The true northerner., 1876-03-10
THE DYNAMITE FIEND.
The Identity of the Monster Finally Es-
tabIished.

The Identity of the Monster Finally Es-
tabIished.
The st. Louis Republican Identifies
Thomassen, the dynamite monster, as
one Alexander Keith, Jr., son of one and
nephew of another prosperous brewer in
Halifax, n. S., and during the early days
of the war person of considerable note
in that city. The particulars recited by
the Republican make it seem probable
that the Thomas OF Thomassen of Dres-
den, in 1875, was really the Keith of
Halifax in the years preceding 1863, and
that the identity of the mysterious vii
lain, so carefully guarded from his wife
and from his later companions. is at last
cleared up. He seems then to have pos
sessed the same jovial, convivial charac-
teristics; the same huge capacity for
food and drink, and the same art of pass
ing with everybody for q Jolly, open
hearted, good-natured fellow, as those
which ore recorded of him in his rela-
tions with the American society in Dres-
den and i'll his recent voyages across the
Atlantic. He was known among his
friends and familiars as Sandy, title
obviously derived from his hair, and
which fits equally the chevelure of the
monster into which he grew; and no So
cial gathering or drinking bout was COM
plete without his presence. In the early
days of the war he left his employment
i'll his fathers brewery and seems to have
engaged largely in the business of block
ade-running, and TO ha' in some way
become possessed of large amounts of
money. His credit rose with these ac-
QUESTIONS. Irregular cargoes of cotton
and tobacco were consigned to him, and
he was intrusted not only with money to
purchase supplies for shipment to the
blockaded ports but with the safe keep
ing of the funds of fugitive Confeder-
ates who made Halifax n temporary
place of refuge and asylum. Late III
1864 he departed for New York
on n pretense of business, and
Halifax saw him no more. He carried
of all the funds he could lay hands on,
having appropriated the proceeds of the
cargoes consigned to him, and scattered
forgeries right and left. He was fol-
lowed by handsome Nova Scotia girl
who had been servant in the hotel
where he had lived and dispensed n
bountiful hospitality during his prosper
GUS blockade-rlnning days. This un-
happy female came back haggard and
woe-stricken q few months afteward,
with the story that she had married him
in New York, where she had nursed him
through severe and dangerous illness.
In due time she gave birth to twins, who,
as well as herself, are since dead. 1t was
not long after this that Keith, under the
name of Thomas or Thompson, appeared
in ST. Louis, and there within q year he
married the lady who is now his widow,
and who, with her children, arrived at
this port from Europe but few weeks
ago.
1t is not likely that this lady, who is
spoken of as person of education and
refinement, ever knew his true name or
any OF the particulars of his early history.
He was as much mystery to the woman
who bore his children as he was subse-
quently to the German police and the
news writer's. During his long residence
in Germany his habits of life were cir
cumspect and afforded no visible grounds
of suspicion or reproach. He had mt
times large deposits with the Barings,
he went to church, was popular and
much-respected member of the better
sort OF clubs, and the shrewdest Judge
of human nature could not have OWNED
from his habits, demeanor and out
ward circumstances-tha he was pa
tiently celebrating the details of crimes
of such unmatct ed and tiend-like atrocity.
His case is one of those discouraging rev.
elations which occur now and then in
the history of mankind.