The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-11-19
Mayor Of Indianapolis Has Re-
ceived a Letter Threaten
ing to Transport Him to a
Hot Place.
THINKS OYNAMlTERS
AUTHORS OF LETTER
Executive Offered a $4,000
Reward for Arrest and Con-
viction of Perpetrators Of
An Outrage.
palladium Specially

Indianapolis. Ind. Nov. 1o.-Mayor
Bookwalter is sitting at his desk In
his office since yesterday. with a big
revolver within easy reach. and he pro-
poses to keep 1t within easy reach. at
least for the present. He has taken
this precaution because he received a
threatening letter. yesterday morning,
In which some anonymous writer
threatened to send you and some
more of them to hell"
The letter was embellished with
skull and crossbones and another
drawing which is supposed to repre-
sent stick of dynamite.
Reward the Cause.
The letter is supposed to have been
written because the mayor. during the
last few days had had an advertisement
in the daily papers offering a reward
OF $1,000 for the arrest and convic-
tion of the persons who blew up sev-
eral buildings with dynamite several
weeks ago. The outrage is a myst..
ry and has been ever since II was per
petrated. Five thousand dollars of
the reward money was appropriated by
the city council. and another 5000
was made up among prominent busi-
ness men and manufacturers and
placed in the hands OF Mayor Book
walter to be paid to the captor of the
dynamiters.
One night a few weeks ago the en-
tire city was shaken at exactly mid
night by four heavy explosions in three
different parts of the city. One explo-
sion set fire to the barn and garage OF
Albert Won Spreckelson. a contractor.
The buildings were destroyed. togeth-
er with an automobile and one horse
Another explosion destroyed q part OF
Won Spreckelson's lumber factory a
short distance from his home. The
third explosion blew out a side wall of
the Central Union Telephone compa-
ny's new branch exchange building in
Irvington. and the fourth explosion
damaged the new Carnegie branch H.
brary building in the west part of the
city. The last two explosions were
five miles apart, but they occurred at
exactly the same minute.
Tried to Damage Him.
Won Spreckelson. as contractor, was
erecting the telephone building AMI
that the dynamiters were seeking 20
inflict all possible damage to him. He
is also the contractor for the erection
OF the temple. being built by the Mys-
tic Shrine at a cost OF $JOO.OOO and
which is rapidly nearing completion.
On this latter job Won Spreckelson
had trouble with the structural iron
workers union and . strike resulted.
Since then, Won Spreckelson has been
employing non-union men on the Job.
and IT was the general supposition that
the dynamiting was done either by
some Of the strikers or some Of their
sympathizers. That II was . conspir-
acy to destroy all of the buildings
was shown by the fact that all Of the
explosions took place at once. Evil
IDENTIFY. the conspirators timed their
work we'll.
The ironworkers' union. Of course.
denied all responsibility for the out
RACES. and it is believed that II any OF
their members did the work. they wers
not local men. but came In from some
other city Mayor Bookwalter was
out Of the city at the time. but upon
his return he took an active part In
the effort to run down the dynamiters
However. no clue has been obtained.
so far as is known. Then he asked
the city council to appropriate 5000 to
offer as a reward and the council did
so. In addition. merchants and man.
ufacturers put up another 5000. thus
making a reward large enough to at
tract the attention OF some Of the best
detectives in the country. It is un-
derstood that several agencies have
men working on the case. Won.
Spreckelson's loss was about 5000.
Contents of Letter.
This accounts for the writing Of the
anonymous threatening letter to May
or Bookwalter II read as follows:
Say. you better go q little slow.
have got some more of the big sticks
and will send you and some more Of
them to hell No monkey"
Mayor Bookwalter is not much wor-
ried over the receipt of the letter. but
he proposes to be on the safe side. ana
this is why he has the big revolver in
his desk where he can get It instantly.
vonSpreckelson has sent his family
out of the city, because he has feared
that the dynamiters might blow mp his
Won Spreckelson has sent his family
No crime in recent years has 20 stirred
the people Of the city as has the dy-
Of these buildings