Part 3 of 8 -- By Roger Ruthhart, Dispatch/Argus writer

In 1908, John Looney sold controlling stock in his newspaper, The Rock Island News -- but area historians say he never intended to give up control.

About 2:30 a.m. the night after W.W. Wilmerton took over the newspaper, a dynamite bomb shattered the press in the building at 1817 2nd Ave. Publication was suspended. (See photo)

The explosion extensively damaged the west side of the building, which housed the newspaper offices. Damage also was done to the east side, containing the Caterer Cafe in front and the Mirror Saloon to the rear.

A hall down the middle of the building separated the east and west sides. The pressroom was on the extreme back, near the alley and across the hall from the Mirror Saloon.

``The dynamite or other high explosive which was used was apparently placed on the press and attached to a fuse extending to the corridor door,'' The Argus reported. ``The press is practically a complete wreck, and the entire interior of the publication rooms, with the exception of the composing room, was wrecked.''

Myron Jordan, acting editor of The News, who lived on the third floor, told The Argus a deal had been completed the previous night ``by which W.W. Wilmerton of this city secured stock of the company, and yesterday the actual payment of cash was made and the new owners held a meeting. Plans were begun to move the newspaper from the Looney building.

``Neither John nor W.C. Looney was to have any further connection with the publication and would not have been here today had it not been for this explosion,'' Mr. Jordan said.

He hinted that John Looney was the vandal.

Mr. Wilmerton also told The Argus the Looney brothers would have no involvement in The News under his ownership. ``I bought the whole business and will run it without them,'' he said.

According to The Argus, John Looney owned the building, which had been the target of a long, drawn-out legal fight for the foreclosure of mortgages held by G.A. Koester of Davenport.

Silencing Looney

Two days after the explosion, The Argus reported that it would be difficult to convince people the Looneys were not still involved in The News. ``It may be necessary to go even further, even to the obliteration of the name, which has come to represent in the eyes of the decent people of this community all the odious practices to which any element of the public press may be degraded.''

Whatever the cause, the result of the blast was that Mr. Looney was unable to create scandal via newsprint for almost a year. Under Mr. Wilmerton, The News became The Tri-City Morning Journal.

But efforts to silence Mr. Looney were just beginning. Not long after the explosion, a shot was fired at him from behind a tree. Mr. Looney, scratched by the bullet, fell from the buggy in which he was riding, according to The Argus.

Later that year, as Mr. Looney stood by the dining-room window of his Bel Air mansion, a man jumped from behind a tree and shot and wounded him. Mr. Looney claimed Mr. Wilmerton was the shooter.

Two mysterious blazes followed the dynamite attack and the removal of The News from the Looney building. The first, on Nov. 2, 1908, ruined the Mirror Saloon, operated by Looney associate Dan Drost.

When Mr. Looney refused a $7,000 insurance settlement, the company canceled his policy, according to The Argus. On Nov. 23, the day before the cancellation took effect -- and just as a suit for collection of $32,000 indebtedness against the building was to be filed -- a second fire did another $75,000 damage to the building.

Years later, when Mr. Drost was publishing a rival scandal sheet, he issued an ``extra'' in which he accused Mr. Looney of starting the fire.

Meanwhile, Mr. Looney resumed publication of The News, this time from a garage in the side of the hill at his home at 2012 16th Ave.

Duel on 3rd Avenue

Mr. Wilmerton and Mr. Looney came to blows again on Feb. 22, 1909.

``The expected happened this afternoon at 4:20 when W.W. Wilmerton and John Looney met near Nineteenth Street on Third Avenue and indulged in an affray with pistols,'' The Argus reported.

``Both proved poor shots, Looney being hit in the side. Seven shots were fired. Both were placed under arrest.''

It was not initially believed that either man had been wounded. Only after Mr. Looney complained of the way police treated him was it learned he had been shot. Dr. G.G. Craig Sr. examined him and determined he had an entrance and exit wound, but that no organs had been hit, according to Argus reports at the time.

Witnesses said the two were 20 to 25 feet apart when they opened fire.

``The two men then receded to the sidewalk and sought shelter from the bullets behind telephone poles on opposite sides of the street,'' The Argus reported. ``While they were in this position, several other shots were exchanged. Wilmerton ceased firing and turned and entered his office. As he did so, Looney fired a parting shot.''

Mr. Looney crossed the street just west of Wilmerton's office. ``He walked down toward the Safety Building, emptied his revolver of the discharged shells and, reloading the revolver, started back toward Wilmerton's office, where he was placed in custody just before he reached the edge of Wilmerton's office,'' The Argus reported.

When officers entered Mr. Wilmerton's office, he was standing there with a loaded revolver, but surrendered, The Argus said.

During the exchange, one bullet went through the window of Mr. Wilmerton's office, narrowly missing a young woman. Several others struck the pole Mr. Looney hid behind.

Later testimony indicated Mr. Looney fired the first and last shot. He was bound over to the grand jury.

The Argus reported that the duel ``grew out of a tangle in the affairs of the old publication established and conducted by Looney until it passed from his control to Wilmerton at the time of the mysterious bomb explosion at the Looney Building on Second Avenue. Several months passed without any disturbance and no eruption of feeling between Looney and Wilmerton.

``A few weeks ago, Looney renewed his publication and, in the first issue, made an attack on Wilmerton relative to the business affairs of the old publication. This brought forth an indirect editorial reply from Wilmerton. In the last issue of Looney's publication, he reproduced this in his paper and indulged in a scathing and bitter personal attack upon Wilmerton and his family.

``When this became known, there was a general feeling that it might result in just some such an affair as that which took place yesterday afternoon,'' The Argus said. ``The news of the pistol duel on the street, while it occasioned great excitement, caused no surprise.''

Wednesday: An attack on police and riots in the streets.