The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-02-12
WHISKY TRUST PLOT.
AN INSPECTOR HIRED TO BLOW
UP A DISTILLEAY.

and $50 Other Men Would Have
paen Kiued-He Was Promised $685.
ooo but HIS Employer Counted on the
0vnsmite Saving Him the Trouble of
povinr Up-The Inspector Only Lead
ing Him On.
CHICAGO, Feb 11.-George j Gibson,
..cratary of the whisk v trust, was arrested
this morning. He is charged with an at
,omnt to bribe an Official of the government.
I,is asserted that when the facts in the case
.-o daveloped they will be of the most sensa-
t,onal character. When arrested Gibson had
in his possession grip sack which, 1t Is said,
yas found to contain all the evidence OF
moi. The name of the revenue officer TO
prSom the bribe was offered is Dewar. 1t is
rnmored that Gibson has made confession.
Gibson was taken before United States Com
missioner Hoyne and, waving examination,
mas held in x2O. 900 bonds. Among other
rnrnors in connection with the arrest of
Gibson. it is stated that PLOT to blow
nm shufeIdt's distillery, which is not in the
whisky trust and has been fighting the
trust, has been unearthed.
Gibson was arrested upon the complaint
Of Mr.. Hart, the solicitor OF the internal
revenue bureau, who arrived here this
morning.
THE FIRST SUSPICION
Solicitor Hart tells the story of the plot as
follows: "Some months ago the treasury
department was assured that things were
not lust straight, from the fact that the
trust people tried their best to have
certain man appointed inspec>
tor of the department for this
district. We set watch. Soon after this
Dewar was communicated with, and this
man Gibson opened up correspondence
with him. We have the correspondence.
him at first that Schufeldt's con-
Germ was in the way, and that
they were trying to get it out Of the way.
He got a little bolder soon, and finally, led
on by Dewar, who was all the time in con-
sultation with the department, he made a
straight proposition. He offered Dewar
$4,000, and then increased the offer to
$4,000, to blow up the con-
Germ. Gibson stated that he
had a dynamite machine that could
he located Just outside of one of the large
tanks so that few moments after it was
placed it would explode. There would be
plenty of time, Gibson told Dewar, for him
to get away, and that he was the only man
who could place it because Of the fact that
as the government officer he had access to
all parts of the building"
WOULD HAVE KILLED DEwAR.
"1he result of the success of the conspir-
acy,n continued Hart, "would have been
that the machine would have exploded be-
tween two Of the immense tanks, making
terrible destruction and leaving a sea Of
alcohol on fire. Gibson lied when 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 it the very instant 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,OO0 that Dewar was to have received.
In addition to the destruction of Dewar and
the buildings, the success Of the plot meant
unquestionably the death of $50 men work
ing in the place.
MELODRAMATIC CRISIS.
"As / say, Dewar, under our instructions
went to the length of the conspiracy, to thG
point of doing the diaboical deed, anG
when Gibson was arrested he was waiting
uneasily, expecting to hear the ex-
plosioD and destruction Of all those livet
and all that property. We have in ouI
possession all the evidence to substantiate
Dewar's story; the dynamite machine, let
ters, the contract between Dewar and
Gibson; in fact, everything. The case Is
practically over so far as our department is
concerned. The case is made"
Have you any evidence to show that
others besides Gibson were implicated in the
conspiracyl" Hart was asked.
Gioson was secretary of the trust, and.
while we might reason that Gibson 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 i'm
pllcate any one else.
Everything we have points to Gibson
and to no other person.
The machine, the materials to make il
effective and the inculpating documents
were IN the sachel which Gibson carried al
The time of his arrest.
THE DISTILLERY LIEN WARNED.
some unknown person who had knowl-
eoge OF the conspiracy warned the owners
OF tne distlllery Monday of the danger
winch 6eset them and fixing the date for
the explosion for yesterday or to-day, and
they were carefully guarding the premises
day and night.
Two previous attempts, which were at
trlouted to the whisky trust, but not proved,
were made to destroy Shufeldts establish
ment with dynamite. One OF them occurred
Two Two years ago last fall. Detective
Ian Coughlin of the city Do
nee force was detailed on the case
ana was at work on it at the time that he
maze the acquaintance of the little German.
oohn I. Kunze. Both of them were after
VA; "aIu .rled for completely in the assassina-
Siea Sien OF Dr. Cronin. Coughlin is serving a
Iile sentence for the crime, but Kunze was
acquitted. This afternoon Gibson was
9aken before United States Commissioner
lyme and released on bail Of $4,000. He
1tecilned to make any statement in regard to
the matter