1919.06.07: Dead Bomber Identified as Italian Red

June 7, 1919

Dead Bomber Identified as Italian Red

Important Arrests Are Imminent on Evidence Found Here Following Clew From Washington

Two Russians Held in Detroit

Suspects Are Arrested Upon the Request of the Cleveland Police

The anarchist who planted the bomb in front of the Washington residence of Attorney General A.  Mitchell Palmer on Monday night, and was blown to pieces by the explosion, has been identified by the authorities. He was an Italian and was associated with the leaders of one of the most dangerous Italian radical groups in the country.

This information was given to a Tribune reporter last night by an official who has been working on the case. How the identification was made could not be ascertained, but it was intimated that enough pieces of the man's face and head were recovered to make the identification positive. All the parts of the head and face picked up in the vicinity of the wrecked Palmer home were turned over to an anatomist, who pieced them together.

 The bomber, whose name is known but withheld, has long been associated with Spanish and Italian anarchists who have made their headquarters in the East. The authorities are now working on the theory that the leaders of this band planned and put into execution the outrages of Monday night.

Arrests Are Expected

???????? no arrests were reported in New ??????? up to an early hour this morning, it is known that the government operatives and police are working along lines that will lead to the arrest of those responsible for the planting of the bombs. The authorities have not revealed where this suspected band made its headquarters, nor were they willing to discuss the identification of the Washington bomber.

 It was learned last night the New York police are searching for a member of the I. W. W., who came here from the West some time ago. This man is known to the police of the country as a dangerous dynamiter who was a trusted lieutenant of "Big Bill" Haywood, the leader of the I. W. W., who is now serving a term in Leavenworth prison. He came to New York about two weeks ago, according to the information of the police, but they have been unable to check up his movements after he arrived here.

Hunt Centres in Philadelphia

The hunt for the perpetrators of the outrages will be centred in Philadelphia. This information was made public by the police here in connection with the arrival in New York yesterday of William J. Flynn, head of the new bureau of the Department of Justice which is about to inaugurate a Campaign of unprecedented scope against all direct-action radicals.

Mr. Flynn, it was stated, will make his headquarters in the Philadelphia Federal Building. He will travel much of the time, keeping in touch, however, with the cities in which explosions occurred.

Word was received here last night of the arrest in Detroit of two men who are suspected of placing the bomb under the home of Mayor Davis of Cleveland. They are said to have had plans of Mayor Davis's house in their possession, and a letter to one of them is reported to have congratulated him
on his "good work of June 2," the date of the bomb explosions.

Particular efforts are being made to learn the whereabouts of a woman known as "Dynamite Louise" Berger. The fact that two women were seen on the stoop of Judge Nott's home on Sixty-first Street up to within a few minutes of the explosion has led the police to believe that this particular woman, mixed up in other dynamiting, could throw some light on the affair.

Under orders from the Department of Justice, all outgoing steamers are being closely scrutinized and the police of every city in the East have been asked to look out for her.

Louise Berger, according to the police records, is the half-sister of Carl Hansen, who, with Arthur Carron and Charles Berg anarchists, was killed in a mysterious explosion in a Harlem apartment in July, 1914. Evidence at the time indicated that they were preparing an infernal machine. They were members of the Brescia circle of anarchists, with which Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman are associated.

"Dynamite Louise" is known to have left for Russia in 1917 with Trotzky. Investigation in connection with the present bomb plots developed the fact that she had returned to the United States.

A number of detectives from other cities arrived here yesterday, and were made acquainted with the headquarters, haunts and/ meeting places of dangerous radical groups. The large force of sleuths already working on the case was further augmented by additions from the homicide and narcotic squads. The practice of "mugging" and "fingerprinting" also has been resumed, as a more effective way of dealing with all radicals arrested.

Dynamite, Not TNT

Representatives from the Federal Bureau of Mines also came to New York to assist in examining materials found in connection with the explosions. One of these men yesterday upheld the contention of Inspector Eagan that the explosion here was caused by sticks of dynamite and not TNT. Pieces of cloth and felt found near the scene of the attack on the Washington home of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer also were brought to the city for analysis.

The attempt to trace the laundry patronized by the anarchist who was killed in blowing up the  Palmer home continued yesterday under the direction of Inspector Joseph A. Faurot, with the assistance of photographs of a collar found near the spot bearing the laundry mark, "K. B."' Efforts also are being made to establish the name of the buyer of a felt hat, found in the vicinity, bearing the imprint of "Lamsou & Hubbard, New York."

Further aid in the search for the bombers is expected to result from a conference today between Governor Smith and Attorney General Newton. Governor Smith announced that he would be in New York today to confer with the Attorney General on the state's participation in the campaign against the plotters.

Bomb in Tenement House

Residents in the neighborhood of  Seventy-second Street and First Avenue were considerably wrought up yesterday morning by the finding of what is said by Inspector Owen Eagan to be a clock bomb in the hallway of an apartment house at 1351 First Avenue. The contrivance was found by Mrs. H. Brown, the janitress, and was given to Policeman Joseph Geharran.

The missile consisted of a clock with two short wires attached connecting with two dry batteries. Also attached was a large incandescent globe, the base of which had been broken away and wrapped about with heavy tube tape. The globe was also covered with several coats of a black substance, calculated to increase its resistance. No explosives, however, were found in it. Inspector Eagan didn't believe it had any bearing on the recent outrages.

1917.02.26: This Is the Story of Sweet Marie!

February 26, 1917

This Is the Story of Sweet Marie!

GLORY TO BETSY, GRACIOUS GEE

New York, Feb. 26.—"Sweet Marie" Gans [sic], leader of New York's east side food rioters, is the lady who:

Threatened to kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Led the free speech fight at Tarrytown.

Gave up the stage for the soapbox.

And, they say, swears like a trooper.

The latter is given as the reason they call her "Sweet Marie," a name the police handed her. She's 26, has been an expert saleswoman, ranging from delicassen [sic] to laces. Lately her salesmanship has been that of the street corner, with the anarchist magazine, Mother Earth as the wares. 

Sweet Marie is a member of the "Red Angels," anarchist group that has been the "flying squad" in many a radical gathering. Every member is put down in the policeman's mind as a "dangerous girl."

Miss Gans, first a "private" in the ran[k]s, became a "corporal," displacing Becky Edelson; now she's the recognized leader among this particular group of adherents of Emma Goldman.

The neatest thing about her is her tongue, which is drilled in harangue and repartee. Anybody that starts an argument with Miss Gans has to dig for cover.

Her unkempt garments drape and conceal the figure of a cloak model; for Sweet Marie believes no longer in milady's toilette.

Her eyes are blue and her teeth are perfect; she has the complexion of a rural belle, and her laughter ripples like the waves of the Danube beside which she was born. You'd take her for Irish, but she really is an Austrian Jew.

1916.05.16: Reds' Demonstration Fails.

May 16, 1916

Mayor Mitchel Guarded from "Reds"

Reds' Demonstration Fails.

Becky Edelson, Emma Goldman, et al, had planned another courier demonstration, but their plans when amiss.

1916.05.14: Mayor Mitchel Guarded from "Reds"' Edison Trudges with Flag

May 14, 1916

Mayor Mitchel Guarded from "Reds"' Edison Trudges with Flag

Preparedness Patriots March; 137,000 in Line

Reds Demonstration Failed

Becky Edelson, Emma Goldman, et al, had planned another counter demonstration, but their plans went amiss. The two, with a dozen other "reds," had stationed themselves in the building at 208 Fifth Avenue, on which they had fixed a "War Against War" banner.

1914.07.05: FOUR DIE, SCORE HURT IN I.W.W. BOMB PLOT

July 5, 1914

FOUR DIE, SCORE HURT IN I.W.W. BOMB PLOT

Mightiest Infernal Machine Ever Used in New York City Wrecks Six-story Tenement House and Kills Two of the Conspirators Who Were Involved in Agitation Against Rockefellers.

ANARCHIST RING IS IMPLICATED

Many Blown Out of Beds Across the Street From Explosion and Seriously Injured; Persons Knocked Down Two Blocks Away; Emma Goldman's Assistants Arrested.

NEW YORK, July 4.—Three men and a woman were killed today when a dynamite bomb, said to be the most powerful ever used in this city exploded with tremendous force in an apartment tenanted by Industrial Workers of the World. The upper part of the six-story tenement house in which the bomb was being made, was wrecked.

A score of persons were seriously injured and much property damage was done in a wide radius from the scene of the explosion. Those dead and those who escaped injury in the apartment included I.W.W. men who were defendants in the trial to begin Monday in Tarrytown, N.Y., where they were arrested for creating a disturbance a few weeks ago. They went to the village to make demonstrations outside the Pocantico Hills estate of John D. Rockefeller, where John d. Rockefeller, Jr., had retired after being heckled in front of his office at 26 Broadway, in this city, by I.W.W. members and sympathizers, including members of Upton Sinclair's Free Silence league. Their activities here arose from the coal mine strike troubles in Colorado, where Mr. Rockefeller, Jr., had mining interests.

Bombs Meant for Officials?

As soon as one of the bodies of those killed in the explosion had been identified as that of Arthur Caron, who came here from Boston and who was one of tho defendants in Tarrytown, the police began their investigation of the explosion on the theory that a bomb was being constructed by Caron and others for possible use at the I. W. W. hearings in Tarrytown on Monday. Since the arrest of the agitators in that
village there have been rumors of threats against town officials if the defendants were not released.

Late today the police escorted from the office of Emma Goldman's publication. Mother Earth, to a police station a group of agitators, including Marie Ganz, arrested some time ago for making outdoor speeches in which she threatened to shoot John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Miss Ganz was released this morning from the Queen's county jail after serving a term as the result of her speechmaking.

Blown to Pieces.

The cross examination today disclosed that all the eleven defendants, who are out on bail, met her last eight,
with Alexander Berkman. anarchist, and others at the headquarters of the Francisco Ferrer school, to devise a way to aid the persons facing trial Monday. The conferees included leaders of the so-called Antimilitant [sic] league, which seeks to discourage workmen from joining the state National Guard.

Present at this meeting, according to statements to the authorities, were Carl Hanson, a member of the staff of Mother Earth, and Carl Berg, 24, a carpenter, one of the Tarrytown defendants. Hanson was blown to pieces in the explosion. Part of his body was

---

BOMB MAKER KILLED BY HIS INVENTION

(Continued from Page One)

found on a church roof and part on car tracks, in the street. Berg is missing and is counted among the victims. The other person known to have been killed is Mary Claves [sic], 26 years old, a cigar maker, who occupied an apartment adjoining the one in which the explosion occurred.

Find Dry Batteries.

In support of the police theory that a bomb was being made for use in Tarrytown, a search of Caron's apartment disclosed two dry batteries, wired for use, a loaded revolver, cartridges and a partly constructed blackjack, together with a bowl of yellow substance thought to have been used in bomb construction.

Statements to the police indicated that the group at the Francisco Ferrer school disbanded about midnight last night. Earon [sic], Hanson, Berg and a fourth man, Mike Auspenti, who came here from Chicago about two weeks ago, left together and went to the apartment where the explosion occurred at 1626 Lexington avenue, between One Hundred and Second and One Hundred and Third streets on the upper east side.

Hanson's half sister, Miss Louise Berger, who rented the top floor apartment occupied by herself, Hanson and Caron, told the inquisitors that the four men reached home at 1 o'clock this morning. At 7 o'clock when she left her home, she said, Berg and Caron were asleep and Hanson was washing dishes, and Auspenti was lying on a couch.

Anarchists Involved.

All were dressed. There were no traces of an explosive or of the material for making a bomb anywhere in the apartment, she said. The explosion occurred at 9:25 a.m. and she was notified of it, she declared, while at the Mother Earth office.

Alexander Berkman explained how the group allied with him happened to be at the Mother Earth office when the police arrived. He said they had gathered to go on a Fourth of July picnic in a New Jersey town.

Berkman smoked cigarettes and answered sharp questioning. He denied he had counseled violence at the coming Tarrytown trials. He and others planned to go to Tarrytown, he said, and listen to the proceedings. 

"We were prepared," he explained, "to utter protests if our comrades were not given a fair trial, but that was all we contemplated."

Berkman denied that he had written threatening letters to Tarrytown officials.

"You did send a telegram some time ago to the judge at Tarrytown demanding the release of the I.W.W. prisoners, didn't you?" asked Deputy Police Commissioner Rubin.

"Yes, I sent a telegram containing resolutions condemning the arrest and brutal treatment of the men and women," replied Berkman.

"The resolution was adopted at the Ferrer group and I was instructed to forward them to the judge. I simply carried out instructions."

Berkman said he was unable to account for the presence of the explosive. He volunteered to produce himself and his followers at the coroner's inquest.

Many Blown From Beds.

There were thirty-five apartments in the Lexington avenue building. All except two were occupied and the tenants were made homeless. The loss of life was not greater, according to the police, because so many of the dwellers had started off early to spend the holiday at various resorts. The Lexington avenue front of the structure was wrecked as far down as the second story.

Of the many known to have been injured, seven were removed to hospitals. Some of those who received minor hurts were occupants of buildings across the street. They were blown from their beds or otherwise hurled about violently by the concussion. As far distant as two blocks from the wrecked tenement persons were thrown down by the shock.

The entire top of the southeast front of the building crashed into the street, tore a thirty-foot hole in the sidewalk and partly filled a stretch of the new Lexington avenue subway excavation.

The police threw a strict guard about the building after ordering everybody out. Not a shovelful of earth was allowed to be moved. Every precaution was taken to prevent the destruction of any possible clew [sic] that might be contained in the debris. Tomorrow a systematic examination will be made in search of evidence which may support  the police theory that a bomb was to be taken into the Tarrytown courtroom. It is thought Berg's body may be in the ruins, unless it was blown to bits. It is not believed other bodies are there. Already the firemen have come across parts of a human body. It is thought they are portions of the body of Hanson, who, according to the police was a staff writer on Mother Earth, an anarchistic publication with which Berkman and Emma Goldman are associated.

With Caron and Berg dead from the explosion of the bomb apparently of their own making, nine defendants remain to be tried in Tarrytown Monday.

See also:

---

1914.07.05: 4 SLAIN BY BOMB I.W.W. ARE FILLING

July 4, 1914

4 SLAIN BY BOMB I.W.W. ARE FILLING

Two of Victims Were Indicted for Tarrytown Raid.

7-STORY HOUSE WRECKED

Round-Up of Anarchist follows Terrific Explosions.

HELD A MIDNIGHT COUNCIL

1914.07.05: I.W.W. Bomb Kills Four; Injures Score

July 5, 1914

I.W.W. Bomb Kills Four; Injures Score

LEXINGTON AVENUE TENEMENT BUILDING  WRECKED BY ANARCHISTS.

IS AN ACCIDENT

DEADLY MISSILE GOES OFF WHILE IN PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE

UNEARTH BIG PLOT

POLICE DISCOVER EVIDENCE THAT CULPRITS PLANNED AWFUL CRIME.

TO AID ACCUSED

Some of Defendants in Trial to be Begun for Disturbances at Tarrytown are Among Those Killed--Friends Schemed to Help Them.

New York, July 4--Four persons, three men and a woman were killed and a score seriously injured when a dynamite bomb in process of manufacture exploded in an apartment tenanted by Industrial workers of the World. The bomb, said to have been the most powerful ever used in this city exploded with such force as to cause serious property damage within a wide radius from the scene of the explosion.

Those dead and those who escaped injury in the apartment included I.W.W. men who were defendants in the trial to be begun Monday in Tarrytown, N.Y., where they were arrested for creating a disturbance a few weeks ago. They went to the village to make demonstrations outside the Pocantico Hills estate of John D. Rockefeller where John D. Rockefeller, Jr., had retired after being heckled in front of his office at 26 Broadway, in this city by I.W.W. workers and sympathizers, including members of Upton Sinclair's free silence league. Their activities here arose from the coal mine strike troubles in Colorado. As soon as one -- the bodies of those killed in the explosion had been identified as that of Arthur Caron, who came here from Boston and who was one of the defendants in Tarrytown, the police began their investigation of the explosion of the theory that a bomb was being constructed by Caron and others for possible use at the I.W.W. hearings in Tarrytown. There have been rumors of threats to town officials if the defendants were not released. 

Make Arrests.

Late today the police escorted from the home of Emma Goldman's publication Mother Earth to a police station, a group of agitators, including Marie Ganz, arrested some time ago for making out of door speeches in which she threatened to shoot John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Miss Ganz was released this morning from the Queens county jail after serving a term of ?? result of her speech-making.

The cross examinations late today disclosed that all the eleven defendants, who are out on bail, met her last night with Alexander Berkman an anarchist and others at the headquarters of the Francisco Ferrer school to devise a way to aid the persons facing trial Monday. The conferees included leaders of the so-called anti-militarist league, which seeks to discourage workmen from joining the state national guard.

Present at this meeting, according to statement to the authorities, were Carl Hanson, a member of the staff of "Mother Earth" and Carl Berg, 24, a carpenter, one of the Tarrytown defendants. Hanson was blown to pieces in the explosion. Part of his body was found on a church roof and part on car tracks in the street. Berg is missing and is counted among the victims. The other person known to have been killed was Mary Claves [sic], 35 years old, a cigar maker, who occupied an apartment adjoining the one in which the explosion occurred.

Find Evidence.

A search of Caron's apartment disclosed tow dry batteries, wired for use; a loaded revolver, cartridges and a partly constructed black jack, together with a bowl of yellow substance thought to have been used in bomb construction. 

Statements to the police indicated that the group at the Francisco Ferrer school disbanded about midnight last night. Caron, Hanson, Berg and a fourth man, Mike Auspenti, who came here from Chicago about two weeks ago, left together and went to the apartment at 1626 Lexington avenue, where the explosion occurred.

There were 35 apartments in the Lexington avenue building. All except two were occupied and the tenants were made homeless. The loss of life was not greater, according to the police, because so many of the dwellers had started off early to spend the holiday at various resorts. The Lexington avenue front of the structure was wrecked as far down as the second story.

 Of the many known to have been injured, seven were removed to hospitals. Some of those who received minor hurts were occupants of buildings across the street. They were blown from their beds or otherwise hurled about violently by the concussion. As far distant as two blocks from the wrecked tenement persons were blown down by the shock. 

The entire top of the southeast front of the building crashed into the street and tore a 30 foot hole in the side walk.

1914.07.05: Exploded in Apartment Occupied by Tarrytown Disturbers.

July 5, 1914

Exploded in Apartment Occupied by Tarrytown Disturbers.

ONLY ONE ESCAPED ALIVE

Victims Are Arthur Caron, Carl Hanson, Marie Chavez, and Charles Berg.

"MIKE" MURPHY GOT AWAY

Staggered Dazed Into Street and Disappeared After Telephoning to Berkman.

BATTERY IN CARON'S ROOM

Bomb Wrecked Three Floors of 1,626 Lexington Avenue and Spread Debris for Blocks.

TENANTS BURIED IN WRECK

Police Dig Them from Ruins and Find Seven Badly Hurt--Dog Basket Saves Baby.

PARTS OF BODY ON A CHURCH

Anarchist Berkman Identifies Dead as some of Those Called for Trial at Tarrytown Tomorrow.

...

1914.06.26: TRAIL ROCKEFELLER TO MAINE, I.W.W. CRY

June 26, 1914
TRAIL ROCKEFELLER TO MAINE, I.W.W. CRY
Leaders Propose a Summer's Free Speech Demonstration in Seal Harbor.
BERKMAN NOT GOING WEST
Changes Plan Upon Hearing of Rockefeller Departure--Mayor Dampens Ardor

...

1914.05.20 GOTHAM HOTBED OF ANARCHIST

May 20, 1914

GOTHAM HOTBED OF ANARCHIST

Radical Agitators Have a Freer Rein in New York Than They Ever Had Before

BY CARLTON TEN EYCK

(Written for the United Press.)

NEW YORK, May 20.—"Never in their worst days were the blackest centers of Russia, and other European countries where anarchy Is fostered, any worse than certains of New York in regard to breeding spots for agitation against established government."

That statement made a few days ago by one of the moat prominent of New York's police officials, and a man who has studied anarchy and anarchists for thirty years along with his study of crime, aptly tells the situation in this metropolitan center of the' "Home of the Free." There isn't a shadow of doubt that anarchists and radical agitators generally have a freer rein in New York today than they have ever had before. And, strange to say, the man who is insisting on giving the "public forum speakers" and agitators the loosest sort of "free speech" rein is no other official than Mayor Mitchel, who recently narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of a poor maniacal old crank whose mind no doubt had become violently twisted through hearing day after day everything from God to government denounced by anarchists in the public squares.

Or course, some of these public forum speakers represent honest, God-fearing reasonable organizations such as union labor, etc., which are protecting reasonably against certain conditions that even the most conservative, tory-minded individuals admits are all wrong. But the majority of these speakers are preaching anarchy as black and destructive as can be heard anywhere.

Speak in Parks

At Union Square, at the foot of Benjamin Franklin's statute in Park Row, in Rutgers Square, and other public rostrums these speakers exhort crowds. It is not infrequent that a Socialist speaker and an anarchist or an I. W. W. exhorter begins to talk at the same time and within a few feet of each other. When this happens, the speakers make it fun for the crowds by heaping abuse on each other's heads.

The occupation of Vera Cruz and the Trinidad, Colo., coal strike in which militiamen and strikers shot each other down, furnished basis for such talk .by these speakers. The two events first, brought to general notice "Sweet Marie" Ganz, Reba Edelson, Gussie Miller, and other girls who follow Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, "Wild Joe” O'Carroll, who led the church riots, and the teachers at the Ferrer School of Anarchy.

"Sweet Marie" Ganz, by the way, was so named in irony, by the police because of her foul tongue when haranguing mobs. Besides threatening to kill John D. Rockefeller, Jr. on sight, the Ganz girls cursed and blasphemed, hurled vile epithets at men and women in the crowd who annoyed, her by jeering or asking her questions, and made herself generally the very opposite of the name the police gave her.

Marie is a pink and white complexioned girl of 23. Her figure is of the voluptuous type and her eyes and mouth are extremely sensuous. If she did not follow too closely the habits of Emma Goldman in dressing she would make rather an attractive girl. Women critics might say that Marie's figure is sloppy or inclining to fat.

Girl is Jailed

The Edelson girl, who they say is extremely jealous of Marie because of the latter's, ability to "pull the limit and get away with it," until she was finally jailed for 60 days for threats, was thrown into a Tombs cell after causing a riot by her exhortations. Reba, or Becky as she prefers to be called, is very nice looking.

She is light and exceedingly well proportioned and is very tidy in her dress. Maybe that's one reason Marie doesn't get along so well with Reba. All these women call themselves "Red Virgins" and "Red Angels." The police say it ought to be "Black Angels."

See also