Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-07-09
EVENTFUL SNEEZING
HOW A LITTLE THING MAY BE LADEN
WITH GREAT RESULTS.
A Sneexe Under London Bridge Thar
Cost Two ana Saved Many Lives
A Sneeze That Averted Assnssina-
tion-One That Caused Panic.

Dec. Is. 1884. Il sneeZe was snecZed un
der London bridge which consigned
! two men to an instant and horrible
death. ...,., IL ~ ,.i j..'t s.Gis rs.
Their names were Lomasney an6
Fleming, and they were conspirators
Their MISSION was TO blow up tn!
bridge with dynamite, becaise It was
considered that at that time there
would be- More people crossing it
worAmell ,workgirls' and Others or
tllejr way honr from businoss--than 1T
any other and that the loss in human
life would be therefore rorrespondngly
more appalling.
All went well at first. The pair Of
| dcsperadocs dropped noiselossly down
| the river in II boat, With forty pounds
of dynamite in their possession. to
gother with the necessary fuses and de
tonatOrS Arrived at their destination
however, they found that the gully hole
underneath the southern arch of the
structure, wherein it had been their in
tention to insert the explosive, had
been stopped up. Lnnasncy undertook
to remove the obstruction, but it uccu
pied him some little time. The night
was bitterly cold, and his cornrade got
chilled and was seized with Il sudden
fit of sneeZing. In his agitation h,
dropped one or more of the detOnators
he was holding, and these, falling ON
the dynamite which was laying in the
bottom of the boat, exploded it, With
disa strOuS results Doubtless, however,
that inopportune sneeze. although ii
ended the career of a pair Of despera
does, saved London bridge from de
struction
That the Right Hon. W. e. Forster
died peacefully in his bed instead of
being assassinatcd in 1882 was due to
snceze. Three times the conspiratorS
laid In wait for him, but the last at |
tempt was the most determined of |
them all. Four men armed with heavy |
calibcr navy revovers We're to waylay !
him as he drove from the viccrcgal |
lodge to the castle. Two of the assas
sins We're to fire at him from the first |
floor window of a house in a certain
street, and the other two We're station
ed at the window of another house a
few yards down on the opposite side OF I
the way.
These latter We're the PRESERVES" leS-
tined to try their skill should their col
leagues miss. Neither of the two firing
parties were to show themselves until |
the near approach Of their proposed
victim was signaled from the street
hnlpu Tho ct, IN,
be the waving of Il pocket handker-
chief by jones Carey. the same man
who was aftrrward killed by O'Don-
nell.
The plot was eXcelently planned
from the point of view of the parlci,
pants therein In fact SO far as human
foresight could provide against eventu-
alities the chiGf secretary seemed as
good as dead. Yet it all came to naught
and for SO simple reason that the
pl0ttcrs themselves. meeting together
aftcrward at their secret rendezvous
In North King street, were fain to
laugh at their own discontinue.
The morning was cold and gusty
Mr.. Forster was somewhat late, and
Carey, chilled with waiting about, be
gan to sneeZe. Instinctively he drew
out his handkerchief, the handkerchief
that was to give the fatal signal and
In an instant the clustering north wind
had ticked it from his benumbed fin
gers and sent it sailing down the street
as Il twenty mile an hour gait.
At that very instant the chief secrc
tary's carriage turned the corner and
came swiftly toward him. Carey ran
to the spot which had been previously
agreed upon and tried to make his fel
low consprators understand that their
his arm and pointing.
The result, however, though exactly
what might have been foreseen, hardly
came up to his expectations. The foul
men at the windows were waiting for Il
man with handkerchief. Instead, they
saw one without any such signaling
apparatus. evidently excited and point
Ing wildly up the street. Instantly they
coniured up visions Of traitors in theil
ranks and Of detectives on their tracks
and, dropping their weapons, inconti
nently and hastily fled.
On the evening of Oct. II, 1873, a 20.
1ceman on duty near the Coliseum
Music hall, Liverpool, noticed an unu
sual cU,lmution at the entrance. Di
'heveled boys and girls, their clothing
n many instances torn from thci1
packs and some of them covered with
blood, were pouring from the gallery
exits, while from within the building
zane the sound Of shrieking and loud
.ries for help Realizing something OF
what was happening, the constable
'eized an ak and smashed in two Of tn,
extra" doors.
His prompt action undoubtedly saved
scores if not hundreds of lives. for by ,.
his time the auditorium had become a
yeritable pandemonium, wherein sever
Il thousand people, mad with terror
we're fighting and struggling with one
mother for precedence.
Thirty-seven Of the number lost theil
ives, and more than twice that number