The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-01-07
IrHn MRamnnna.ylsS .Ex.rnosI,os.
Interests Details.
lrHosEAl,s .pllLsi.5c! oyE. REp b.
rbe Berlip Correspondent of The London

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The Berlin correspondent Of The London
Daily 1escs writes: rs.
I. Among the persons who were moving
about the ruins OF the catastrophe. in the
. course of the afternoon, was first.class pas.
serger, seemingly q foreigner, who expressed
great, regret at the accident, aud also ad.
dressed several questions to the captain.
| When, during the evening, some persons
were passing through the stateroosn, groans
were heard to Issue from one of the cabins.
One hurried Immediately toward the spot.
4 and the door, closed on the inside, was for.
| ci5ly broken open. Stretched out on tho
| sofa was mai In shirs-sleeves breathing
with difficulty, perfectly unconscious, and
/ his face covered with blood. ae was
| the passenger observed above. identi,
fed as William K. Thomas, or New
| York. The doctors discovered him to
4 be severely wounded In the head, and or
dered him to be transported TO the lazarets,
| where the other victims were lying. at the
| first medical examination, merely superficial,
owing to the darkness Of the cabin, II was
naturally supposed that he was also suf-
ferer from the explosion; aud only when
| the captain asserted he had spoken to
! Thomas after the catastrophe, and 1T was
stated the cabin door had been locked from
! the inside, was more minute search made,
terminating IN the discovery of six-barrelled
revolver under the SOLE, from which two
shots had been fired. The transport Of
Thomas, Very corpulent mar, to the in
| Urinary was performed with great exersion
by six or seven sailors, who rolled the
wounded man in blanket, carefully carried
him down the steps alongside the Mosel, and
| bore him ia cradle to the place where the
other sufferers were under medical skill.
\ fn
After repested questions t.rd urgent admoni-
tjons he confessed TO have been the owner Of
the fatal case The criminal examination,
instituted in consequence OF this declaration,
brought circumstances TO light from which
II was proved The explosion did not arise
from negligence, but from plan deeply and
coolly laid.'
| WHAT PRECEDED TIE CALAMITY.
The Berlin correspondent of the Times
supplies the following details Of the crime :
srhe clock having been finished even be.
fore the arrival Of the explosive liquid from
America, all the necessary preparations seem
to nave been completed to ward the end of the
autumn. The poniard was whetted, and
there was nothing between the murderer and
his victims but a conscience; but that con-
science did not act. From the time at which
1 he fixed his voyage, as we'll as from other
circumstances, it must be concluded that
Thomas was fully aware Of the tendency of
dynamite and other nitro-glycerine prepare.
tons to explode spontaneously in cold
weather. Directly the liquid begins to
freeze, the icy crystals formed in it rise to
the surface, and if the vessel is moved are
exploded by friction. Following the usual
practice o. travellers, the assassin engaged
bis berth some time before starting. This
was about the middle Of November, and he
determined to leave early in December. AS
frost is very rare in Germany before the end
of December, this, in any less exceptional
: year, would have insured success as far as
Shipping the murderous cargo was cor
, cerned; but this season winter bad been un-
commonly early and severe. all over Ger
many we had from ten to twenty degrees
Reaumur of cold in the first week Of this
month, and though the temperature became
somewhat miidcr in the second week, ice
did not wholly disappear before the 18th.
But the murderer would not or could not
- wait. He had paid his passage, and was
hardly in position TO forfeit the
= money. Nor, if Dresden Tumors are
correct, could he afford to leave, bis fam
lily much longer in their embarrassed con-
. dtion. So he set off with his terrible lug.
gage, unheeding cold and death. he, how.
ever, took every precaution to keep the chest
warm, and on his arrival at Bremen repeat.
:. ediy told the people to whom he intrusted
il that it must not be exposed to cold.
, While at Bremen, where he seems to have
arrived some time before the ship left, be
was busy completing his arrangements. He
; shipped q barrel of caviar, insuring it for
ESQ, sum estimated as far above the
value of the article. He communicated
with one Mr.. Elmenhorst, OF the firm
of Kafesch & StosSky,. asking him what
he would charge for the transport of twenty
|, seven chests to America, but did not settle
4 with him, finding the terms too high; ard
he probably correSponded with those parties
at Southampton who bsd charge of the
{ cargo that was to be senton board when the
: ship called at that port, and the insurance
premium on which was to make his
fortune. What that cargo was, with
whom deposited, and by whom in.
sured or to be insured, the detec-
tives are engaged at this momeQt in unravel.
, ling. On the morning of Saturday the 11th
instant the assassin went on board the Mo.
{ sci, which was to leave that afternoon for
} New York vtd' Southampton. He had some
: luggage with him, but not the chest that was
to sink the good ship. This he had ordered
! to be sent on board after him, and, whether
by accident or designedly, it arrived on the
: quay after the bell had rung. The assassin
\ at that moment kept below, looking after bis
: other goods, and probably selecting place
, where the fatal engine was to be slowed
q away. In embarking on the shpand accom-
u panying the chest in the first part ofEthe
= voyage he can have bad no other object but
!. to see the machine safely housed. Once Sc
; curely wedged in among other chests In the
: hold, and protected by cases above and
J around, it would have been harmless
: enough until the hammer fell. AS he YVES to
= = have left the Mosel long before that dread
.. hour, at Southampton, he could not have
= been hurt or even compromised by the ships
{ disappearance. on the high seas. After few
: weeks anxious suspense we should have re.
ceived the dismal news of another tragedy
!, at seq, and thought no more about it; crew
4 and passengers would have been dead, the
: murderer in possession of bis spoils, and the
:, world waggng on as usual. But things fel
{ out differently. In the hurry of impending
!. departure the chest was thrown violently or
{ the pavement at the foot of the crank thai
was to tranfer it to the vessel, the dynamite
crystals struck against each other, and sur
rounding humanity ceased to be as the cold
globules danced up and down. At that mo.
!, ment one hundred and twenty.eight persons
were dead, men and women. This is the
last number ascertained. Sixty corpses have
been identified, twenty.eight more have moi
: been identified, and forty persons are
missing. having presumably been re.