The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-07-25
GERMANY'S PERIL.

The Confession Of One of tho Actors I'm n.
Conspiracy to Murder the Emperor.
Crown Prince and Others.
LONDON, July 1s.-Despite the strenuous.
efforts of the German authorities to SUD-
press the fact, it is evident that there is q
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 a small guam
tity of dynamite concealed in a drain pipe
The discovery produced a great sensation
and Government commission, consisting
of military officers and engineers, was ap--
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 traversed by the Emperor, which
might have blown the entire eortege
skyward except for the fortunate accident
that the mine had become saturated BY a
heavy rain storm which preceded the I'M
yelling. These revelations were followed
by the arrest of number of suspected con-
sp!rators, 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-
learn its contents, they were officially in
formed that the Commission had failed to-
find any evidence of conspiracy. and were
told that no information beyond that state
ment would be given to the public. The
Stuttgart Stats ATlzeigcr, however, managed
to obtain the outline Of 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 Emperor's.
life at Ems, at Gratz, at Elberfeld. and i'm
the Niederwald. The Stats Anzeiger re-
garded this attack upon its veraeity as q
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-
Ter. 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 a whole
sale murder, of which the Emperor, the
Crown Prince, Chancellor Bismarck, and
others of the distinguished assemblage eN-
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 a long
fuse which would enable it to be fired
from 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
lster by flooding the mines seems too plain
% be questioned, and the ingenious expla--
iatiOn of Rumpsch, which was obviously
made with a view of saving his own neck, is
eceived with general incredulity.