unionviolence

Should be Von Spreckelsen. From p. 105-6 of Fair Play: A Clean Honest Statement of the Railroad and Transportation Situation by Frederick S Mordaunt. Published 1911 books.google.com/books?id=ul0EAAAAMAAJ& SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS BLAMED ON SUSPECTS. Oct. 24, 1909‚ A new telephone exchange, a saw mill and a garage at Indianapolis were destroyed by dynamite explosions. The saw mill and garage belonged to Albert von Spreckelsen, a contractor who was using non-union labor in constructing the telephone building. {see also: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0711F6385813738... query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9801E2DB1031E233A... } March 23, 1910‚ Dynamite explosions did $15,000 damage to the courthouse in course of erection at Omaha, and the plant of Caldwell & Drake at Columbus, Ind. Caldwell & Drake were contractors for the Omaha building and had trouble with union iron workers. Oct. 1, 1910‚ Los Angeles Times building wrecked and twenty-one persons killed. Bombs found at home of Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, the publisher. Sept. 4, 1910‚Two explosions damaged the plant of Lucas & Sons Iron Works at Peoria, Ill., and wrecked a bridge under construction. Dec. 18, 1910‚ Dynamite explosion damaged plant of the Llewellyn Iron Company, Los Angeles. Feb. 24, 1911‚ Explosion at the Iroquois Iron Works in South Chicago. March 25, 1911‚ Coal hoisting plant at Milwaukee, being erected by the Hyle & Patterson Construction Company of Pittsburgh. The damage amounted to $200,000. April 5, 1911‚ Blast wrecked tower on Municipal building at Springfield, Mass. The "dynamite campaign" of the ironworkers is described briefly on p. 63 of The World of the Worker: LABOR IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICA by James R. Green (University of Illinois Press: 1998) In 1905, the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Ironworkers struck when their employers declared an open shop. The conflict centered at first on New York City, where the union had been constructing many new skyscrapers and where violence had characterized labor relations in the building trades. As the struggle grew in intensity, the Structural Ironworkers began a "dynamite campaign" against open-shop employers that led to eighty explosions over the next few years, culminating in in the 1910 conflagration at the open-shop Los Angeles Times building which killed twenty workers. See also: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B02E6DE1F31E233A...

And again - thanks swang :)

This appears also to be related to the McNamara Brothers' case, also considering the juxtapositioning in the collection with photos on the next Flickr page. www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/exhibits/mcnamara/bio....

Von Spreckelsen's mill stood in the 1200 block of North Street (on the north side of the street between N. Highland Avenue and Oriental Street) in what is now Cottage Home Neighborhood in Indianapolis. On this same night they also dynamited Von Spreckelsen's nearby carriage house. His niece, Helen (Bigelow) Ruskaup, was a girl at the time who lived nearby. She recalled that the explosion took out the eye of the horse and she remembered being taken to the front of the house as they shot the horse.

Actually the name is "von Spreckelsen" with a small "v." That was my great-grandfather.

Makes me wonder what happened...

I was thinking the same thing...

Had to have been a tornado that caused it.

query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=950DE0D7133CE633A... suggests it was dynamite. Albert von Spreckelsen, a contractor who employed non-union labor, testified that on October 25, 1909, several buildings in Indianapolis associated with him suffered explosions. The public library was one of them. Another is shown at www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163453880/ which has more about the ironworkers' "dynamite campaign" in a comment.

Fascinating history - thanks for that link swang.