New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-10-23
MURDER COOLLY PLANNEr.
INTRICATE MECHANISM USED TO KILL
HAMLIN j. ANDRUS.
THE ELECTRICAL DEVICE BY WHICH THE BOMB
WAS EXPIODED-THE AUTHORITIES NOW KNOW
THAT 1T WAS CoI.D-BIOODED CRIME.
But THEY SAY THAT THEY HAVE


THAT 1T WAS A CoLD-BLoODED CRIME.
But THEY SAY THAT THEY HAVE
no CLEw To THE PERPETRAToR.
There is now no doubt whatever OF the death
OF Hamlin ]. Andrus. the secretary OF the Arng-
ton Chemical Company. who was blown to pieces
while in his office in Yonkers "Wednesday morn
ing. was murder pure and simple. All other
theories have been dissipated by the remarkable
discovery that was made by Coroner Miles and
revealed Yesterday afternoon The Coroner dis
covered under the Office in which the explosion
took place two electric batteries and about 100
feet of electric wire, hch evidently connected
the batteries and the bomb that killed Mr. An
drua The Coroner also discovered a most In
genious contrivance made by the assassin for
exploding the bomb Expert electricians eX-
amined the whole scheme yesterday, and they
declared that the contr,ance. though crude In
workmanship. calculated to work most
effectively. as indeed II did
Coroner Miles said to Tribune reporter last
evening that he discovered some wires I'm the
basement of the office Wednesday morning when
making his first examination OF the premises.
but that when he inquired their use he was told
by one of the watchmen named Burke, that they
were the telephone wires Burke said that the
batteries. too were for the telephone. Later
the Coroner learned that the telephone was a
magnetic one. and did not require a battery
This set him to thinking. and he at sent
for two Pinkerton detectives.
RESULT OF THE SEARCH.
The detectives arrived at Yonkers yesterday
morning and. with the Coroner and John f.
Andrus. the brother OF the dead man. went to
the office and. under the Coroner's direction be-
gan the search. Almost Immediately there was
In the horrible death of Hamln ]. Andrus. The
searchers found wire leading from the office
down into the basement through the hole
through which the steamppe passed behind tho
safe This wire led along the side OF the founda-
tion to the wall OF the main building. retracing
its progress from there to a point directly under
the desk at which Mr.. Andrus probably
standing when he met his death. From the
battery another wire Joined the first, and both
Of them ran irreguarly over partition to a
point over and behind the furnace. Here both
wires passed over T. nail. only foot or so lower
the connection broken and the ends of
both wires were loopcd one within another.
The Insulation each wire then scraped
back to leave the wires bare at the lowest
par. of the loops. Were these bare places To
meet the connection would be completed. and
the wires grounded In the bomb would explode
the powder there.
CAREFULLY LAID PLANS.
But this would defeat the obj ct Of the assas
sin The bomb must not explode until the victim
was ready. To prevent the connect from be-
ing prcmaturely made the loops were suspended
from a nall so that the unnsvlated spots did not
! come in contact. To tie wires thus suspended
was attached n weight in the form of a small sec
/ tIon OF gaspipe cighng possibly two pounds.
/ This weigh. was also hung from ~ nail by a
hook Of wire strong enough to sustain the weight,
/ but frail enough Ia weld tn strong pull.
piece OF hemp cord was tied 10 the end OF the
weight and ran from there through small fan
light that opened into the yard behind the office.
II was a pull from this cord the authorities be-
lieve, that released the weight which in turn
pulled after 1t the wire loops. The loops thus
! released met at their uninsuatcd points. closed
the circuit and .iodcd the bomb.
| Behind the Office stood small outbuilding in
which the assassin may have stood when he
| pulled the cord but there was nothing 10 prevent
him from being much further away. After the
explosion he may escaped by a back way
unseen II is just possible. however. that the
! murderer may have been one Of the crowd OF
/ frightened persons who rushed into the office at
the sound Of the explosion. and saw the secretary
/ lying dead on the floor.
NOT DONE by AN EXPERT.
| All the experts who examined tho wires the
| batteries and the mechanism employed 10
plode the bomb agreed that the man who planned
the scheme was not expert in handling cleo
! tricty although he must have had fair knowl-
edge OF the habits OF the fluid This idea is
| based upon the fact that the wires were put up
very loosely They were not fastened In the
usual way. but were wound around the pipes and
| ran over the joist braces near the rafters. The
| loops constructed. too In clumsy and
bungllng manner. and apparently nothing in the
whole arrangement had been done with tools
| There was nothing done that could not have been
accomplished with a strong mans bare hands
| This may be a proof Of inexperience on the part
| OF the assassin as the Coroner thinks 1t was, or
| II might have been the result of determination
| to leave as slight cews as possible.
| n this was the murderer's idea 1t was most
| successful. for there is nothing about the appa-
| ratus he used to give the slightest clew for his
| detection. The wires the ordinary red and
white wires used for batteries Of small power
| The experts one of whom was Charles Pierce. a
New-York electrician. and the other of whom was
! a Yonkers man named Nugent. said that the wire
used was new and had not been out of the coil
more than three or four days. showing that the
plan must have been perfected within that time
| Mr.. Pierce said that the loop device by which
| the circuit had been closed was nothing more
| nor less than a stoke Of genius. He had never
| seen or read OF anything Of the sort before.
EVIDENCE OF a PREVIOUS ATTEMPT.
The Coroner also discovered some things that
led him to believe that previous. but unsuc
cessful. attempt had been made to accomplish
the terrible result that was achieved Wednes
| day He found another pai Of wires running
| along the front OF the foundation wall OF the
office building. On these. too. the insulation had
| been scraped Off at opposite points. so that if
| they were drawn together circuit would be
| closed but for some reason or other the scheme
| failed to work abandoned. In the rear
| of the main building was found an old battery