The herald., 1895-12-17
Internal Machines Sent to Pull.
man and Armour
WARNING HAD BEEN GIVEN
BY C0nspirators' Conversation Acct
dentally Overheard
One Arrest Made. the Suspected Man Being
an Escape From Lunatic Asylum.
Armour Was Away
Associated Press Special wire.

Annotated Press Special Wire
CHICAGO, Dec. 16.-A mail collector, in
making his rounds this morning, found in a
mail box two packages, one addressed to
George M. Pullman at his private resi-.
dence on Prairie avenue, and the other to
p. d. Armour's residence on Thirty-seventh
street and Michigan avenue. He was sus-
picious of the appearance of the packages
and called the attention of Superintendent
Hanlon to them. While he was telling the
postmaster about the packages Armour's
private secretary came to the postofflce
and told MIR. HesinR that business man
overheard conversation last night be-
tween two men in relation to an attempt to
blow up Pullman and Armour. A descrip.
ton of the two men was given the police
and Captain Stuart, of the postoffice secret
service.
Superintendent Hanlon examined one
of the bombs, which was made from a Sec
ton of lead pipe. 1t was found to contain
matches and white powder, which the su-
perintendent believes to be dynamite.
The packages, as described by one of
the postofiice attaches who saw them when
brought in by Hanlon, were rectangular,
about six inches long, two inches deep and
two wide. They were wrapped with a
light brown paper and addressed in q
rough hand with pencil. On the margin
was written "Contents wire" The adj
dresses were misspelled. That Mr.. Armour
had been notified of the conversation re-
ported to have been overheard by citizen
last night was further confirmed by
message to postal station j, near the
Armour residence, this morning, not to
deliver any letters to the house.
Auditor Drake of the postoffice said: {:
"Hanlon brought the two packages to my
office this morning. He laid them on my
desk, and after telling me his suspicious
he proposed to open them. l ran out of the
Office and told him to take them up stairs
to the postmaster's room. was not will
ing to satisfy my curiosity by having him
open them on my desk. The packages
weighed, should judge, about twenty-four
ounces each and one side was covered with
Z-cent stamps"
Albert Reaser was taken to the Bridewell
today to work out a fine of $50 imposed for
lounging around Millionaire Fields home
on Prairie avenue, near the Pullman and
Armour residences. Reaser had been
found several times in the same locality
previous to his arrest last Saturday, and on
his person were letters addressed in his
own handwriting to Marshall Field and
George Nj. Pullman. asking for employ
ment. He was formerly an inmate of the
Bunniug insane asylum, whence he escaped
November 10. Reaser claimed to have
worked in Kinks soap factory up to a short
time ago and seems perfectly harmless,
though the police are suspicious of him and
believe he is only pretending to be in
sane.
~ did not mail my packages or letters to
anybody. and would have delivered the
letters had in my pocket, only ! was
afraid of being caught by the police" said
Reaser. When arrested last Saturday,
Reaser, in replying to question as to why
he was loating around the house, said:
"Why, Marshall Field has buried his
money in the yard and am going to find
It,"
The writing on the package mailed to
George NJ. Pullman and Armour today
will be compared with that on the letters
found upon Reaser.
P. d. Armour was not in his Office this
afternoon. His private secretary, w: J.
Quinn, was there. He said that last night
. man unknown to anyone in the office
had entered and informed C. w. Comes,
the manager, that plot was on foot to
destroy Mr. Armour. An Internal machine,
he asserted, had been mailed to him, and
he warned Mr.. Armour's representative to
have the matter looked into. Mr.. Quinn
said: I'VE did not put much reliance in
the mans words, but in order to be on the
safe side, turned the matter over, to the
postal authorities and let it end there. We
have no further interest in the matter''
IL was iearneu tnat MT. Armour Is on his
way to Jacksonville, Florida. whittier he
started yesterday. 1t was denied, how
ever, that the rumor Of some one having
designs upon his life had anything to do
with the millionaire's leaving town. 1t
was asserted that he had already left the
city when the news of the mailing of the
Internal machine reached the ears of his
employees, and that the matter would dis
turb MIR. Armour very little if he had heard
of it.
The packages we're turned over to Post
ohice Inspector Stuart for inspection. They
proved to be Internal machines which, had
they reached their destination and been
opened without suspicion by the men for
whom they were intended, would probably
have blown them into eternity. The pack
ages were taken up by Collector Phillip
Kirkwood of Station L. One of them he
found on the mail box at Wabash avenue
and Twenty-first street. The second
wood approached it to make his collection.
He saw a man of rough appearance lay
package on the box and walk away. When
he reached the mail box he found the pack
age to be similar to the one he had picked
up at Fourteenth street and addressed in
me same handwriting. Each package
weighed about twenty -four ounces and the
poorly scrawled addresses were alone
enough to attract the attention of the
carrier. The postal authorities were al
ready on the lookout for suspicious pack |
ages for Mr.. Armour, as a stranger had /,
notified attaches of his office that an in
ternal machine was on its way to Mr.. Ar. !
mour through the mail. He claimed to !
have overheard an exposure of the CON
spiracy from two men talking in an alley. |
similar visit was paid Mr.. Pullman |
Sunday night. presumably by the same |
persons who took the trouble to inform Mr.. |
Armour's people. Mr.. Pullman had al |
ready retired, and he did not see the Wis !
jtor, who appeared very much worried and |
anxious to see him in person. He deiiy- |
cred his message, however, without seeing /
Mr. Pullman, and left a card with his |
business address. This Mr.. Pullman de- !
elined to make public afterward, as it |
might be the exposure of valuable clue.
The man who gave the warning is said to |
have been a metal polisher named Owens,
put this has not yet been entirely con-
llrmed.
This afternoon Mr.. Pullman made an
Offort to locate the owner of the card, but
In this ne was unsuccessful. He dispatched |
d confidential man to the place of bus-
ness specified on the card, but was told
that the person of the name it showed was |,
absent, being an outside man and seldom
Dt the headquarters of the firm. Mr..