Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-05-01
EVENTFUL SNEEZING
HOW A LITTLE THING MAY BE LADEN
WITH GREAT RESULTS.


Snecze Under London Bridge THAT
Cost Two and Saved Many Lives.
A Sneeze That Ayerted Assassina-
tion-One That Caused a Panic.
Exactly at p. m. on the evening Of
Dec. Is, 1854, 4 sneeZe was sneezed I'M
der London bridge which consigned
two men to an instant and horrible
death
Their names were Lomasney and
Fleming, and they were conspirators.
Their mission was to blow I'D the
bridge with dynamite, because it was
considered that at that time there
would be more people crossing it
workmen, workgirls and others on
their way home from businessman at
any other and that the loss in human
life would be therefore correspondingly
more appalling.
All went we'll at first. The pair Of
desperadOes dropped nOiselessly down
the river in boat, with forty pounds
of dynamite in their possession, to-
gether 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. LOmasney undertook
to remove the obstruction, but it Occu-
pied him some little time. The night
was bitterly cold, and his cOmrade got
chilled and was seized with n sudden
fit of sneeZing. In his agitation he
dropped one or more of the decorators
he was holding, and these, falling on
the dynamite which was laying in the
bottom of the boat, exploded it, with
disastrous results. Doubtless however,
that inOppOrtune sneeB&, although 1t
ended the career of q 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 assassinated in 1882 was due to
q sneeze. 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
caliber navy revOlvers were to Waylay
him as he drove from the viceregal
lodge to the castle Two of the aSsaS-
sins were to fire at him from the first
floor window of q house in q certain
street, and the other two were station
ed at the window of another house q
few yards down on the opposite side of
the way.
These latter were the reserves" des-
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
below. The signal i'll question was to
be the waving of a pocket handker
who was afterward killed by O'Don-
nell.
The plot was eXcelIently planned
from the point of view of the p&rtici-
pants therein. In fact, so far as human
foresight could provide against eventu-
alities the chief secretary seemed as
good as dead. Yet it all came to naught
and for so simple a reason that the
plotters themselves, meeting together
afterWard 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. Instinctiyely he drew
out his handkerchief, the handkerchief
that was to give the fatal signal, and
in an instant the clustering north wind
had tiicked it from his benumbed fin
gers and sent it sailing down the street
as twenty mile an hour gait.
At that very instant the chief secre-
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 cOnspirators understand that their
victim was in sight by signaling with
his arm and pointing.
The result, however, though exactly
what might have been fOreseen, hardly
came up to his expectations. The four
men at the windows were waiting for a
man with a handkerchief Instead, they
saw one without any such signaling
apparatus, evidently excited and point
ing wildly up the street. Instantly they
conjured up visions of traitors in their
ranks and of detectives on their tracks
and, dropping their weapons, inconti-
nently and hastily fed.
On the evening of Oct. II, 1873, a po-
liceman on duty near the Coliseum
Music hall, Liverpool, noticed an unu-
sual commotion at the entrance. Di-
sheveled boys and girls, their clothing
in many instances torn from their
backs and some of them covered with