The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1888-07-19
pYNAMiTERs ON TRIAL.
The Alleged COnsptratOrs Agsinst the
Burlington Road Hauled Over the Goals
Damaging Evidence Against Them.


on the charge Of having conspircd to de-
stroy the property Of the Chicago, Burling-
ton & Quincy railroad with dynamite, is
in progress before United States
Commissioner Hoyne, In this city.
The principals are J. @. Wilson,
Thomas Brodcrick and John Bowies. In
custody and closely watched are Alexander
Smith twho il said to have .squealed y,
J. II. Baurcisen and George Cooling. They
are charged with violating section $3.50
of the revised statutes OF the United
States. The statute itself il inoffensive
enough, rs it simply provides for imposing
. fine upon persons who shall carry ex-
plosivcs upon any vehicle which runs be-
tween States. This, however, was
simply the prctext upon which the
men were arrested. The real OBJ
ject Of the Burlington, whose en-
ployes the prisoners had previously
been, and the United States, was to show
that dynamite plot existed among the
brotherhood Of engineers and firemen,
which, IL carried out, would entail the de-
struction Of . vast amount Of property and
the probable loss OF life.
The proceedings began at II o'clock a.
m. District-Attorney Ewing outlined the
prosecution in his opening address, in
which he said he thought it would appear
from the evidence that on the 29th Of May
dynamite cartridge was exploded by the
passage of q train near Aurora; another at
South Aurora on the 18th of June. The first
explosion broke the fiange Of wheel.
The evidence, he said, would show that
few days before the explosion Bowles went
into Hoge's room and showed him dyna-
mite cartridges and talked with him about
the use Of explosives. After that Bowlcs
met Smith and told him how dyna-
mite could be used. On the Goth Of
May Bowles showed Smith cartridge
similar to those found is possession of the
defendants. Mr. Ewing then said that
Smith and Bowles drove few miles out Of
Aurora, and that the latter alightcd from
the buggy and put the cartridge on the
track, and that it exploded just be-
fore they got back to town. A few DAYS
afterwsrd Bowles told Smith that he was
gong to get more cartridges and would
leave some Illuminating caps with him.
Bauercisen afterward told Smith that
Bowles had left q package for him,
which Smith obtained. June IA Bauer
eisen asked Smith il he had set
on any of the cartridges. mo, not yet,"
was the response ssThis would be good
night to do it," replied Bauereisen. That
night Smith set off one of the cartridges at
South Aurora and told Bauereisen that he
had done So
About July 5, il was stated the evidence
would show that Smith met Broderick and
was sent by him to Goding's house to OBJ
tain some dynamite cartridges and caps
Cooling gave him four cartridges, contain
ing about half pound of dynamite. Smith
took them to the brotherhood hall In
Aurora and delivered them. He met
at the hall Broderick, Bowles, and
Bauereisen, and told them that the pack
age was in the ante room. The evidence,
it was said, would show that Broderick,
Bowles, Wilson and Bauereisen shortly.
afterward left the hall and took the train
for Chicago. The three first-named were
arrested en- route, and dynamite cartridges
were found in their possession.
Samuel G. Madden, agent Of the Atlas
Dynamite Company. was placed on tho
stand and explained the composition of
dynamite and Illuminating caps. John ].
Kelly, locomotive engineer, was the next
witness. He said that in May he was Sec
retary to Chairman Hogc, of the Locomo-
tive Engineers Grievance Committee He
was asked il he had ever seen dynamite at
the headquarters Of the committee at the
Grand Pacific Hotel in this city. He said:
There was package there said to contain
II In and it was opened in the presence OF
Hoge Fowler, and myself. Then Mr.. Bowles
took some caps from his pocket which he said
were used in exploding the dynamite. Bowles
had five or six cartridges, and spoke OF going
up on the Fulton branch OF the road. He said
that he put IT on the rail and kept 1t in place
by sheet lead"
the court that all the time Bowles visited
wit II h0 dxyu0 ,i% hor .
named Fowler present. He made q
memorandum of the circumstance at
the time, because he knew it was
contrary to the rules of the brother
hood for any member to contemplate
measures of violence. He denied that h
had been promised his liberty or any thine
else for testifying in these cases, and he
did not think the prosecution Of the con-
spiracy charge against him would be
dropped. He was in the custody Of the
police voluntarily and because he deemed
it best to tell all he knew Of the facts in
the two cases.
Thomas e. Lloyd, hardware dealer at
Noblesville, Ind, identified Bowles as the
man who had on three different occasions,
between the latter part Of May and the
latter part Of June, visited his store, each
time purchasing about five pounds Of dyna-
and fuse. Lloyd's story was cor
roborated by Andrew f. Barnes, his clerk,
who said he had sold Bowles dynamite on
at least two different occasions.
When Bowles visited Noblesville he was
in the habit Of stopping at the house Of q
man named Sapper, who lived mile and q
half from the town. Thomas Jester, who
also lived with Sapper, WAS called to the
stand and told Of Bowlcs' visits He swore
that on one occasion Bowles boasted in his
presence that he was "going over to Cres-
ton, Ia, to raise little HI among the
boys"
Kirk Howe was the last of the damaging
witnesses from Indiana. He is clerk in a
store at Westfeld. He positively identi-
fled Bowlcs as the man to whom he had
sold eight sticks of "D' dynamite some six
weeks ago. He described accurately how
he packed the dynamite and the fuse in q
wooden candy box and delivered it to
Bowles. He examined one Of the cartridges
with the three men on July 5. and said it
was the same in appearance as that sold by
him.
This box is in possession of the railroad
officials, but they did not produce It, as it
is to be used as evidence in the trial Of the
Hoge conspiracy case. 1t is thought to be
the receptacle in which the dynamite was
carried into the Grand Pacific Hotel
!