Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-09-16
Moaa LAkn saoap rnoUnLn.
A Torrific Explosion la n signaI
Tower.

CHICAGO, Sept. 1.-THE war against the
Lake Shore Railroad Company In this town
| OF Lake hns broken ont atr,,sh, ihis time 10
| q how and dangerous manner The latest
method is the uso OF explosives and an at
tempt 10 destroy tha property OF the COM
4 pnny which might have involved the loas Of
| llfa
few minutes before IL O'clock last night
james Calvin, tho night operator, was sit.
ting la the signal tower OF the Lake Hhore
company, at the intersection of tho main
and stock yards tracks. The tower IL 80
| feut high and In II Is machinery by which
the switches. signals and gates for long
| distance along tho line OF the road are
| turned. Calvin WINS alone In the
| top OF the tower and had noticed
nothing unusual when he was sud-
denly startled by seeing column OF smoke
arise at one side OF the structure. II was
| bright moonlight 10 that he was aware of
tho nature OF the cloud In an instant, and a
moment later his little room was completely
! iill'd with binding smoke which almost
| sui1ocnted him. Calvin started to rush
down the stairs TO investigate the eansa
OF the unusunl phenomena. AS he
reached the landing below, deafcnlng ex-
| plUsion took piiios. Al that moment Calvin
| saw the figure Of n tall, slender miln dart
away from the building. The man ran west,
toward the stock yards, and was lost In tho
labyrinth OF Gars which cover tho trnrks. At
this instnnt the explosion occurred, CAL
vim was thrown 10 tho ground with
extreme force md his hat was blown OF his
head through the window. Sneh wis the
force OF the explosion TINT number OF
| tools were Hired from the lloor and craahed
through the windows. Calvin did not lose
consciousness, and after pulling himself
together rushed on the trucks.
Oficers Donovan and Costello wore on
duty at the time Mt the Root street crossing.
They heard the detonation and ran 10 the
tower where they found Calvin terribly
frightened. Then search OF the tower
wins made and IL was rewarded by the find
Ing OF a 2O-inch piece OF shattered gas pipe.
Close TO 1t WIS q package OF somnthing
which looked like cotton which had been
soaked In some kind OF dark liquid.
Smoke WINS coming from IL and bright
sparks were thrown of.
A bottle containing what ls supposed to
be IAN acid WINS picked up near by. The
door OF the signal tower was ajar and the
dangerous explosive had been thrown on
| the floor, The explosion shattered all the
glass In the house. In the cellar are the bnt-
tories used for tho electric signals. There
werD 100 battery cells In the room and of
thes,, "a were broken. Not only thil, but
| the phneumntic tubes also used In the sig
nnling were torn and twisted and the whole
system was entirely ruined. IL will take
| thousands OF dollars to repair tho damage.
When daylight came another search was
made for more explosives. There Is n little
shed at the reur Of tho tower. In this q
/ small bundle, supposed to contain another
lCcxplostyo, vas Picked up. II was wrapped
! In paper and tied with n cord. 1t was
| sOnksd in some substance, nnd WIS laid In
| an old mattress. The polio, were afraid to
| open IL, and 1t wins renewed to tho town
4 hall. Calvin had only bern III charge OF
| the tower liltlo while, having relieved
| William Nevins.
Mhni uEikrs the attempt moro dnsiaIdly
| Is tn fact that tho outward hound pnssen-
ger train No 19 wis duo ut the town u few
minutes after the explosion occurred The
theory of tho police Is that the wi,nkers
hoped TO blow up the tower aud, when tho
passenger train came along, to throw
switch, ahd thus the train would have
plunged into mass Of freight ears that
line tho side tracks The explosion would
have done greater damage hnd tho door
been closed after the package hal been
| ignited.
There were also other attempts ut de-
stroylng property on the Lake Shore road
last night, one Of which was successful, the
other resulting in the arrest OF the man
concerned In the affair. About o'clock
last night the Lake Shore road re-
ceivod from the Illinois Central a
train OF 2S cars. While thoso
wero being taken over the Root street
crnsslnR switch was thrown Opon after
about one-half the cars had passed causing
| n general wreck. Fifteen OF the ears were
dernled and although no loss OF life or
serious damage resulted, the contents OF
the cars were badly shaken up.
About midnight John Fagln, IN OK. switch
man OF the Lake Shore, was arrested at
Forty-tnird street just as he was about, II
Ia charged, to throw q switch with the pur-
pose OF deraillng train drawn by engine
No. b32. The arrest Of Fagin was made by
one Of the Plnkerton officers, who are still
guarding the Lake shoretraeks at that point,
the prisoner being taken to the Harrison
street police station aud locked up.
Fagln was soen In his coll this morning.
His explanation Of tho affair is n follows:
In company with man named Murphy,
who Is also IN ex-IIake Shore switchman,
he wis walking along the trucks and claims
that neither OF them noticed the approach
Ing freight train until 1t was 50 close to
them TINT they were separated by II. He
says that when nrTestad hy the PlnkertOn
officer he was looking under the tralu as It
passed Ia s"e II nny harm had come to
Murphy.