The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-08-04
AN INFERNAL MACHINE.

FrENDrsH ATTEMPT AT MURDER IN PHILADEL-
PHIA-A MOIHER-IN-LAw THE VICTIM AND
HER soN-IN-LAw THE CRIMINAL.
The Philadelphia Press of the 22d inst,
contains the following account OF a diabOli-
cal attempt at family murder: Int midst
of the intense excitement concerning the
abduction ofthe Ross child, another crime,
only less important because of it's failure,
claims the attention of an already alarmed
public. This is a deliberately planned plot
| TO destroy the life of 2 person by the use of
an ssinfernal machine" equal in horror to
any of the attempted crimes of that character
related as happening in this or other countri-
es 1t is the first of its kind that has ever been
/ heard of in this city, and, like the kidDap-
! ping case, possesses, if possible, a more vivid
interest because of its very novelty. The
circumstances as far as could be CLEANED
! from the detectives last night, until which
time they have been working the matter 81
iently and surely, are as follows: he reader
ofthe Press will remember the double TRACE
| DIV enacted at the house of Charles G.. Herring,
| carpet dealer, on Second street, below
South, on the Goth of July last, when his
son-in-law Edward Shusterreter, poisoned
himself and murdered his wife, supposed
then and now from domestic troubles of
some description Whether arising out of
/ this calamity or not, no one can at present
tell, but it seems Immediately following
this, another son-in-law of Mr.. Herring,
named George Wagner, has been on bad
terms with his fatherss family, especially
with the mother-in-law, Mrs. Herring. 1t
| is rumoreG that Wagner wanted to go
into business with Mr.. Herring, and
that Mrs. Herring obisc5ed, thus arous-
ing Wagner's anger and final attempt at
revenge. Others say they were family troub-
| les of another sort. However, there APP
pears to have been something TO bring mat
| tiers lately to a crisis. On Saturday after
noon last, about o'clock, Mr., Herring al
| leges that little boy, apparently about 10
years of age. entered his store at No. COG
South Second street, and placed letter di-
rected to Mrs. Herring in mis- hand, and laid
A PAPER PACKAGE
on the top of roll of oil cloth which hap
pened to be standing by. The messenger
said that the latter was present for Mr..
Herring. Seeing that the letter was directed
to his wife, he took that and the package to
her in another apartment. The letter was
opened, but Mrs. Herring suspecting that
something was wrong from the mysterious
circumstances surrounding the gift, with
true German idea of expression, ex-
claimed that the package looked like
"spite box" in English vernacular ian
internal machine.r With a wonderful pre-
science of evil she refused to have it opened,
and would not even touch it. MIR. Herring
then proceeded to unrOll the bundle. Three
or four wrappers of newspaper We're torn off
and a wooden box disclosed. 1t was fitted
with sliding lid. 1t was gently opened,
there being still something dread
ful expected, and to the CONSERVATION
of the whole family, who, with the ex-
ceptiOn of one member. were now gath
cred in the room, found to contain about
three pounds of powder, loosely poured in,
on top of which was set a strip OF wood
covering the entire width of the box,
pierced with holes, into which number of
lucier matches had been stuck with the
snatch end upward. The draw-lid was
lined with sandpaper and fitted so as to
come in contact with the matches, and so ex-
plode the death-dealing contents. Terri
bly, alarmed, and in a state of nervous
excitement not to be wondered at, Mr.. Her |
ring fastened to the central station and in
formed the police authorities ofthe devilish /.
attempt. The letter and box were at once |
placed in the hands of Capt. Heins,ans Of |
ficers Joyce and Mears were entrusted to |
work up the case. The first thing done was
to examine closely the handwriting of the |
letter. Suspicion was at once directed to |
ward the sOn-in-law, Wagner. A mum
Der of notes and other matterwritten by him
were compared with the letter, and
there was a strong resemblance detected be-
tween the writing upon a bill which had
been presented to Mr.. Herring by Wagner
and that of the letter in question. Experts,
after careful comparison, declared them to
effort had been made, by the use of large
characters and many lourishes, TO disguise
| the fictitiously signed epiStle. warrant
was at once issued for his arrest, and |
it was not until yesterday afternoon
that Wagner was arrested and lock ed up at
the central station. Here the prisoner
gave his name as Edward Wagner, his age
as % years, and his residence at sos South
Fitch street, where he has lately resided,
having formerly lived in the house of Mr..
Herring. At the hearing in the case this
| afternoon the full facts of the case will be
legally made bare. Enough has been de-
veloped to merit calling it a most atrociOus
and
| NOTORIOUS DESIGN,
which, if it had proved successful, would
have destroyed many lives. The letter
which accompanied the box, as mentioned
above, was written with studied careless
ness. A single sheet of ordinary note paper,
covered with blots and smears and written
on both sides, contained the false message.
The envelope was directed;
Mrs. G. C. Herring,
6O6 South Second street,
Present
The contents were worded and spelled as
follows:
PHILADELPHIA, July IL, 1874.
| Mas. C. c.. HERRING You will have the
! kindness of looking at samples of the win
dow shades inclosed in package you will
find something very saleable in your store
they are a new patterned article which will
demand a great call on you in few days
You can exhibit the same IN your store free
oil charge if not suitable return the same to
factory No 555S North Front street.
! C. w. EsHLER & Co.
The box is plainly made and exteriorly
possesses no remarkable feature. 1t is
| about eight inches long, three wide, and
four deep. The method of filling it, which
was followed for the sake of safety to the
inventor, has evidently been to slide the
lid of the box tightly, then overturn it,
place the wood with tine matches in first,
and then pour the powder over all. the bot
tom, which at first served for the top. being
firmly held to its place by paper pasted