Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-12-29 | Page 12 | Stephens Plotter Well Known Here

STEPHENS PLOTTER WELL iOli HERE1 Ringleader in Attempt to Kill California Governor Active in I. W. W. William Hood, alias Frank T. Dougherty, Dough-erty, ringleader of the I. W. W. gang which tried to assassinate Governor William D. Stephens last Monday night by dynamiting the executive mansion in Sacramento, Cal., was once active among the I. W. W. in Salt Lake, according ac-cording to officers who have been investigating in-vestigating their activities in Utah, and his arrest by the police of Sacramento is a hard blow to the remaining members mem-bers of the organization in this city, who are keeping under cover pending the jirosecution of the other ringleaders ringlead-ers in Chicago. ' When he was in Salt Lake, Hood was known by the name of William Reilly. So close a watch was kept on his movements, move-ments, however, that he followed the advico of his associates and left for other parts more than a year ago. There is no question in the minds of local officers that Hood, or Reilly, was implicated in throwing phosphorus into fields of growing grain throughout the northwest, receiving his supply from a confederate in Salt Lake who success-; fully evaded the vigilance of the federal fed-eral authorities. A small piece of phosporus enclosed in a piece of damp paper will soon develop de-velop sufficient heat to start a blaze in the ripening grain, and by this means hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grain were destroyed during the past year. Most of this work, it is believed, can be traced to Hood. Hood is a member of a .gang of I. W. W. that went, through California and Oregon destroying orchards by driving headless copper nails into fruit trees, causing them slowly to die. Headless nails were used so that detection would be. difficult. Numerous other acts of vandalism, for the purpose of hindering the progress prog-ress of the war. are attributed to Hood and his gang of law breakers, but now that he and others, equally dangerous, are in jail, where they probably will remain until after the termination of the war at least, local agitators have ceased their activities.' A careful w-atch, however, on all of their move ments is rjeing KcpL uy Mate auti icu-eral icu-eral authorities.