in september 1914 berkman and goldman split, with berkman hitting the road in an attempt to organize "anti-militarist leagues" in opposition to world war i and to federate the dispersed array of local anarchist groups into a unified organization. he arrived in california in the spring of 1915 where he became involved in the defense of mathew schmidt and david caplan, anarchists recently arrested following years living underground in connection with the october 1910 fatal bombing of the newspaper plant of the conservative "los angeles times." berkman became a primary organizer of the caplan-schmidt defense league in the summer of 1915 and henceforth devoted the bulk of his time to this legal fight, ending his formal editorial connection with "mother earth."