The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-08-30
DYNAMITE SCARE
FULLY EXPLAINED
Events at FluOrite Mine Not
Chargeable to Ger
man Spies
EMPLOYEES PLANNED
FISHING EXPEDITION
Concealed Explosive for That Purpose
but Scare Caused Them to Abandon
scheme-Not Known Whether Dyna-
mite Is Still Hidden.

A sequel to the dynamite stealing and
shooting case about a year ago, at the
| fluorite mines of the American Steel &
| Wire company in Westmoreland, has re
| Gently come to the knowledge of the
| authorities, says the Keene Sentinel
| through confession from man whose
name is not disclosed, but who was EN-
ployed at the mines, that he and two
| other fellows had planned to use the dyna
mite to kill fish in the Connecticut river
and that one os them took the dynamite
from the company's storehouse and con
cealed it.
In planning their dynamite fishing trips
However, it would appear that they did not
take into account the nervous state OF
the public mind and of all governmental
contractors III regard to German plotters
and sympathizers, who were getting to be
altogether too numerous all over the
| country, and who were knnn 70 get dvna
| mite to carry out their plots. So after
the dynamite had been taken and con
cealed and when inquiries were made
showing it was missed and guards and
detectives appeared on the scene, the pro
posed tshlng trip no longer looked good
to the would-be experimenters in explo
slve angling. And the dynamite was nev.
er used for that purpose In fact it is
not known at this writing where it was
hidden, or if 1t was ever exploded or
placed IN a proper storehouse. where no
one could easily blunder upon it and un.
knowingly set it off
The dynamite was supposed to have
been taken from the steel company 5
storehouse on Sunday, July %, 1918, while
no one was at work near there. 1t was
missed on Monday, when it was thought
that a whole case of the explosive. OF
which there were some two or three
thousand pounds on hand, by estimation
had been removed. But subsequent inves
legations showed that the records of the
dynamite given out from time to time
were not accurate enough to determine
how much WAS missing. One or two box
es were open at the time, however, and a
whole or part of a box might have
| been removed.
Still more excitement was created Mon
| day the 10Th, when armed guards wer,
put on to watch the storehouse, for, dur
ing that afternoon, William Moulton,
young man who had been employed a.
one of the guards, came in with his thumb
partly shot off and claimed he had beer
fired at by large man in a blue shirt
khaki pants and soft hat who mus
have been a real desperate and wht
quickly disappeared in the thick woods.
About this time Sheriff Lord, Solicitor
Pickard, Marshal Philbrick and other
got busy; more experienced watchmer
some of them from Keene, were poste,
and agents of the department of justic
and federal employees summoned
Despite stories of a strange boat seel
tied to the river bank opposite Putne,
| ferry and of men coming from the wood
in the direction of the Pisgah forest nea
Ashuelat and buying groceries and came,
goods of a passing peddler the disappear
ance of the dynamite remained a mystery
But on investigation it was strongly sus
pected that Moulton had shot himself
accidentally, instead of being shot by
desperate.
Close watch was kept for some time I'm
til suspicious characters were no longe
reported. Everything went on as usua
at the tiuorite mine, the product of whicl
is used for toughening steel and was o
especial value during the war. And u
to the time that the disclosure by on
of the men implicated in taking the dyna
mite was recently made, no one but tn
three fellows implicated knew where tn