon of 22 July 1916 a powerful bomb exploded among a group of onlookers who had gathered to watch a Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco. Ten people were killed and many more injured by the detonation that echoed through the streets of the downtown district. The bombing was thought to be the work of unknown anarchists opposed to the nation's preparation for war in the face of an armed conflict that had engulfed the nations of Europe.

Suspects.

There were no witnesses to the planting of the bomb and virtually no hard evidence that could be used in the identification of the bomber, but the public's outraged insistence on some form of retribution placed considerable pressure upon the authorities. Suspicion soon focused upon five radical labor unionists, among them Warren Billings, a laborite who had been previously convicted of a conspiracy in which...

[The entire page is 1352 words long]

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