The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-11-20
HARRISON'S ESCAPE.
AN ABORTIvE ATTEMPT ON MAY 23 TO
ASSASSINATE HIM.
The Matter Was flushed Up, but Has
Finally Been Made Public The
"Crank" Arrested on Penn
sylvania Avenue Just
in Time,

CINCTSNATI, o., Nov. 15.-[Special to the
st. Louis Republic About the latter part
of May las!, only through the vigilance of
the United States secret service officials,
President Harrison barely escaped assassi
nation. This would-be assassin was a
southern crank who claimed to be a badly
prosecuted Republican, whose life the
southern Democracy and thankless Repub-
licans make miserable. His name will
not be revealed by the persons from whom
the story leaked for the first time last night
The story leading up to the crank's futile
attempt to kill the chief magistrate of the
nation had beginning last March when
Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, received a
very bitter letter which demanded
that he push his resolution to in
vestigate the southern courts to
the bitter end. The letter was full of vile
accusations against prominent and famous
Democrats and Republicans alike of Vir-
ginia. The letter was dated Petersburg,
and was written by an alleged 'old Repub.
lican soldier" He said he had served dur.
ing the war in a Massachusetts regiment,
and was mustered out as captain of his
company. The letter contained so many
vile insinuations against the private lives
of several of Senator Hoar's colleagues that
the senator hesitated TO read it through.
He was rather alarmed when, near the
close, the writer declared that unless some
remedy for stopping the abuse which was
being beaped upon HIM was devised by
congress, he would go to Washington and
kill President Harrison. Garfield had
Guiteau," read the letter, "and Harri-
son may have-well, the writer as
his assassin. | give him until the Goth
of May TO live" Senator Hoar, while
somewhat worried consoled himself
with the thought that the writer was
crank, and filed the letter away. About
two weeks later be received another from
the same Ierson of just the same tenor as
the first, but with direct threat 10 kill the
president on or Immediately after May 20.
The senator then placed the two letters in
the hands of Capt. John T. Bell, who was
then chief of the secret service, who imme-
diately put a.couple of his very best men to
work to run down the writer. Senator
John Sherman was startled few weeks
after Chief Bell had received the letters by
receiving Violent letter threatening the
presidents life, and, as in the Two missives
received previously by Senator Hoar the
date OF the presidents assassination was
fixed about May 20. This letter also was
turned over to Chief Bell, and it proved to
be the means of ferretiBg the desperate
writer of the threatening letters. Before
this day for month previously the two
secret service officers, one of whom was
Agent Dwyer, were securing Petersburg,
and at last by lucky stroke fell upon their
man
He was small shopkeeperint the Virginia
city, and noted for his eccentricities. The
fell W went to Washington on May %, being
shadowed all the way and in Washington by
the detectives. The crank stationed himself
on Pennsylvania avenue early in the morn
ing, and about $3.50, when the president
passed for his morning drive, the fellow
when the executive carriage was with 20
feet of him, attempted to draw a revolver.
The two detectives were upon the fellow in
an instant and he was hustled to headquar-
ters, where a vicious looking 38-calibre re-
volver was found in his pocket.
de boldly confessed that he intended to
kill the president. Later he was quietly
adjudged insane, and he is now confined
in an insane asylum near Richmond, Va.
This story leaked out yesterday, and last
night ex Chief Bell, who has been sojourn-
ing in this city, verified it in every partic
ular He said he was sorry that the mat
ter had been made public, ard could not
imagine from what source 1t had emanated,
as all the parties in Washington who had
known of it had bound themselves TO abso
lutte secrecy.