Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1876-01-08
What They Think About it.

1t is believed here, says Richmond,
CVa.) correspondent, that William
King Thompson, alias Thomasson,
of Mosel explosion notoriety, and
one Henry Thomas, who recently carried
ON business in Richmond, are one and
the same person, and this is strength
ened by the fact that the latter named
individual was a sort of chemist. A
local paper says: Thomas came here
about June or July, 1874, first renting
house in a suburbctl portion of the city,
but afterward, in the month of October,
a fine store on Main street, where he
established the Canton OH Color
Works." trade mark to which he had
neither title nor claim. He employed a
number of girls to put up his colors in
bottles, which subsequently turned out
to be nothing more than colored water,
which he called "analine dyes"
These bottles were beautifully label
ed, packed in handsome pasteboard
boxes and repacked in larger cases in
the finest style. He effected insurance
on his stock, which he claimed to be
worth $4,000, in four companies for
$4, 1000 in each, producing invoices at
the time for $4,000 worth of goods,
purporting to have been purchased by
him. Nearly all of these invoices after
ward turned out to be forgeries, the bill
heads of which were printed in this
city. About the hour of eleven
o'clock in the morning of day in April
last o fire broke out in the very room the
girls were at work in. Owing to the
combustible nature of the material and
the quantity of infammable matter in
the room, the flames spread rapidly,
and, while the house was saved by the
fire department, Thomas property was
partially destroyed. Two of the insur-
ance companies settled with him, but
the others investigated thecircumstances
of the fire and succeeded in securing in
formation which caused Thomas to de-
camp mysteriously, and he has never
been heard of since. His stock, which
was left here, sold for less than 5000,
but portion had been shipped to Gin
cinnati to a fictitious name, and por-
ton to Baltimore. That at Cincinnati
was called for, but that sent to Baltimore
never was claimed.
Thomas has since been regarded
as swindler, and as he called himself
an "analytical and synthetical chemist, !"
and had decided penchant for edo
ing " insurance companies, the idea has
struck several people that he might pos
sibly be the dynamite fend of the Mosel.
He first claimed to be an Englishman
and thon a native of Frederick, Md, but
could give no good business reference in
that State. He admitted that he had
been in nearly every city in the United
States, with the exception of Cincinnati,
which fact led parties to believe he
did really come from the latter city, but
that he was prudent enough to conceal
it. He had with him while here hand
some young woman, who lived with him,
as his wife, and a boy that many be-
lieved was Charley Ross.
This Henry Thomas looked to be
about forty-fve years of age, and was
four feet and five or six inches in height,
with decided stoop at the shoulders.
His eyes were black, but he had fur
tive and nervous look. His complexion
was somewhat dark and smutty, his
beard full, but ragged and shaggy; his
upper lip heavy, his head bald at the
top, and his whole appearance was gen.
orally slouchy and squalid. In the
opinion of the few who knew him here
he was just the sort of man to do any
thing desperate for the purpose of max
ing money, and the remarkable similar
ity in the published report of the char
acter of the man at Bremerhaven and
that of the man who was here seems to
justify the belief that they may have
been one and the same person.