The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-03-14
Our Oliu.
Where Many Victims Fell.
The Horrible Explosion at Bremerlla-
ven VividIy Recalled.
From the Men York World.

The great London dynamite horror has
recalled other atrocious attempts similar In
character. Among them may be mention
ed the partial destruction of the Royal
Palace in St. Petersburg by Nihilists, the
murder of the car by bombs thrown be-
meath his carriage by members of the same
order, the more recent attempts on the life
of the emperor of Germany, the attempts
to blow up the mansion house in London,
and notably the great dynamite plot at
Bremerhaven, planned and executed by the
notorious Thomassen. This frightful crime
involved the loss of over one hundred in
nocent persons and for cold blooded atrocity
has no parallel in the annals Of crime
Thomassen, whose right name was Will
liam King Thompson, was about thirty
eight years of age and married. His crime
was the result of greed for pecuniary gain,
and he had but one .aecemplice; "a -mechani-
clan named Fuchs, residing at Bernberg,
Germany, who manufactured for Thomas
sen the Internal machine with which the
hellish deed was accomplished. In 1866
Thomassen was arrested in Berlin charged
with scuttling ship on board of which he
had goods insured in England for f24 900,
but he subsequently managed to escape
How many other disasters he was the di-
rect cause of has never been ascertained,
but it is not likely that he had been idle
in the interim between that crime and the
fendish plot at Bremerhaven in 1875.
1t then transpired that Thomassen and
Fuchs had been negotiating for Internal
machines from 1873 up to the time of the
disaster. The latter made clockwork ap
paratus to run noiselessly for ten days, when
it caused lever to act and strike with a
force of thirty pounds. Twenty of these
machines had been ordered Thomassen
telling the maker they were required for
mandatory in the United States. The
particulars of the terrible catastrophe are
thus vividly recalled
On December IL, 1875, the North Ger
man Lloyd steamer Mosel was lying along
side the quay at Bremerhaven and was
about ready to sail for this port. She was
laden with freight, and had embarked her
passengers, while their luggage was in the
act of being put aboard. At Southampton
she was to have taken on board the passen-
gers who were saved from the ill-fated
steamer Deutschland, whence she was to
sail direct for New York. Just as the
Mosel was about to move into the stream
cart containing four cases and barrel was
being unloaded for shipment on the steam
er. Suddenly terrific explosion occurred.
The effect was horrible. The quay was
then thronged with people-men, women
and children-some of whom belonged to
the steamer, others passengers who remained
on the wharf to take a last farewell of their
friends, while the majority were relatives
and friends of the departing passengers.
After the first shock of the explosion
had passed, very few of the persons on the
ouay remained visible. The air had been
filled with black lumps-fragments of hu-
manity and materials. The steamers decks,
the surface of the water and the wharf for
a great distance were covered with sand,
broken glass, fragments of flesh, bones and
clothing. The devastation on the Mosel
was terrific Not a skylight was left The
cabins were mashed and the port windows
were crushed in, while not few of the
iron plates were bulged out The whole
shin was besmeared with blood, and pieces
of ouivering flesh mingled with other de-
bris adhering to the vessels sides In the
hold and all parts of the ship were found
arms, legs and other portions of the human
frame. The lower hold received some
limbs through the open hatchways and
these were found strewn among the steer
age passengers between the decks. The
dismay and CONSERVATION were indescrib-
able. The steerage passengers and crew
escaped without serious injury, only the
engineers and stokers being hurt.
The havoc on land was terrible Where
the packages had been unloaded few
minutes before there was hole in the
quay about seven feet deep. The whole
place was strewn with limbs, horribly mu-
tilated bodies, and shreds of dress
Among the most heartrending scenes
was that of a family named Elmer, who
were seeing off member of the family to
California. The father, mother, son and
son-in-law were torn to pieces and lay In
different directions. The daughter had an
arm and her child hand blown off There
were no less than 128 innocent persons
killed and ffty-six wounded, including
thirty manned for life 1t resulted in
making ffty-six widows and 185 orphans.
Nearly every family in the little town suf-
fered severely
Soon after the explosion Thomassen was
discovered to have been the shipper of the
articles brought to the dock by the cart
man, who, together with his horse, was
never seen again. Thomassen was arrested
and at once confessed his crime and the
reasons therefor. He had previously, how
ever, attempted suicide by stabbing himself,
He was booked as passenger on the Mos
ell, but confessed that it was his intention
to leave the vessel at Southampton, where
he intended to ship some more goods. Ac-
cording to his own confession he had con-
cealed in the barrel the internal machine
bv which he intended to blow up the Mosel
when three days at sea. The motive fo1
the diabolical crime was to gain large
sum of money by means of exaggerated and
fictitious assurances. The barrel, which
was made by master cooper named Del
vendahl, was of strong material, and divid-
ed bv partition in the middle through
which there was hole. On one side was
the machine and on the other large guam
tity of dynamite. He accompanied the
barrel to the depot of the steamship COM
pany and cautioned the porters to handle
it with care. 1t was intended to have put
it on board the steamer Deutschland, but
J the apparatus was not ready in time. The
goods on which he was to get his insur-
ance were to have been taken on board al
Southampton At Bremen he shipped a
valueless barrel, said to contain caviare
which was insured for 5000 marks. The
machines which Fuchs made for Thomas
!, sen were after models which the latter
brought from Vienna.
The explosive material he had brought
. from America, he having been in this city
during the preceding October, when he
stopped at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. In
Dresden the officers found number of iron
cases which had been made for Thomassen,
) and it appears that he had an extended
line of operations in view When Fuchs
) asked what Thomassen wanted the clock
work machines for, he replied he had many
silk manufactures in America and that the
now niece of machinery was intended to