The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-02-20
4 GANG OF F!REeUGs.
4 Da,tardly attempt I" Destroy n
Steamship.

EEW ORLEANS. Feb H. Peter OAKS.
alias OieS. who was arrested on the
levee at Southport and is charged with
having, with the assistance OF two or
more confederates or consplrators. un-
known. cut open the ends OF two bales
OF cotton ready to be stored on thestea-
mer Floridian, and secretlng therein
a quantity of combustible material Tor
the purpose of blowing up the vessel
or destroying the same by fire, was ar
ranigned before Commissioner Wright
Yesterday 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 1864
of the Revised Statutes of the United
States. The prisoner was III conse,,
quence placed under appearance BOND
in the sum of So, 900. When the Judge
pronounced the size of bond that would
be required the accused stated that 1t
was unnecessary to make the bond SO
heavy, as he was stranger IN town
and bond of 500 would serve as
well. Commissioner Wright replied
that it was not 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
looking customer with face on him
that probably will not prove Of great
benefit in his behalf when he is called
to look jury in the face. He evident
ly is man beyond the meridian of life
and says he has not been in the city
more than two months and came here
from Savannah, Ga. He claims that
he is not a member of any of the varl-
Gus 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 70 be
dynamite, proved today to have been
composed of phosphorus and 1t was
therefore probably the intention of
the perpetrator not to blow up the ship
or iniure any of the worlzmen employ
ed in loading the ship. but evidently
to destroy the cotton in the vessel by
fire. The combustible material was
carefully laid up on the back of one
of the large record books in the mar
shals office last night with u glass
covering it, so that no one would be-
come endangered by interference 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 re-
| mains.
For some time past steamship burn
ing has been frequent occurrence at
Savannah, and the various steamship
| companies doing business at that port
have expended large sums in attempt
ing to ferret out the guilty parties, but
it seems that the conspiracy was so
thoroughly organized that until now
it has proven impossible to even appre-
hend any Of the burners. Detectives
from Savannah, it is said. have only
recently visited New Orleans on such
an errand, but as usual could not To-
cate or effect capture.
It is Therefore the general supposl-
ton that the man who IS now under
arrest here and who goes by the name
of OAKS and states that he came from
Savannah, belongs to the conspiracy
which has so long made that port quite
risky for vessels to receive cargoes
from. However, the proof at present
does not sustain such theory. The
| fact that there have been a number of
fires on ship board here, and that gen
orally vessels after leaving here have
been discovered on fire, taken in con-
nection with today's discovery, would
seem to bear out the theory that ship
burning gang can be at work.