The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-11
WHO LETTER
POLI(E HAVING 4 HARD TIME
WITH CUNARD FER DOMB.
II Was Not Arranged 10 Expiode-f IL
Was Somebody's Idea Of Joke the
Joker u Likely to Catch II Hot-Trytng
to Trace by Wagon ana Dynamite.

to Trace by Wagon ana Dynamite.
Twenty police detectives were trying
yesterday to find who sent TO the Cunard
pier on Saturday a box containing 100
pounds OF dynamite Of the Climax Powder
Company's make. leaving it there on the
pretence that 1t was part of the baggage
Of passenger who was to sail by the
Umbria. If all detective tales are true the
police will be able to discover the writer
OF the letter that notified the police that the
box had been sent as a preliminary step
in the plans of -our society to clear the
harbor Of British shipping.
The handwriting is hardly disguised at
all, except by an apparent effort to write
backhanded, neglected from time to time.
1t has nothing about it to suggest an Italian.
but would pass current in New York
newspaper Office as the work OF an accus-
toned writer for the press.
WILL BE SERIOUS FOR THE JOKER
Police Commissioner Greene sent for
Inspector McClusky yesterday afternoon
and had long talk with him. A general
order was issued to the police to try and
find who had the box taken to the pier.
Gen. Greene said that he was inclined to
believe that it was somebody's idea OF
practical joke. The absence of caps on
the dynamite sticks made the box az HARM
less as any other piece of baggage, he said.
According to the Commissioner, who knows
something about explosives, the box could
have been dropped from the roof Of build
ing without any serious results. He says
that in the past five years all first-class
manufacturers have made dynamite that
Lodi 1Qtn
The dynamite in the box, he says, Is OF
superior grade.
The police, however, regard the placing
Of the box on the pier az very serious
matter, and purpose to make 1t anything
but joke for the perpetrator.
The Cunard people denied emphatically
a rumor that was current that they also
had received letter or letters Of threat
ening character. This story was persis-
tently circulated, and the police finally
took cognizance OF 1t and questioned acting
Agent Robert Lloyd on the point. Mr..
Lloyd said that no such letters had been
received SO far as he knew, and he was
quite sure that he would know II letters
had been received.
sQuABBLE OVER THE BOX ITSELF.
A dispute between the Bureau OF Com
bustibles and the Detective Bureau de-
veloped yesterday over the possession Of
the dynamite and the machinery which
were in the box on the pier. Supt. Murray
OF the Bureau Of Combustibles was not
willing to give the things up on inspector
McClusky's demand. The Inspector wanted
the entire machine sent to his Office at
once. He said that he had been delayed
n;< in II NJ n
CATION because Of the obstinacy OF Supt.
Murray in refusing to deliver the machine
to him, and that this delay might prove
very serious one.
The upshot was that McClusky got an
order from Fire Commissioner Sturgis di-
recting Supt. Murray to deliver the internal
machine to the police, and the outfit reached
the Detective Bureau late yesterday after
noon.
As matter Of fact the principal delay
in the police getting to work on the case
was due to the fact that Inspector McClusky
wasn't on duty at the Detective Bureau
all day Saturday and didn't get there at
all until quite late Saturday evening. 1t
was then too late to get the machine to
Police Headquarters. and no work save
that initiated by Capt Langan was really
done on the matter until yesterday after
noon.
CLUES THE POLICE HAVE.
The clues the police have to work on are
the letter Of warning signed "Pietro Dem
artini,' obviously fictitious name, the
description OF the man who left the box
at the pier and Of the horse and the wagon
and the contents Of the box itself. The
two men said that they had got the box
on Thirty-ninth street. On the chance
that the men may have been honest enough
and didn't know what the box contained
Inspector McClusky had Thirty-ninth street
from one river to the other searched.
No trace Of the horse and wagon described
by Baggage Master Thomas Pryor Of the
Cunard line, or of the men, was discovered.
At every stable they could get into on Sum
nobody had seen such box and nobody
had carted such q box to the Cunard pier
or knew Of any one else having done such q
job. They also tried such carpenter shops
as they could get into and made inquiries
about the box, or chest.
Gen. Greene's letter and the fact that the
men who brought the box to the pier were
Italians, Detective Sergeant Petrosino was
sent to the Italian quarters OF the city
to nee what he could learn.
Petrosino said when he returned that all
the Italians he had talked to laughed at
the idea that the machine was the work OF
an Italian or that ii was the work Of the
Malta or any Italian society OF that kind.
They said that Italians didn't work in that
way and, besides that, Italians, either as indi-
viduals or as societies, had no special in
terest In driving British trade from this
port or any other American port.
The dynamite in the box, which came
from the Climax Powder Company of
Emporium, Pa. can. it lie believed be Traced
Inspector MoClusky sent a detective to
Emporium yesterday and expects TO get
some clue to-day which will lead him to
where the particular dynamite now in
his possession was sold.
MACHINE NOT ARRANGED TO ESrLopR.
An examination Of the Internal machine
made yesterday at Police Headquarters
aettled 1t that, az THE SuS said yesterday
there were no illuminate caps on the fuse.
and no explosion of thu dynamite was likely
under the circumstances The cigar lighter
which was to ignite the fuse was not even
set In position,
Supt Murray OF the Bureau Of Com
bustibles admitted Yesterday that the ma
chine was harmless In the condition in which
1t was found.
The first thing looked for when We
opened the box and saw the nature OF the
contents" he said yesterday, was the
illuminate Of mercury caps. Any one
familiar with dynamite, especially high
grade dynamite like this, knows that fuse
without cap would not explode it, There
were no Gaps anywhere In the box, and it