The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-23
ATTEMPT WAS FOILED
INTERNAL MACHINE WAS DIsCOv-
 BRED BY CITIZEN.
House of !. c. Maben, Prominent Mine Operator, Imperilled by Bottle of Dynamite With Time
 Fuse.

Birmingham, Sept. 22.-(Special.)-
 But for the heroic act of some citizen ] who lives in the neighborhood of MT. J. c. Maben, President of the Sloss- Sheffield Steel and Iron Company,
 whose residence is at 7o1 South Twen- lty-first Street, the latter's residence might have been considerably dam aged and the lives of himself and his wife imperiled by an explosion of dy- namite which was placed under the | threshold of the front door this morn | ing about 1 o'clock. The dynamite | was contained in an empty pickle bot 1 tie and was in contact with a cap. at the end of a fuse which extended through a wooden cork in the bottle. A few minutes after 1 o'clock this morning MT. and Mrs. Maben were | suddenly aroused by violent rattle and pounding on the front door. Mir | Maben opened the window of his room, | which overlooked Avenue G, and lean ] ing out asked who was making the disturbance. An unfamiliar voice re- piled in an excited manner that some body was about to blow up the house. The stranger on the front told MT. Maben to hurry down stairs. Partially dressing, MT. Maben crept down the steps to the front door and opened it. | whereupon the man introduced him
 
 Is withheld from the public despite re- peated efforts to secure 1t.
 Discovery of Explosive. The man who prevented the explo- sion is said to be we'll known citizen Of Birmingham and said last night to Mir. Maben and the police that he missed the last car for his home and walked up Avenue G and had about reached the intersection with Twenty ] Gr~& on the front porch. He was moved to 1 suspicion owing to the lateness of the hour. He hurried to the stoop which leads to the avenue side of the resi- dence and as he approached the steps some tall figure with black mustache which could be distinguished in the moonlight turned and ran precipitately down the steps by him and around the house, The neighbor rushed up the steps and saw the sputters of fuse which was about six inches from a bottle. He grabbed the fuse and cut 1t in two with pocket knife. The fuse was burning in two places, how ever. and he seized the fuse again, burning his hand painfully, but he cut off the fire. He then began knocking on the door and aroused the inmates of the house.
 An examination of the contents of
 
 Mir. Maben and police detectives. It was found to contain about three sticks of dynamite, as could be best estimated. in powdered form. MT. Maben said this morning that he had been assured the bottle contained dy- namite It is believed it was suffi- cient to shatter the front wall of the house and do injury to the persons of MT. and Mrs. Maben, who occupied .I-z where the explosive was set. The police were notified by Mrs. Maben few minutes after the discovery of the burning fuse. Two police detec- tives have been detailed on the case and are expected to conduct a dtligent investigation.
 Several in the House.
 The bottle and dynamite are at police headquarters and will be preserved to assist In the solution of the case. There were in the house at the time of the would-be explosion Mir. and Mrs Maben, their daughter-in-law, Mrs. J. C. Maben, Jr.. and child. Richard Pearson, butler, was also in a rear room of the residence. The whole household was thrown into a fit of excitement by the affair, and Mir Maben has decided to station a guard around his home In the future.
 MT. Maben was seen this morning by d Birmingham News reporter and re- fused to make any conjecture as to the motive of the attempt to destroy his property and probably his life He said that he presumed it was an effort at revenge. He has no individual whom he suspects, but 1t Is understood that he will employ vigorous detective ser vice to help the police in solving the mystery.
 Test Will Be Made.
 The bottle and fuse are now at police headquarters but no official test has been made by the police department to ascertain whether or not the contents of the bottle Is dynamite, and such a test may not be made for day or two, but Acting Chief Johnson says that the | stuff has all the appearance of dyna- mite. The officers are working on the theory that the contents of the bottle l is dynamite and that an attempt was made to blow up MT Maben's residence. As noted above. MT. Maben said that | he had been assured by d chemist that | the bottle did contain dynamite
 Mir. Maben has been the recognized | spokesman of the operators during the | labor controversy which has been on | between the operators and miners for | some time. and he attributes the attack upon his residence to enemies made hv | u