The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-21

- ence of an actual plot. -
- 1t is understood the information =
= originated in Paris. from which ::
= point IL was communicated TO the =
= secret service bureau of that city, -
- and through that medium TO Adj -
:. miral Evans and the authorities Z:
= of the South American country. =
:
Paris. Jan. 2O.-The reports cabled
from Rio Janeiro that the Brazilian
authorities were warned from Paris of
a possible attempt to blow up the
American batttleship fleet while in the
harbor there, are true.
Some time ago certain suspicious in
dicating the existence of a plot to de-
stroy the whole or a portion of the
fleet, either at Rio Janeiro or in the
Straits of Magellan were aroused, and
naturally communicated to Rio Janeiro
and Washington. A chartered steamer
was reported to have conveyed explo-
sives for the use of the conspiratOrs
to Rio Janeiro. arriving there about the
middle of December, and John Fedher,
whose name is mentioned In the Rio
Janeiro dispatches, was one of the men
whose name was revealed here as i'm
piicated in the conspiracy. The alleged
plot is supposed to have some rather
startling >ramifications, but the evil
dence along this line is far from con-
elusive and rests chiefly upon the state
ment of an individual whose record
was subsequently proved TO be any
thing but creditable.
coneocted Story.
~ Consequently, the whole affair is re-
garded with much skepticism, and, in
deed, the presumption has been raised
that il may have been a deliberately
concocted scare, In any event, it is
now believed here that if the plot &C
tually did exist, the timely warning
and precautions taken have complete
ly frustrated the plans of the censpira-
tors at Rio Janeiro and compelled them
to transfer their operations further
south, if not to abandon them entirely.
The latter hypothesis is considered here
TO be most probable.
Only a few people here treated the
story seriously: others regarded 1t as
fantastic, while many dismissed the
whole affair as a myth. The reports
today from Rio Janeiro have been
characterized as another weird chap
ter of the fantastic recital. 1t is be-
lieved here that the action of the Rio
Janeiro police grew out of the infor-
matiOn forwarded to Rio Janeiro from
Washington and this city.
The Original Story.
The story, in brief. as given by those
responsible for it. is substantially as
follows:
A young man of good family residing
here claims to have overheard snatches
of a telephone conversation. in which
vague references were made to the
cruise of the American feet, and of
plans concerning the fleet which were
being Matched at a certain cafe. Being
of a Sherlock Holmes disposition, the
young man carried his information to
an American official in Paris, and also
established sur illance of the cafe. In
vestigatiOns at the cafe disclosed sew
eral characters holding mysterious
meetings.
Their movements are said to have
been traced and their plans in part
learned as TO the shipment of explo-
siyes to Brazil.
When the suspicious parties were
surprised they are said to have shown
fight and, in a scrimmage which en-
sued, the young man claims to have
snatched a portion of the paper over
which they were porting, containing
the eabalistic words. ''Menaced. de-
stroying." supposed to mean, IF mem
aeed, destroy
Yarn Given Color.
Meantime. the official to whom the
Young man had conhded the secret,
made inquiries as to the shipment of
explosives to Brazil. This inquiry ap-
peared to give some color to the story,
for, 1t showed that a small steamer,
chartered by the suspects, had actua-
" sailed from North German port
with certain boxes which were at least
open to suspicion. 1t is claimed that
the testimony of the man who loaded
the boxes was secured and ii shows
they contained explosives.
Continued on page 2.