Birmingham age-herald., 1895-02-14
IS HE ONE OF THEM? Peter Oaks, Alias 0tes, Held on a
 Serious Charge. THOUGHT TO BE A MEMBER Of a Band of Ship Cargo Burn CTS, With Headquarters
 in Savannah.
THOUGHT TO BE A MEMBER

1 NEW ORLEANS, La, Feb. 13.-Peter | Oaks, alias Otes, who was arrested last | evening on the levee at Southport and is charged with having, with the assistance | of two or more conspirators or confeder- l ates, unknown, cut open the ends of two bales of cotton, ready to be stored on the | steamship Floridan, and secreting therein | a quantity of combustible material, for the purpose of either blowing up the vessel or | destroying the same by Ere, was arraigned before Commissioner Wright this morning and entered plea of not guilty to the charges preferred
 The act for which Oaks is held to answer is in violation of section 5364 of the revised statutes of the United States. The prisoner
 was in consequence placed under appear ance bond in the sum of S50O0. When the judge pronounced the size of the bond that would be required the accused stated that it was unnecessary to make the bond so heavy as he was stranger in town and bond of $100 would serve as well. Com.
 missioner Wright replied that It was nog his business to know what amount of bond the person was able to supply, therefore the bond would remain as first fixed. Oaks has the appearance of hard look ing customer, with face on him that proba bly, will not prove of great benefit in his behalf when he is called to look jury in the facs. He evidently is man behind the meridian of life, and says that he has not been in the city more than two months and came here from Savannah, Ga. He claims that he is not O member Of the varl- ous labor organizations, but admits that he knows something about loading cotton on board of ships.
 The sticks taken from the two bales of cotton wrapped up in wet cloth, and which were first generally thought to be dyna- init yarnUad tn6aV almost bGVOQd any question of doubt to have been composed of phosphorous, and 1t was therefore prob- ably the intention of the perpetrator not to blow up the ship or injure any of the work. evidently to destroy the cotton in the vessel | by fire. The combustible material was | carefully laid upon the back of one Of the | large record books in the marshaPs office l last night with glass covering 1t, so that no one would become endangered by inter- l ference with it. This morning it was found | that the stuff concealed in the wraps had | caught fire during the night and there was nothing left but the charred remains.
 For some time past steamship burning nah, Ga., and the various steamship con- | panies doing business at that port have | expended large sums in attempts to ferret out the guilty parties, but 1t seems that the l conspiracy was so thoroughly organized | that until now it has proven impossible to | ever apprehepd any of the burners. l Detectives from Savan nah, it is said, have l only recently visited New Orleans on such l an errand, but as usual could not locate or l effect capture. It is therefore the general l supposition that the man who is now under
 arrest here, and who goes by the name of l Oaks and says he came from Savannah. Ga., belongs to the conspiracy which has so long made that port quite risky for vessels to receive cargoes from.
 l However, the proof at present does not sustain such theory. The fact that there have been number of fires on shipboard
 here, and that generally vessels after leav- l ing here have been discovered on ire, taken in connection with today's discov- l cry, would seem to bear out the theory | that ship burning gang has been at work. | TrHE CTNUE