The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-01-24
THE DYNAMITE MACHINE.
TESTIMONY OF THE MAKERS.


RELATIONSHIPS FATAL MIsrAKE-PECULIAR-
ITIEs OF THE GERMAN CODE.
A letter from Berlin TO the London Times
gives come interesting facts connected with
the Investigation into the dynamite horror:
Thanks to the unwearisd activity of the
police and the ready cooperation of every
right minded person, the preliminary con-
triyances of the assassin Thomas are being
completely unTavelled. All the workmeD
employed by him are coming forward of
their own accord. One of the most interest
ing depositions has been made by one Herr
Rhind, matchmaker at Vienna. Tbis gen.
tlemsn having exhibited an eight-dsy clock
in April, 1874, received visit from a
for a Russian, and certainly spoke
very Indifferent German. TIE visitor,
whom Herr Rhind has had no diff
Guilty in Identifying as Mr.. Thomas, or
ThomasseD, since he has seen the photo
graph, desired Herr Rhind to construct the
mcdel of twenty day clock which should
be noiseless, and at the end of the time
fixed give single stroke. To indicate the
force required, Thomas took up hammer
and dealt a powerful blow on the table 81
which the two were standing. Herr Rhind de-
claring his willingness TO carry out the order,
aprice of 800, in gold, was agreed upon. A
few days later Thomas called again to in
after expressing satisfaction paid $50 on &C
count. After this the designs were put into
the hands of an operative named Carl
Gluckschsll, who constructed the model in
five months. Upon the delivery of the
flushed article Herr Rhipd had the NORTH
cation to find that Thomas would not take
the clock unless more powerful spring was
inserted. Two or three more springs were
tried before
THE FAsTIDIoUs CUSTOMER
was suited. After three months experiments
Thomas at last was content and paid $40 ex-
ira for the trouble he had given. He, how.
ever, was Obliged to leave Vienna, as he said
for st. Petersburg before the mechanism was
ready to be delivered. He therefore req
quested Herr Rhind to send the order to the
address of M. Petro Wiskoff, post restante,
b 1denbach, leaving a printed card with this
name on it. Herr Rhind did as he was told,
and, about Christmas, 1874, despatched the
model to It's destination. 1t was only called
for In The beginning OF February, 1875, Oh
which occasion the $50 remaining unpaid
was liquidated. Herr Rhind, who has
handed over the card, SIS well as some of the
rejected springs, to the Vienna police, stated
that nothing could be more natural and I'M
suspicious than the asssssin's behavior in
the chop. He played the part
OF Distinguished foreigner to perfection,
and, giving himself out for a Russian,
assumed Sclavonic accent in speaking
German. He was portly man, with hair
inclining to red, elegant mapners, and a
jOvial countenance. He would laugh aud
crack jokes in giving his orders like a
wsrm-hearted, genial man of the world
The only thing that seemed in the least to
upset the equanimity were those INSULT
cieDt specimens of the handspring he success
siYely rejected and replaced. And we'll
might his temper be ruffied by these re-
trscf DRY spirals. After what has come to
LIGHT his last lew days, we know that the
Ominous spring killed him and subverted
his design. Thomas, as your readers are
aware, took his model to one Herr Fuchs, a
at Bernburg, Ouch OF Anhslt,
whom he desired to make powerful clock
alter this pattern. Herr Fuchs complied,
and framed the machine, but the Vienna
model remaining IN his hands was trans.
ferred by him to the Bremen police directly
the terrible news of the crime got abroad.
Two days ago, at a scientific lecture given
at Bremen by DIR. Hapke, this model was
produced with the consent of the authori-
ties. Considerably smaller and more
simply formed than
THE MACHINE
made from it, it yet displays all the charac-
teristic features of the latter, and allows
judges to form an exact opinion of
the merits and DEFICIENCIES of the work. DR..
Hapke, therefore, was enabled to demon
strate that the spring, though strong enough
for the complicated wheels attached to il
while the machine was stationary, could
not Withstand the strain consequent upon
violent and sudden motion. This opinion
was confirmed by Herr Bruins, a clockmaker
at Bremen, to whom the assassin gave his
for anal brush up before consign-
fe 49, Har "A abr saI lna
stated to be the view taken by Herr Fuchs
at Bernburg and Herr Rhind at Vienna. All
agree that IL they had been told that the
mechanism was likely to be Tudely handled
and thrown about when wounu up they
would have either inserted different sort
of spring or modified the wheel work con-
nected with it. But this was the very point
the assassin would not reveal. Giving out
his internal machine sometimes as a contri-
vance for breaking silk threads, sometimes
as peculiar description of
CLOCK for controlling workmen,
he never was in position to betrsy
that its allotted task would have to done by
Knowing bis own secret designs.
he certainly had an idea that the spring
ought to be more powerful than any presen
ted to him by the unsuspectiDg mechani-
clans; but though he rejected several in sue
cession, he failed to secure the strength re-
quired to prevent accidents on the road. He
hellish secret began. Viewing the explosion
in the light of these facts, there can be no
of doubt that the hammer fell when
the chest was thrown on the pavement, and
that the dangerous liquid was set sblaze by
the regular action of the igniting sppar .tus,
not by the mere conclusion consequent
upon the sudden crash. The machine as
we now know, was about thirty pounds in
weight, thirty-6ve centimeters long, and
centimeters broad. 1t con-
tanned two springs, the one somewhat
stronger than the other, from eight to nine
in width and three-quarters of a
centimeter In diameter. The springs were in
closed in brass cases provided with teeth
fitting into the revolving shaft of the main
wheel, to which six minor wheels were at
tached.
THE HAMMER,
which was to come into action after week
or ten days, fell with force of thirty
pounds. Imagine machine of this size
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