The record-union., 1891-02-12
Henious Crime Planned by Mem
Der of the Whisky Trust.
THE PLOT UNEARTHED ON THE EVE
OF ITS CONSULTATION.
George j. Gibson Arrested at Chicago
and Charged with an Attempt to
Bribe a Government Official to Blow
Up the Shufeldt Distillery-A Dyna-
mite Machine and Other Evidence
Found in His Possession.
Special to the REcoRp-ux1oS.

Special to the RECORD UNION
CHICAGO, Feb. u.-If the stories told
by agents of the national Treasury De-
partment, now in this city, are true, one of
the most diabolical of dynamite plots. in
yolving great loss of life and property,
has been discovered, and its consumma-
tlon prevented just on the eve of its put
ting into effect. The Western Distiller
and Cattle Feeders Association, better
known as the whisky trust, is corpora
tlon with capital stock of S35, ,000, 900, and
controls the price of high wines through
ont the country, as it controls all of the
d1stilleries, with two or three exceptions.
The most important distillery outside of
The combination is that of H. H. Shufeidt
OF this city, and it was against this con-
Germ that the plot was arranged.
George j. Gibson of Peoria, ILL.,, arrived
at O'Clock, and on complaint of Solicitor
General Hart of the Treasury Depart
ment, who came here from Washington
for the purpose, was arrested as he was
aIlghtlng from carriage at the door of
the Grand Pacific Hotel, and hurried
across the street into the Government
bulidlng, where he was locked up. The
arrest was made as quietly as possible,
and the fact was not made public untii
some hours afterward.
The charge laid at Gibson's door is that
he offered Government Gauger T. S.
Dewar, who is on duty at Shute!dt's dis
tiliery, a bribe to blow up the distillery
with dynamite
Solicitor Hart tells the story of the plot.
He says Gibson opened communication
with Dewar some time ago, telling him at
1irst that Shufeldts concern was in the
way, and that they We're trying to get il
out OF the way. Finally he offered Dewar
$4,000, and then increased the offer to
1000, to blow up the concern.
Gibson told him he had dynamite
machine that could be exploded between
two large tanks, releasing and setting on
lire sea Of alcohol. There would be
plenty of time for Dewar to get away.
and he was the only man who could
place the machine, because of the fact
tlat as government gauger he had ac-
cess to all parts of the building.
Gibson Hed," said Hart, ''when he
told Dewar 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 it 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, 600 bribe. In
addition to the destruction of Dewar and
the buildings, the success of the plot
meant unquestionably the death of $50
men working in the place. AS say, De-
war, under our instructions, Went the
length OF the conspiracy to the point of
doing the diabolical deed, and when Glib
son was arrested he was waiting uneasily,
expecting to hear of the explosion and
destruction of all these lives and all that
property.
I'VE have in our possession evidence
to subStantiate Dewar's offer-the dyna-
mite machine the lnttnrc of l.n
tween Dewar and Gibson, and, in fact,
everything. The case is practically over
SC, SO far as our, department is concerned.
The case is made"
Have you any evidence to show that
others of The trust besides Gibson We're
implicated III the conspiracy?'' was asked
of Mr.. Hart
While we might reason that he was
not alone in this, and that somebody
higher up in the trust was the re-
sponslble party, we have not bit
OF evidence tending to implicate any
one else; Everything we have points
to no other person. The machine, the
materials to make, it effective and the
lnculpating documents We're in satchel
which Gibson carried at the time of his
arrest. Some unknown person, who had
a knowledge of the conspiracy, warned
tne owners OF the distillery on Monday
OF the danger which beSet them. and fix
ing the date of the explosion for yester-
day or to-day, and they We're carefully
guarding the premises day and night
Two previous attempts, which were at
tributed to the whisky trust, but not
proved, We're made to destroy the Shu-
feldt distillery with dynamite One of
them occurred two years ago last
fall. Detective Dan Coughlin, of the
city police force, was detailed on the
case, and it was while at work on
1T that ne made the acquaintance of
little German named John p. KunZ.
Both of them were afterwards tried for
completely in the assassination of DIR.
Cronin. Coughlin is serving a life sem
tence for the crime, but Kunz was ac-
Quilted
This afternoon Gibson was taken before
United States Commissioner Hayne. and
released on bail of $4,000. He declined
to make any statement in regard to the
matter.
IN an interview to-night!ssGibson de-
MES knowledge ofany internal machine.
de asserts that he had no dealings with
Dewar, and intimates that it is a conspir-
acy against him (GibSon).
The Government officers are exceed
ingly confident, however, and say they
have the case well in hand
1t was learned tonight that the Internal
machine was an ingenious device A
gun-barrel loaded with powder and
steel bullet was set into a can with an in
Dewar was to put the machine under q
vat and pour chemical into the vent
hole. This would ignite the LIQUID and
the powder would explode. The bullet
would go through the bottom of the vat,
and the alcohol would pour down on the
flaming can.
INTENSE SURPRISE AT PEORIA.
PEORIA, Feb. u.-The arrest of T.
Gibson in Chicago to-day caused intense
surprise at the trust Headquarters.
Nobody could be found this afternoon.
President Greenhut went to Washing-
ton ten days ago, and is still there.
although his relatives and friends do not
know what hotel he is at His SON said
tonight that if his fnther desired to say
anything on the subject be would make
his views known, otherwise not.
The whisky men here assert that Glib
sons arrest was the result of a conspiracy
on the part OF the antitrust distillery. ne
has been . resident OF this city since 1879
when he came here from Cleveland and
entered the employment of the Monarch
distillery as bookkeeper. When the
trust was formed in 1881, he was elected
Secretary, and has since keiol that ,)osi-
ton. He made money rapidly, and is
now rated at S158,0G0.
Mayor Clark, formerly member of
the association, sid tonight: ..Gibson is
not such q fool as to deal with a gauger in
such q terrible affair, il il We're true"
There is a rumor tonight that United
States, detectives. who We're here some
time ago, gained entrance to the trust
III and