Today in Labor History July 22, 1916: Someone set off a bomb during the pro-war “Preparedness Day” parade in San Francisco. As a result, 10 people died and 40 were injured. A jury convicted two labor leaders, Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings, based on false testimony. Both were pardoned in 1939. Billings and Mooney were both anarchists and members of the IWW. Not surprisingly, only anarchists were suspected in the bombing. A few days after the bombing, they searched and seized materials from the offices of “The Blast,” Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman’s local paper. They also threatened to arrest Berkman.

In 1937, Mooney filed a writ of habeas corpus, providing evidence that his conviction was based on perjured testimony and evidence tampering. Among this evidence was a photograph of him in front of a large, ornate clock, on Market Street, clearly showing the time of the bombing and that he could not have been at the bombing site when it occurred. The Alibi Clock was later moved to downtown Vallejo, twenty-five miles to the northeast of San Francisco. Alibi Bookshop, in Vallejo, is named after this clock. On May 11, 2024, I did a reading there from my working-class historical novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill, during the Book Release Party for Roberta Tracy’s, Zig Zag Woman. Her novel takes place at the time of the Los Angeles Times bombing, in 1910, when two other labor leaders, the McNamara brothers, were framed.

In 1931, while they were still in prison, I. J. Golden persuaded the Provincetown Theater to produce his play, “Precedent,” about the Mooney and Billings case. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times wrote, "By sparing the heroics and confining himself chiefly to a temperate exposition of his case [Golden] has made “Precedent” the most engrossing political drama since the Sacco-Vanzetti play entitled Gods of the Lightening... Friends of Tom Mooney will rejoice to have his case told so crisply and vividly."

You can read my complete article on Mooney and Billings here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/

You can get Anywhere But Schuylkill here:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/
https://christophersbooks.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Anywhere-but.../dp/B0CJVW1BP2

And Zigzag Woman here:
https://www.powells.com/book/zig-zag-woman-9781962465267

#workingclass #LaborHistory #warrenbillings #tommooney #sanfrancisco #bombing #anarchism #union #IWW #labor #alexanderberkman #prison #emmagoldman #playwright #theater #books #writer #author #anywherebutschuylkill #zigzagwoman @bookstadon

Review of Zig Zag Woman, by Roberta Tracy

Wow, what a wonderful historical mystery novel! Roberta Tracy’s Zig Zag Woman hit all the right chords for me. First, it’s an exciting, fun story, well-written, with numerous exciting twists and misdirections. And her historical research is impeccable and artfully utilized to make the characters and events pop out of the book. But what really did it for me were all the social justice themes she subtly wove into her narrative in a way that felt authentic and natural, without disrupting the flow of the story, or my immersion in it.

The setting is Los Angeles, 1910. The protagonist, Margaret Morehouse, is LAPD’s second woman officer. Alice Stebbins Wells, the department’s first female officer, had been hired earlier that same year. So, right off the bat we have a strong woman character, a trailblazer in a misogynistic world. But make no mistake, LAPD was no bastion of progressive thinking. It was a department under fire from the public for its excessive use of force and brutality, and for sexual harassment of women in its jails. Captain Clarke believed the best way to avoid further accusations was to have women officers with “unassailable reputations” be the ones to question female suspects. So, he hired Wells and Morehouse to avoid further scandal.

Margaret Morehouse is no paper cutout of a first-wave feminist. In fact, she probably wouldn’t even have described herself as one, though she does take inspiration from the work of Jane Addams. Margaret is married to a minister and is fairly strait-laced and socially conservative by today’s standards (e.g., concerned with “keeping up appearances”). Yet she is also independent and capable, with a desire for excitement and passion, which is lacking in her marriage. And she is also more than willing to bend social norms in order to achieve her goals. For example, in order to solve a murder case, she goes undercover as an actress at the famous Pantages Theatre, in spite of the dishonor it would create for a woman of her standing to dress as provocatively as she must for this job. Her husband, who is forward-thinking, gives his consent, but only if she has a male chaperone to keep an eye on her. This escort is their family servant, Cushman, whose fascinating backstory slowly unfolds over the course of the novel. Cushman’s special talents, and his discretion, become indispensable to Margaret as she carries out her investigation, which take her from Los Angeles to Chicago, and to the boom town of San Bernardino, California, and even more so when she discovers another murder mystery within in her own family.

All this is set against a backdrop of labor unrest, and the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building. In reference to contemporary media coverage of the bombing, which was universally blamed on labor activists, Cushman says, “Twenty-one people lost their lives and mark my words, no matter who is responsible, it'll be union men who pay." This was precisely what happened repeatedly throughout that era, including IWW organizers Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings, falsely convicted for San Francisco’s 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing; the anarchists falsely convicted for the 1886 Haymarket Bombing; and Western Federation of Miners organizer Big Bill Haywood, who was falsely accused of assassinating former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg in 1905.

Overall, Roberta Tracy’s Zig Zag Woman is a gem. A fantastic first novel. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

https://www.robertatracy.com/
https://www.amazon.com/Zig-Zag-Woman-Roberta-Tracy-ebook/dp/B0CXZ74WNY

#robertatracy #zigzagwoman #historiumpress #newrelease #fiction #historicalfiction #mystery #novel #books #author #police #IWW #LAPD #socialjustice

Please join us Saturday, May 11 at 4:30 for a very special book release: Vallejo resident Roberta Tracy’s “Zig Zag Woman, joined by Mike Dunn, author of “Anywhere but Schuylkill”! This is going to be so much fun!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0BMa4Ya4EtvWrD4Cv9uW76UuHxgCtmtksEHbsG9PU6S2pSnC7jZ6iAibKTnXs73Yul&id=1118842754&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=RUbZ1f

#alibibookshop #vallejo #visitvallejo #localauthor #mystery #vaudeville #zigzagwoman #historiumpress #hitoricalfiction #books #author #writer #AnywhereButSchuylkill