The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-02-13
From the Futsbarg DESPATCH Feb. IL
FIENDISH ATTEMPT TO MURDER A WHOLE
FAMILY BY MEANS OF AN INTERNAL MA


CHINE.
The citizens of Lawrencevie, and in fact of the
city, were not little surprised during Saturday
night and Sunday upon learning of most bastard
" and iendish attempt to murder Mr.. Augustus
Hoveler, one of our most respectable and wealthy
German citizens, together with his family, by
means of an internal machine, which had been
placed prior to its explosion upon the outside sill
of one of the windows of the room in which they
were sleeping.
One of our reporters visited the locality on Sun
day afternoon, and gained full particulars of the a
fair.
front room, the first floor, in the east end of the
house. About nine o'clock, Saturday evening,
Mr.. Hoveer was seated at his writing desk and
book case, in the corner next the end window, and
his wife, who was lying in bed, ill with dptheria,
noticed, or thought she did, man looking in at
the window, the shutters being open. She men
toned the circumstances to her husband, and re-
quested him to put down the venetian blind, which
he did, although he expressed his belief that his
wife had only imagined she saw a man looking in,
and giving the matter no further thought, resumed
his seat at the writing DESK his left side being i'm
mediately in 'front.' and his shoulders about on
level with the sill of the window. Next the hail.
and opposite the window looking out on the porch,
and the shutters of which were closed were sleep.
ing babe about nine months old, in crib, and
next a child between two and three years old
Mrs. Hoveler was lying upon bed in the south
west corner OF the rnnn' and inme dae.y Opposite
in bed on the floor were sleeping TWO boys, eight
and ten years of age. Mr.. Hoveer closed up his
writing desk about halt-past ten and retired to
bed.
Between eleven and twelve O'Clock Mr.. II. and
his wife awakened by a tremendous noise as
if the house was being torn to atoms, and immedi-
ately sprang from the bed. The room was filled
with smoke, and from the smell of powder, Mr.. H..
at once thought something had been thrown into
the room. His first precaution was to flee into the
rear room which adjoined, and the door of which
had been left open, fearing that more would be
thrown in, noticing the open window. Discover
ing that the bed in which the boys were sleeping
was on fire, and that the hair of one of them
was burning, he put out the flames, and with his
wife and four children, none of whom, wonderful
as it may seem, were injured, retired to another
part of the house.
/ Returning to the room he found it complete
wreck, the sash, glass and venetian blind of the
corner window having been shivered to atoms, and
even portion of the lower casing forced inside
The glass and fragments of wood were scattered
about in every direction through the front and
rear room. Going out to the porch, he found on
it large piece of fuse yet burning. Very few
minutes sufficed to produce the conviction that a
most diabolical attempt had been made to murder
the family.
Sunday morning revealed the nature of things
more satisfactorily, demonstrating with terrible
certainty the superlatiye iendshness of the author
or authors of the bellsh plot. The internal ma
chine, for such it was, from the fragments of it
found, must have consisted of a wooden box, about
foot long and four or five inches square, filled
with powder and bullets, and fuse attached. 1t
had been placed on the sill of the window and after
igniting the fuse, the worse than villain probably
retired convenient distance to observe the effect
Of the explosion.
The box, from appearances, placed on the
sill with the fuse he inside, hence the greatest
force of the explosion outside. The report was
heard IN East Liberty, and supposed by citizens
there and in the city, well as in the immediate
neighborhood of the house, to be that of a cannon
fired at the Arsenal. Glass was broken in every
window of the house, also in dwellings adjacent
Up to four o'clock Sunday evening between thirty
five and forty bullets of different sizes found
in the sleeping room and outside of the house.
Two of the bullets struck the ceiling, one struck
oil-painting over the mantelapiece, and another
smashed the glass of picture on the opposite side
of the room from the window. The shutters were
much blackened and scorched with powder, and
the bannsters and floor of the porch, we'll as the
sill of the window, were burned by the fuse.
Blood stains were discovered on the railing of
the porch and about the grounds, and from this it
was inferred that the person who had ignited the
fuse was injured by the explosion.
The police were advised of the occurrence and
visited the house during the night. They picked
up on the sward, some distance from the house,
portions of the Internal machine, and considerable
quantity of marlin Irvine, with which it had evil
IDENTIFY been wrapped. The box was made of inch
pine stuff, the pieces secured together with ten
penny nails. All the pieces were collected to-
gether and taken charge of by the police.
Mayor Wilson visited the house on Sunday after
noon, and had an interview with Mr.. Hoveler.-
Suspicious entertained against certain parties,
but they too indefinite to require further no.
tice at this time. The guilty parties are supposed
to have been instgated by revenge for some real
imaginary wrong Mr.. Hoveer was much exct-
ed about the matter, and seemed overwhelmed with
fear, so much so, that he hesitated before making
an information, and subsequently desired to with
draw it, dreading that any action his part to
apprehepd the parties would induce them to make
another attempt upon his life.
We trust the guilty parties may be apprehended,
and, if proven guilty, receive the punishment due
for.such a heinous offence. The design was to
murder Mr.. Hoveler, and to accomplish this, the
fiends did not take into consideration the family
The escape was providential. How the destructive
material in the box was arranged, can only be sur
missed. The fact that the bullets were scattered
about in SO many different directions, indicates
that they were placed in the box with this end in
view.
THE JAPANESE AT HoME,-The correspondent of
the New York Times gives such an account of the
reception of the returned embassy, and the Ameri-
cans accompanying, at Jeddo, that will occasion
considerable disappointment. The writer SAYS that
the Prime Minister evinced the utmost Indifference
to the details of the visit to this country, and ex
cused himself to Mr. Harris from hearing anything
about it, on the ground that "the days were very
short, and he had good deal of business on hand"
All the costly presents of machinery, carriages,
&C.. which our people heaped SO literally upon the
embassy, were heaped together with the utmost
carelessness and Indifference. But the most Curl
GUS disclosure awaited the removal of the Dahgreen
guns No less than seventeen of these formidable
guns were discovered in shed-which had been
made after the model of presented by Com.
Perry; and one of the officers declared that they
had over a thousand of the same guns mounted
upon the forts and in the arsenals of YeddO!
The OH FEvER.-The Petroleum, Coal Oil
contagion is rapidly spreading through Western
Virginia and the Southern counties of Ohio, and
has infected those heretofore supposed to be proof
against speculative diseases. "Every man" says
the Wheeling htelligencer "who visits the vicinity
of Pittsburg or Parkersburg, comes back with his
mind distracted and bis conversational powers
limited to the utterance of the simple words, 'oil
'ile,' and boring" In Wheeling large COM
pany has been formed for the purpose of prospecting
the surrounding country, and boring for oil where
surface indications discovered. merchant
from Baltimore is announced among those who
have invested nearly their entire possessions in the
oil business at Parkersbarg and Pittsburg.
gold fish of very large size has been caught in
sne Potomac opposite Washington city. 1t is sup
Posed that it escaped from some Of the ponds about