The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-12-24
The Dynamite Plot.

The Dynamite Plot.
DEATH or TIE FrEND THOMAssEN-EEARe
IN REaARD TO ANOTHER STEAMER
ABOUT rwo HUNDRED KILLED AND
| wOUNDED--a PARALLEL CASE
-AUTHon OF THE PLOT.
Thomassen died at Bremen on Thursday
fsom the effects of iuj uries inflicted by
himself after the discovery of his helish
plot to destroy the Mosel BY dynamite. He
j stated that his true name was Wilham
King Thompson, and that he was native
! of Brooklyn, n. Y. He is believed to be
about thirty five years of age. lie confess.
| ed that he was once captain OF the vessel
! ''Old Dominion" and that he changed his
name to avoid being prosecuted for running
| the blockade during the civil war IN
| America; that he bought the explosive
! material in the United States and had It
forwarded to his address, and that the
! clock~wOrk attachment was manufactured IN
! GERMANY, and was set to explode the charge
i'll eight days. 1t is stated that he had his
clock work made by mechanician named
Fuchs, residing at BeInburg, 20 miles from
Bremen. The apparatus was constructed
to run noiselessly for ten days, when It
caused a lever to act and strike with force
of thirty pounds. Twenty similar ma
chimes had been ordered. The negotiations
OctNccH lUOIIiSOi sSuu L uSHS h"NO OSS''
carried on since 1873. When Fuchs visited
Thompson in Leipsic he was told By the
latter that tho machines we're requ red for
a manufactory in the United States.-
Thompson has not revealed the names of
his accomplices.
BREMEN, December 17.--ThompsOn's
wife has returned to Dresden. She ap>
pears to be innocent OF any completely III
her husbands crime. The total number of
, l.
estimated at 200.
LONDON, December 1S--g A. M.--The
Bremerhaven Zeitun0 asserts, in spite of all
contradictions, that according to 1homp-
sons confession there is another explosive
package on board the steamer Salier, where
one had already been discovered.
tThe North German Lloyd's steamer
Salier, which took the place of the steamer
Mosel, sailed from Bremerhaven Thursday
for Southampton and New York;
PARALLEL CASE.
a correspondent of the Herald says the
recent attempt TO destroy the steamer Mo-
sci, which resulted in the terrible prema-
ture catastrophe at Bremerbaven, has i
parallel except in its murdcrOns result in
the shipment of two cases of sol distant
silks on board the Vanderbilt ST Gamer Ariel,
i'll 1856, from the same port of Bremerhaven.
Captain Ludlow, who then commanded the
Ariel, received, as he passed the lighthouse
on his way to sea, n telegram from the
agents, Messrs. Ruppel & Son, saying
simply, ''Stop the ship He intended
paying no attention to this quasi absurd
demand, bnt OF the representation of the
European agent of the line, who happened
to be on board, lie did stop the ship, and
the two went to- the light>house, where :hey
soon received the news from the Bremen
agents that two cases declared as silks, of
which the marks were given, were stored i'll
the after hold, and which, instead of silks,
were filled with combustlbles and a clock
work arrangement to set them on fire when
the ship was at sea.
On searching the cases were found, aE6
we're as described above. They were sent
to Bremen, where they served to convict
the guilty parties, who soon after were
found and arrested. The mechanic en-
ployed to make the boxes and clock work
became conscience stricken, and ut the last
moment .'peacIed' OH his EMPLOYERS, who
proved to be father aud son, whose mo-
tive was, after insuring these cases heavily
in Vienna and elsewhere, to recover the
amount of Insurance. The father commit
ted suicide soon after arrest, and the son is
now in prison in Bremen for life. The
mechanic lives now on Staten Island.
THE AUTHOR OF THE PLOT.
.
! William King Thompson, the self>confess-
ell author of plot to destroy the North
! German blOyd's steamer Mosel, is not
/ known III Brooklyn as native of that city.
! Messrs. Oclrichs & Co., agents of the line
i'll this city, think that there is probably
! some mistake as to that portion of the con-
/ fessiOn. Thompson is known i'm New York,
however--or was some years ago. Mr.
| Geo. G. StenZ, the publisher of a German
! muSicnl Inllrnol nt M II Chatham, CT
called upon Oelricbs & Co, yesterday, and
said that he came with Thompson from
Hamburg to New York on the Thuringia
| IN 1870. Thompson, fine-looking man.
| with sandy hair and whiskers, told Mr.
Stenz that he was a native of Petersburg,
Va, and was on a visit to relatives in Cali
fornia. n week later Mr.. Stenz met him
in New York, and expressed surprise that
he had not gone to California. Thompson
said that having been blockade runner
and warm Southern sympathizer during
the war lac found residence in this country
! unpleasant, and was going back to Ger
many, where he had lived since the war;
MIR. +. w. Reimer, importer Of gloves and
hosiery at % White street, met Thompson
in Dresden some time ago, and supposed
him to be a gentleman in independent cir
cumstances. Concerning any blockade
runner named the Old Dominion nothing
could be learned yesterday. Philadelphia
and Boston have or had vessels Of tba,
name, but they are not remembered as
blockade runners. The Old Dominion
steamer of the line Of the same name here
was not built till after the war, Messrs.
Oelrichs & Co, have been unable to dis
cover that any suspicious assurances pn the
cargo of the Mosel have beer effected here
and believe that Thompson was probably
crazy.
THIS horrible business at Bremerhaver
grows worse and worse as ne W details reacl
us. 1t is now stated that at least one in
. fernal machine similar to tha. which ex
plodcd as it was going on board the Nose
was found on board the Salier, which too,