rly in August, Brown reported talk of arson in IWW circles. About August 21, Detective Fergusson was assigned to assist Moore - Moore said "in inquiries about the IWW"; Fergusson said "on military inquiries and German inquiries", and denied that he was investigating "fires or anything like that".
Despite Fergusson's disclaimer, it seems likely that Moore told him about the whispers reported by Joe Brown. Fergusson thought of his friend, Mac McAlister, whom he knew to be a wharfie of strong left-wing sympathies (although he denied that he knew McAlister to be an IWW sympathiser). Fergusson asked McAlister for information; McAlister said that there were rumours around the waterfront about IWW incendiarism; Fergusson asked for more - and perhaps at this point offered to put McAlister on the payroll as an informer. McAlister was already on the IWW rolls, although he was unfinancial; but he was not a particularly active member, and was certainly not a trusted member of the inner circle. However, he liked grog and money, and, in Scully's phrase, he was "tired of hard work". He fell in with Fergusson's proposal. p> McAlister obliged with a story about a mysterious Russian named "Androvitch" who was allegedly the source of supply for fire-dope. ("Androvitch" was never found, and probably never seen, despite the police stories about hunting for him night and day.)
McAlister may also have said at this time, as he and the police claimed, that a man named "Andrew" had first promised him, and then supplied him with, some fire-dope. But this cannot be taken as established. So far as I can discover, there is no documentary evidence for the existence of "Andrew" before September 17; nor is there any document to establish the existence of the bottle of fire-dope which McAlister was said to have received from "Andrew" on September 4 before the Government Analyst's report of September 21. Unfortunately, as discussed earlier, all the documents which might have provided contemporary support for these vital pieces of evidence had been lost.
Whatever the truth of this, the police certainly wanted more evidence, and McAlister set out to provide it. He produced the story of the drawing of lots, which introduced the fictitious character of Mahony. The police said that he gave them this story on September 7, but once again there was no independent documentary evidence for this - it was missing. However, the police provided confirmatory evidence with Detective Leary's story of shadowing McAlister and Tom Moore away from the IWW rooms on September 7, and overhearing Moore say to McAlister that "Twelve of the bastards must be let go together". This story was concocted by McAlister and the police. There is absolutely no evidence to connect any one of the Twelve - or indeed anyone else _ `51; with any of the twelve unsuccessful fires which occurred between September 8 and 12. It seems unlikely that the successful fires of June, July and August and these unsuccessful attempts could all have been the work of the same men, for why should the arsonists have lost their skill? What then had happened? p> The fact that, of all the business premises in Sydney, the police warned only four of the danger of arson, and that of these two were the scenes of unsuccessful fires, suggests that this whole series may have been a police provocation, designed to bolster a case that was still lacking in substance. However, Mr Shand argued persuasively before Mr Justice Street that this would have involved a grave risk of serious fires, and provocation could therefore not be considered.
The evidence of Harry Scully suggested another explanation. He claimed that Joe Fagin had told him that fifty or more lots of fire-dope had been distributed among trusted members of the IWW on Sunday, September 3. It is possible that this was a defective batch of dope, and that the dope so distributed was planted without effect on various premises the following weekend. (It is also possible that McAlister's concoction about "Androvitch", and perhaps "Andrew", was designed to provide an acceptable explanation for a bottle of fire-dope which he had acquired with guilty intent on September 3.)
However this may have been, the forgery case gave the police their first real lever.
Davis Goldstein financed the forgeries and the police had evidence of this. He had been an official of the IWW and was still a supporter; he was well known to and trusted by the leading members of the organisation. His brother Louis was not a Wobbly, but could be used to put pressure on Davis. The police let it be known that a deal was possible. Louis cracked easily; he was ready to give evidence, but knew nothing. However, he persuaded his reluctant brother to talk. Davis provided the first solid evidence of incendiarism: he acquired a bottle of fire-dope from Jack Hamilton. (In order to strengthen his evidenc...
