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there was no rioting. Then one night a dramatic event led
Darrow out of his dilemma. Some railroad cars were
burned in the Chicago yards. Darrow got to the scene while
they were still burning and he saw that nothing was being
done to put out the fire. The company blamed Debs and
the American Railway Union for the destruction; the ARU
charged the company had set its own cars aflame in order
to hang a Federal conspiracy case on the strikers. Darrow
suspected Debs and the ARU were right and when the conspiracy
charge followed, Darrow gave up his plum as rail-
road lawyer to defend Debs and his executive board on accusations
of conspiracy and of violating a Federal court
injunction. It was the beginning of a career as labor lawyer
for Darrow, who went on to defend Big Bill Haywood,
many other union leaders, and finally the McNamara
brothers in the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building.
In effect, Darrow became a leader in the trade-union
movement of which he was never a member.
Dad's services to organized labor were less dramatic and
less publicized than were Darrow's. Dad held offices at the
local level only. He did, however, attend all the conventions
and probably he helped write bylaws and exerted
other minor influences in the movement. He also spoke for
the interests of labor when he could. A slender, quick-
moving man with surprising energy, he held strong convictions
and was a powerful talker; wherever he went he
got into a heated argument. He was a good public
speaker, with a low-pitched voice that was well modulated
and carried effectively without seeming loud.