Police Quell Labor Riot Over Body of Ironworker Killed at Alexandria Hotel

Sept. 2, 1910, the Herald publishes its version of the incident.

Sept. 2, 1910: Louis Jeffries, a Baker Iron Works employee, is crushed by a steel girder during construction of the Alexandra Hotel Annex. Workers carrying his body to an ambulance on Spring Street are assaulted by union supporters who are picketing the building. "Around the still warm body of the accident victim the frenzied ruffians swarmed. Vile invectives were hurled at the peaceable workmen who were trying to protect the corpse, and even the dead was not spared," The Times said. The Herald didn’t devote as much space to the story but it certainly depicted the violence that erupted. This incident is often cited in later stories about The Times bombing, showing the acute tensions between the labor and open shop factions. The next day, the Herald published an editorial about the incident. Notice how much more moderate it is than The Times and actually supports workers' right to organize. Nonetheless, it also condemns labor violence.