The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-24
GERMANY'S PERIL.
The Confession of One of the Actors In
Conspiracy te Murder the Emperor,
Crown Prince and Others.

The Confession of One of the Actors In n
Conspiracy te Murder the Emperor,
Crown Prince and Others.
LONDON, July 1s.-Despite the strenuous
efforts of the German authorities to sup
press the fact, it is evident that there is
very substantial basis for the general belief
that desperate effort was made to murder
the Emperor and other august personages
at the Inauguration of the Germania mOnu-
ment in the Niederwald, last September.
The first hint of the conspiracy became
public when the wOrkmen who were COM
plotting the ornamented approaches to the
monument this spring found small guam
titv of dynamite concealed in drain pipe.
The discovery produced a great sensation
and a Government commission, consisting
of military officers and engineers, was APP
pointed to investigate. From time to time
fragmentary reports of their discoveries
leaked out, notwithstanding the efforts made
to keep their proceedings secret, and it be-
came known that they had found traces Of
a mine of explosives directly under the
road trayersed by the Emperor, which
might have blown the entire cortege
skyward except for the fortunate accident
that the mine had become saturated by
heavy rain storm which preceded tie I'M
yelling. These revelations were followed
by the arrest of a number of suspected con-
spiratOrs, who were first examined before
the Commission and then imprisoned at
Stuttgart. The arrests revived the excite
ment, and it seemed necessary to do some
thing to abate the alarm. Consequently,
when the official report of the Commission
was made and the newspapers sought to
itc fhax- officially in
formed that the Commission had failed to
find any evidence of a conspiracy, and were
told that no information beyond that state
ment would be given to the public. The
Stuttgart Stdnts Anzeiger, however, managed
to obtain the outline of a confession made by
one Of the alleged conspiratOrs imprisoned
at Stuttgart, and printed it as a matter OF
news. This provoked fresh denial from
official sources, coupled with an intimation
that the public prosecutor at Berlin was
making inquiries with view of detecting
and Furnishing those who were engaged in
circulating lies calculated to disturb the
public mind. Special alluSiOn was made to
the reports of attempts upon the Emperors
life at Ems, at GRATIS at Elberfeld, and in
| the Niederwald. The Stats Anzeiger re-
garded this attack upon its veracity as
challenge, and set to work to verify and
complete its report of the confession. 1t
| has just published the results of the latest
| investigations, which show that the chief
prisoners confined at Stuttgart are two
anarchists, named RumpSch and Knech-
| ler The one who has confessed
| is RumpSch, and in his confess
sion he admits that there was a
well considered plot having for its object
the terrorizing of all Europe by whole
sale murder, of which the Emperor, the
Crown Prince, Chancellor Bismarck, and
| Others of the distinguished aSSemblage eX-
pected to be present, were to be among the
victims. The chief mover in the conspiracy,
he says, was Knechler, and they dug and
| filled the mine, connected it by long
fuse which would enable it to be fired
| from a safe distance, and did actually
set fire to the fuse, with the full
intention and expectation Of causing
an explosion with the most dire re-
suits The only reason that the explosion
did not take place, according to Rumpsch's
sworn statement, was that he himself be-
came conscience stricken at the last mo-
ment and secretly cut the fuse which was
| meant to fire the mine. This story pre-
cisely confirms the reports published
] during the sessions of the commission up to
! the point of Rumpsch'S explanation of the
! failure of the explosion. On this point the
evidence as TO the prevention of the dis
aster by flooding the mines seems too plain
to be questioned, and the ingenious eXpla-
nation Of Rumpsch, which was obviously
made with a view of saving his own neck, is
received with general Incredibly.