The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-08-30
INTERNAL MACHINE
SET OFF PREMATURELY
WAS INTENDED FOR SECRETARY
CORTEEYOC-EX IN
SUBSTATIOT.

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 29.-An
internal machine sent through the
mails to Secretary of the Treasury
George b. Cortelyou partially ex-
ploded in the Nicetown sub-postolfice
Tuesday evening while a clerk was
postmarking the stamps. He was Sc
verely burned by the explosion. Had
the package been opened in the
hands of the secretary both he and
his associates would have been blown
to atoms.
The bomb, inclosed in an official
cardboard package four inches long
by three and one-haf inches thick,
was brought into the Nicetown sta
ton at o'clock this afternoon, by a
carrier who collected it on his route,
within which lies the Midvale steel
works, where thousands of foreigners
are employed.
Though .inclosing a weight of more
than pound, the covering was of
very thin pasteboard. The address,
clipped from newspapers, evidently
TO avoid detection. was, Secretary
Cortelyou, Washington, ID. c.
Package Expiodes.
All the carrier can tell is that he
secured the package in small box
on the same trip that ended with the
delivery at the sub-station He emp
tied the pouch upon the table in the
carriers room, and Clerk Thomas
Roberts swept the package up with
the rest and carried it over to the
stamping desk to be postmarked.
Half dozen one-cent stamps covered
the box.
Unsuspectingly and in hurry to
get through with the lot, Roberts
iabbed the stamping die into the mid
die of the stamps. There was the
sound Of igniting sparks, the quick
splutter of fuse within, and then
the package burst with an explosion
that tore il to shreds and streamed
sizzling powder over the mail clerks
wrist and shirt. Other employees ran
to his assistance with water and put
out the flames after he had been bad
ly scorched.
When the cardboard box burst its
contents scattered to all sides of the
room Afterward nothing could be
found but streaks of unexploded
grayish powder, which strewed the
floor, and lot of wadding, which
furnlShed no cleW.
Begin Investigation.
The injured clerk was sent to the
| hospital, where he will recover. Of
hcials of the postofTice inspectors de-
partment were notified. The head of
this bureau, curiously enough, is
James T. Cortelyou, a brother of the
secretary of the treasury. He began
an investigation at once.
Unless the powder contained in the
Internal machine is pulverized dyna-
mite, the experts who have so far ex-
amined it, are at a loss to give it a
name Tests made with the rem
nants show that it contained sutI-
cient latent force to have wrecked the
Office of the secretary of the treasury
and to have killed all within.
Why such an attempt should be
made against the life of Mr.. Cortel-
you has no explanation tonight. Sc
cret service men called into the case
have failed not only to locate the
sender of the bomb, but the exact vi
cinity from which it was sent. 1t is
| known, however, that the mail box
in which it was placed for mailing,
was not far from 3633 North Broad
street and as this is the heart of the
foreign district of Philadelphia, the
detectives declare they will have
traced down the perpetrator within
the next twenty-four hours.
Clips Address From Paper.
The object evidently was to OBJ
scure his identity by clipping the
whole address from local newspapers
that have recently been printing the
name of the secretary in connection
with the latter's generally published
i plan to relieve the monetary strin-
gency.
The Washington, d. C.,s of the
address was culled from the date line
of a Washington newspaper. A full