American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century (21 page)

The Burns Agency threw agents from its offices around the country into the investigation, hoping to solve the mystery behind “the crime of the century.”

D.W. Griffith—the man who invented Hollywood, and in the process transformed American life.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ggbain-34047

Clarence Darrow, the champion of populist (and often lost) causes was reluctantly recruited to defend the two brothers accused in the
Times
bombing.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ggbain-06468

All the rage and anger in the era fed Griffith’s imagination and led to his making
A Corner in Wheat
. “No editorial writer . . . could so strongly and effectively present the thoughts conveyed in this picture.”
Courtesy of the Paper Print Collection of The Library of Congress

The ornate Alexandria Hotel was
the
place to stay in Los Angeles at the turn of the century. It was at the Alex, in the aftermath of the bombing, that the unique and complicated lives of Burns, Griffith, and Darrow intersected.
Security Pacific Collection, Los Angeles Public Library

A cache of “soup”—dynamite—had been hidden by the conspirators in a locked piano box in the Jones barn. Billy Burns, a master showman, led police and reporters on a midnight raid to uncover the evidence.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ggbain-09156 and 09157

As the trial approached, the public relations war raged. In this flyer, labor trumpeted Darrow’s charge that habeas corpus had been suspended: The McNamaras had been kidnapped by Burns!
Courtesy Archives & Rare Books Library, University of Cincinnati

The entire case against the McNamara brothers was a “frame-up” insisted Samuel Gompers, the president of the American Federation of Labor. “Burns has lied.” (
Left to right:
Jim McNamara, Gompers, J.J. McNamara.)
Courtesy Brown Brothers USA

Working with D.W., Mary Pickford became the nation’s first movie star. She looked young enough to be the direc-tor’s daughter, but Mary was the embodiment of D.W.’s deeper desires.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-USZ62-57952