The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-02-18
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THE DYNAMITE TRAGEDY.

From private letter we take the fol
lowing account of the notorious Dyna-
mite plotter, Thomas, and his soiourn at
Bremen:
1t is known that Thomas used to room
| in the hotel ''Stadt Bremen, since the
last days of November last, and that he
often visited one of our best "cafes"
Incessantly following his devilish plan,
he put his machine in shape, and set it
into the barrel, which was flied with
explosive matter. For this purpose he
rented little shed, No. 172 ''Oster-
| thorswallstrasse," with no assurances.
This shed belonged TO the dentist
| Froerke, who did not use it. To this
place he ordered barrel, filed with ex-
| plosive matter \ report of the depart
ment of the Weser- Banhof states that
| he got this barrel per steamer "Rheinr
| from New York. 1t is very probable,
| though, that it was sent to New York
before, and that Thomas, unable at that
time to attain his devilish purposes, re-
ceived it there in person, and sent it
back again.
The explosive substance issupposed to
come from factory of tools and mate
rials for quarries on the Rhine, and
Thomas had sent several orders there
previous to this one. A new barrel was
made by the cooper Delvenshal, to order,
in which the contents of the old one
were filled and the clock-work inserted;
then the wOrkmen OF another firm had
to close the barrel
Before this the cOrpulent criminal
came to the store of the old cloekmaker
Brun and left the clock-work there for
the purpose OF oiIing and cleaning. The
percussion needle, however, and the
hammer were taken out: wet with pres
piration he delivered the machine,
which weighed not less than thirty
pounds Thomas came back to Mr.
Brun on the 29th of November, and
after having examined it, he observed
for a long time the silent move
ment of his machine, wrapped it
up in black oil-cloth and paid for the
work. He seemed to feel bad when the
clock-maker told him that the clock was
wound up. \ man who knows any
thing about the business would be able
at any moment to have a clock which is
so wound up, run down; Thomas, how
ever, preferred to wait for this, to the
day when it was run down, which was
the Sth of December. When the barrel
was ready, Thomas had TO find a dray-
man. Going up and down the Gsege-
strasse on the 9th of December, he got
two men who were employed by dray
man to take his barrel at half past six in
the evening, without telling anything
about it to their employer The Gan-
gerous load moved through the most
frequented streets of the city of Bremen
to the packing place of ths ''Nordden-
schen Lloyd" Thomas accompanied
the wagon ali the way up. At first he
walked in advance, then behind, con-
stantly telling the two men to drive
slowly; therefore he had to pay for the
little distance of seven hundred steps a
a carriage of two marks Those who saw
the barrel when being loaded say that it
had the shape of frustum of a cone,
about 12 feet high, and diameter of
about 3 feet at the bottom and feet at
the top. The cubic volume at the COM
pany's Office was given at "a cubic feet,
and the two workmen, who were accus-
toned to handle heavy goods, estimated
the weight of the barrel at $50 pounds,
We shudder at the thought in what
horrid danger those frequented parts of
the city were. There are trightful cat
astrophe, which happened on a free
place, could have been more disastrous