St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-12
Unearthing Of a Sensational
Dynamite Conspiracy at
Chicago.
It Involved the Probable Loss
Of One Hundred and Fifty
Lives.
The Scheme Embraced the
Blowing Up Of Shufeldt's
Distillery,
And Twenty-Five Thousand
Dollars Was the Amount
Of Blood Money.


by the agents of the national treasury
department now in this city is true, one
o. the most diabolical of dynamite plots,
ihyolving great loss Of life and prop
city, has been discovered and It's con-
summation prevented just on the eve
OF putting it into effect. The Western
DiStilers and Cattle Feeders association,
better known as the "whisky trust" is
a corporation with a capital stock OF
$50, 100000 and controls the price OF
high-Wines throughout the country, as
il controls all of the distilleries, with
two or three exceptions. The most
important distillery, outside Of the
combination is that Of II. II. Shuffeldt
in this city, and 1t was against
this concern that the plot was ar
ranged. The exposure OF the
conspiracy occurred this morn
ing. George j. Gibson. of Peoria, Ill.,,
arrived here at o'clock, and, on COM
paint of Solicitor General Hart, of the
treasury department, who came here
from Washington for the purpose, was
arrested as he alighted from 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 till some hours atterward.
The charge laid at GibSon's door is that
he offered government Gauger L. 5.
Dewar, who is on duty at Shufeldts
Gistjllery, bride TO blow up the diStil-
Iery with dynamite. Solicitor Hart tells
the story of the plot as follows:
A Diabolical Plot.
"Some months ago the Washington
department were assured that things
We're not just straight. from the TACT
that the trust had tried their best to
have a certain man appointed inspector
OF the department for this district. He
set watch. Soon t. S. Dewar was
communicated with, and this man Glib
SON opened up correspondence with
him. We have the correspondence.
GIBSON felt his man cautiously, telling
him at first that Shufeldt's concern was
in the way, and that they were trying
to get it out of the way. He got little
bolder soon, and, finally, led on by
Dewar. who was all the time in con-
sultaton 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 concern. Gibson stated
that he had dynamite machine that
could be located just outside of one of
the large tanks so that few moments
after it was placed it would explode.
told Dewar, for him to get away, and
that he was the only man who could
place it because of the fact that as a
government officer he had access to all
parts of the building. "rhe result Of
the success of the conspiracy" con-
tnued Mr. Lart, would have been that
the machine would have exploded be-
tween Two of the immense tanks, max
ing
Terrible Destruc ton
and leaving a sea of alcohol on.fre.
Gibson lied when he told Dewar that the
machine wouldn't 20 off until he had
time to get out, for it would have ex-
p.oded at once, killing the man who
placed it the very instant be-
fore he could possibly get away.
thus destroying the only evidence
against the trust people, and at the
same time saving to them the $4,000
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 working In the place. AS |
say. Mr.. Dewar, under our instructions.
vent the length of the conspiracy 10
the point of doing the diabolical deed,
and when Gibson was arrested he was
waiting uneaslly, 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
- M or a RI
Mantle machine, the letters. the con-
tract between Dewar and Gibson, in
fact everything. The case is practi-
caly over as far as our department Is
concerned; the case is made"
Have you any evidence TO show that
others beside Gibson were implicated in the
conspiracy Mr.. Hart was asked.
sMr Gibson is the 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 impH-
cate any one else. Everything we have
points TO Gibson and to no other person"
Two Previous Attempts.
The machine, the materials to make
it effective and the inculpatlng docu-
ments were in a satchel which Gibson
carried at the time OF his arrest. Some
unknown person who had knowledge of
the conspiracy warned the owners of
the distillery Monday of the danger
which beset them and fixing the date
for the explosion for yesterday or to-
day. and they were carefully guard
ing the premises day and night.
Two previous attempts, which were
attributed to the whisky trust, but not
proved, were made to destroy Shufeldts
with dynamite. One of them occurred
a q nntQnfiUn
Coughlin, of the city police force. was
detailed on the case, and it was while
at work on it that he made the acquaint-
ance of the little German, John P.
Kunze. Both of them were afterward
tried for completely in the assassination
of DIR. Cronin. Coughlin is serving
life sentence for the crime, but KunZe
was acquitted. This afternoon Gibson
was taken before United States Com
missioner Hoyne and released on bail of
$4,000. He declined to make any state
ment in regard to the matter.
Thomas Lynch, one of the proprietors
of the Shufeldt distillery, in an inter
view this afternoon, said:
.'Since the last attempted outrage on
our property we have received COM
munications from an unknown friend
whom we believe is member Of the
whisky trust, giving us hints Of ap-
proaching danger. Monday last we re-
ceived brief note giving US definite in
formationo of what was coming. It read
something like this:
$ Look out. An attempt will be made to
blow you up either tomorrow tuesday Or
next day
OF course we paid strict attention to
the friendly warning. and at once com
runicated with the authorities. We