The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-03-29
DYNAMITE PUT
UNDER HIS BED
Buckley Wells of Colorado
Has Marrow Escape
From Death.
GENERAL BLOWN SKY-HIGH
NO GLUE TO THE PERPETRA-
TORS OF THE DEED.


Adjutant General Buckley Wells mar
rowly escaped death or serious injury
at his home at an early hour this morn
ing, from a we'll planned effort to as
sassinate him with dynamite bomb.
Despite precautions against such an
attempt, such as patrols and arc lights
about the house, a stick of dynamite or
a prepared bomb was placed under or
/ near General Wells bed.
! General Wells was sleeping, as was
his habit on an outer porch of the
housf, and he was hurled with the de-
bristmany feet from the wrecked house.
/ The side of the house was torn COM
pletely out, hardly stick of the bed
/ remained, and fragments of wood were
scattered over the neighbOrhOOd.
/ Though badly shaken up and bruised
to some extent, General Wells is said
to have escaped without injury.
Leading Part in Mining War.
General Wells took a leading part in
the suppression of labor troubles i'm this
state in 1904 and 1905, and was prom
inently identified with the recent pros
ecutiOn of officers of the Western Fed
Grafton of Miners at Boise on the
charge of completely in the assassina-
ton of former Governor Frank Steu-
nenberg. He had been active also in
securing the extradition i.0Tn Idaho of
Steve Adams, to be tried here on
charges of murder in connection with
the miners strike in 1904.
General Wells is general manager Of
the Smuggler- Union mine, and his
home, where the explosion occurred. is
located on that property at Pandora.
several miles from town.
The general appeared in town this
morning with his head bandaged, but
otherwise apparently none the worse
for his experience.
Suspect Arrested.
One suspect has been arrested and
is held i'm the city Jail pending a thor
ough investigation relative to his al
legged connection with the explosion
The entire city md county police
forces are working on the case.
Il have formed no opinion concern
ing the affair, and perhaps will not
until the matter has been fully investi-
gated" said General Wells. 1T is all
strange to me. 1 was in town last
/ night and did not return home until
midnight or therea bouts. l noticed
nothing out of the ordinary about the
house. and retired as usual i'm the
sleeping porch which l use almost the
year around.
THE next / remember was being
awakened by a loud report and found
myself flying through the air l must
have been hurled against the roof of
the porch. When 1 had fully Tegained
my senses. I was buried under mass
of wreckage. the bed having been re-
duced TO kindling and the porch badly
damaged.
AT first l did not realize what had
happened. AS soon as I could extricate
myself. I made tour about the house,
but saw no one. / then notified the
sheriff by telephone. 1 could not say
whether it was a bomb or a stick Of
dynamite that was placed under the
bed"
Sheriff Hurried to Scene.
When news of the explosion reached
Telluride the sheriff, with a corps of
deputies. hurried TO the scene.
The neighborhood for miles around
was thoroughly secured, but no trace
of the dynamiters was found
The bomb or dynamite stick had evil
IDENTIFY been placed under the bed some
time yesterday. and set off at the time
desired by the use of clockwork or a
time fuse. Every nook and corner about
the house and in the vicinity was
y
Of some sort, and the failure to dis
cover anything Of the kind has caused
the officers to believe that an Odorless
fuse had been attached to the explo-
sive.
That Wells had most miraculous
escape is evidenced by the damage
done to the room and its contents Ev-
cry window was blown out, a huge hole
was torn in the floor, plaster was Jared
from the ceiling, and side walls and
nearly every window light in the house
was cracked. The wire springs of the
couch on which the general slept were
twisted and broken.
Predecessor Was Killed.
General Wells predecessor. a man.
ager of the Smuggler-U mine, Ar
thur L. Collins, an Englishman, was
shot to death at Pandora several years
ago. Steve Adams, the alleged accom-
plice of Harry Orchard, the murderer
Continued on Page 2.
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