Omaha daily bee., 1891-02-12
DASTARDLY PLOT DISCOVERED
A Scheme to Blow Up the Great schufeldt
Distillery in Chicago.
DYNAMITE THE AGENT OF DESTRUCTION
The Secretary of the whisky Trust
is Charged with Attempting
to Bribe Govern nmcnt
Gaugcr to DO the JOB.

CHICAGO, Feb. 11.-If the stories told by
agents of the national treasury department
now in this city are true one OF the most
diabolical of dynamite plots, involving great
loss of life and property, has been discovered
and its consummation prevented just on the
eve of its putting into effect.
The Western Distillers' and Cattle Feed
ers' association better known us the whisky
trust is corporation with a capital stock of
S35,O ,OOO and controls the price of high
wines throughout the country, as it controls
all OF the distillelies with two or three ex-
ceptions. The most important distillery out.
side OF the combination is that of II. II. Shu.
feldt of this city, and 1t was against this
concern that the plot was arranged.
The exposure of the conspiracy occurred
this morning. George j. Gibson of Peoria,
ILL.,, arrived at 6 O'Clock and on complaint of
Solicitor General Hart Of the treasury depart
lnent, who came here from Washington for
the purpose, was arrested as he was alight-
ing from a carriage at the door of the Grand
Pacific hotel and hurried across the street
into the government building, where he was
locked up.
The arrest was made as quietly as possible,
and the fact was not made public until some
hours afterward. The charge laid at Glib
sons door IS that he offered Government
Gauger r, S. Dewar, who is on duty at Shu-
feldt's distillery, a bribe to blown up the dis
tillery with dynamite.
Solicitor Hart tells the story of the plo t
He says that Gibson opened communication
with Dcwar some time ago, telling him at
first that Shufeldts concern was in the way
ar nat hpv 10 it nf tLn
way, Finally he offered Dewar $4,000. and
then increased the offer to $4,000 to blow
up the concern. Gibson told him he had
dynamite machine that could be exploded be-
tween two large tanks, releasing and setting
on fire sea of alcohol. There would be
plenty of time for Dewar to get away, and
he was the only man who could place the ma
chine because of the fact that as
a government officer he had access to
all parts of the building. "Gibson
lied" said Hart, .."vhen he told Dewar that
the machine would not go Off until he had
time to get out, for it would have exploded
at once, killing the man who placed 1t before
he could possibly get away, thus destroying
the only evidence against the trust people
and at the same time saving to them the
S25, 900 bribe In addition to the destruction
OF Dewlr aad the buildings, the success of
the plot meant the unquestionable death of
100 men working in the place. AS l say,
Dewar, under orr Instructions went the
length of the conspiracy to the point of doing
the diabolical de3d, aad when Gibson was ar
rested he was waiting unt "iu expecting
to hear OF the explosion and the destruction
OF all those lives and all that property. We
have In our possession all the evidence TO
substantiate Dew9r's Story-thc dynamite
machine, letters of contract between Dewar
and Gibson. in tact every thing. The case Is
practically over so far as our department is
concerned. The case is made.n
Have you any evidence to show that 9TH
ers besides Gibson were implicated in the
cons nspracyW Hart was asked.
"Glbson is secretary of the trust, and while
we might reason that he was not alone IN
this and that somebody higher up in the
trust was the responsible party we have not
bit OF evidence tending to implicate anyone
else. Everything we have points to Gibson
and to no other person.
The machine, materials to make it effective
and inculpating documents were in the
satche which Gibson carried at the time of
his arrest.
Some unknown person who had knowledge
OF the conspiracy warned the owners of the
distillery on Monday of the danger which
beset them and fixing the date for the explo-
sion for yesterday or today, and they were
carefully guarding the premises day and
night.
Two previous attempts, which were attrib-
uted TO whisky, were made to destroy Schu-
fields with dynamite One of them occurred
Coughlin of the city police force was
detailed on the case and it was
while at work on it that he made the ac-
1uaintance of tie little German, John r.
kunze. Both of them We're afterwards tried
for completely in the assassination of Dr.
Cronin, Coughliu is serving a life senten ce
for the crime, but Kunze was acquitted
This afternoon Gibson was taken before
United States Commissioner Hoyne and re-
leased on $50, 900 bail He declined to make
any statement regarding the matter.
Gibson's Arrest Surprised Peoria.
PEORIA, ILL.,, Feb. 1.-THE arrest OF
George j. Gibson in Chicago today caused
intense surprise here. At trust headquar-
ters nobody could be found this afternoon
President Greenhut went to Was shington
ten days ago and is still there, although his
relatives and friends do not know at what
hotel he is. His son said tonight that If his
father desired to say anything on the subject
he would make his whereabouts known but
otherwise not The whisky men here
assert that Gibson's arrest is the re-
suit OF conspiracy between antitrust
dlstillers. Gibson has been resident of this
city since 1879, when he came here from
Cleveland and entered the employ of the
Monarch distillerv as book keeper When
the trust was formed in 1881 he was elected
secretary and has since held that position.
He made money rapidly and is now rated at
Sl50,000.
Mayor Clark, formerly member of the
association, said tonight: "Gibson was not
such fool as to deal with a gauger in such
terrible affair, If it were true"
There Is rumor here tonight that United
States detectives who were here a week ago
gained entrance TO the trust headquarters
and searched it carefully. In the basement,
1t is alleged, they found dynamite machine
chemicals tp
all the distilleries in the world 1t is known
that the officers were here, but the story
about searching the headquarters cannot be
traced to any reliable source Several prom.
inent whisky men will go to aid Gibson.
R4 NGEER GHAT