The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-05-01
EXPLOSION IN LONDON.
The Admiralty Building Badly Shaken and
Government Official Injured-The War
Situation

Ehe Admiralty Building Badly Shaken and
Government Official Injured-The War
Situation.
LONDON, April a4.-Great excitement
was caused in the Admiralty Office in
Whitehall at 1850 yesterday morning by
an explosion close to the Secretary's
room in the basement of the Admiralty
building. The room was badly dam
aged and Mr.. Edwin N Swanson, Assist
ant Secretary, received a severe scalp
wound. The force of the explosion was so
great that the fittings of the room were
smashed to atoms, while the plaster on the
walls and ceiling hangs in ribbons. The
corridors adjacent to the room were very
much damaged, but the walls and principal
parts of the building are uninjured, with
the exception of the glass-domed roof,
which was shattered into fragments by the
violence of the conclusion.
At first it was reported that the explosion
was caused by dynamite or gun-cotton, and
that it was the outcome of plot Matched
by either dynamiters or Nihlists for the
purpose of harassing the war operations
OF the Government. There is, how
ever, no accurate knowledge of the
nature of the explosion. The employees
OF the Admiralty Office have been work
ing night and day to hurry forward
the war preparations, and any disaster to
the building at present would cause Sc
rlous delay. 1t is probable that the explo-
sive, whatever it was, was thrown against a
window in the room, and report is current
that just previous to the explosion two men
bearing a package were seen mounting a
wall near to the Secretary's apartment.
Up to a late hour last night no arrests
had been made. A strong suspicion pre-
walls in police circles that the explosion at
the Admiralty Office was the result of pri-
yate malice, as Mr.. Swanson was greatly
disliked by number of his employees.
Some of the officials are of the opinion
that the explosion was caused by the spon-
taneous ignition of specimen of torpedo
explosive which had been sent to the Adj
miralty for inspection. The general belief
is that the explosive agent was not dyna-
mite.
The Daily Neaos and the Ld,v Journal
assume the explosion at the Admiralty Of
flee yesterday forenoon to be another dyna-
mite outrage, and they call upon the Coy
eminent to capture and hang the dynanlit-
ers. They also comment on the fact that
the office selected for destruction is the
most inert of all administrative departments
OF the Government
THE WAR SITUATION.
LONDON, April 24.-The members of the
Government maintain the stricteSt silence in
regard to the negotiations which are known
to be still actively going on between England
and Russia. This reticence is carried by the
Ministers to the length of excluding from
their confidence even the most faithful sup
porters Of the Government, and it has caused
much dissatisfaction among the latter. The
Ministers explain privately to the malcon-
tents that they have put themselves on hon
or to divulge nothing at the present crisis,
and that the negotiations have reached a
stage of such delcaey and gravity that a
single indiscreet word might imperil peace.
Long dispatches continue to pass daily
between the Foreign Office and General
Sir Peter Lumsden, the British Com
missioner in Afghanistan, and Sir Edward
Thornton, the British Minister at St. Peters
burg, but neither the public nor the press
is allowed to getany mint of their contents.
1t is evident that the chiefs of the Cabinet
are determined to guard their secrets zeal
Ously, at least until the vote-of-credit de-
bate in the House of Commons next Mon
day evening.
In the House of Commons yesterday Mr..
Gladstone, in replying to an inquiry made
by Sir Stafford Northcote, said that there
was no intention of laying further papers
touching the Afghan situation upon the
table before asking for a vote upon
the war credits already submitted to
the House. The Government Mr..
Gladstone continued, was engaged in a
correspondence of extreme gravity with
Russia. 1t was impossible to make now. a
complete statement of the nature of that
correspondence, while no partial statement
could be given without the greatest risk of
creating misrepresentation.