The sun., 1919-10-07
MRS. WANAMAKER
: GETS DEADLY BOMB
Former Butler, Arrested, Says
NJ He Intended it for Her
b@ Maid.
MAN BORN IN GERMANY
Wife of Police Commissioner
Y Became Suspicious When
r. She Saw Gunpowder.

- A German buffers desire to get even
with an Irish maid he blamed for his
discharge from the employ of Rodman
Wanamaker caused the butter to make
a bomb and mail 1t on September 20 to
the Wanamaker summer home at TUX
edo Park He addressed 1t to Mrs.
wanamaker. The explanation given for
this is that he thought the. maid m
variably opened all packages intended
for her mistress.
This package. however. went directly
to Mrs. Wanamaker, arriving on sep
TENDER 81 Perhaps because the wrap
per was kind of paper used only py
the Wanamaker stores, but did not pear
the store label as 1t ought to have done
coming from that source. she looked
upon il with suspicion. Cautiously she
removed the wrapper. Inside 1t was a
handsome paper box, lavendar in color.
oval in shape, with embossed lettering
on the cover indicating the contents
were bottles of perfumery.
sdHad Mrs. Wanamaker lifted the
cover from the box and the contrap-
tion within worked as intended, she
could hardly have escaped dishgure-
nient and possibly would have been
badly injured. For there was in the
box a crude detonator, a pound OF gun
and scraps of brass tubing.
eu Mrs. wanamaker Safe.
But Mrs. wanamaker did not lift
the lid Instead. she turned the box
INSIDE down and removed a bit of the
paper at a corner. Grains of black
powder trickled out. Mrs. wanamaker
then handed the box, wrapper and all
to George Ellis. her husbands valet
who took 1t to Police Headquarters,
where Mr.. Wanamaker Is special
Deputy Commissioner. Detectives Ed
ward Cooper and Charles Newman OF
the Bomb Squad went to work under
the direction of Detective Sergeant
James Gegan. The resulting investi-
cation. ending with the arrest of the
butler and, according to the police, his
complete confession, is described by
Alfred ]. Talley, Assistant District At
torney, "as neat a bit of police work as
ever heard Of.
:, The butler, now prisoner in Bellevue
Hospital, is Ernest Albert GustaVe
Kurth. He was employed by the Wanna
makers two years, by the late James ].
Hill ten years, during which period his
wife was Mr.. Hills housekeeper. and by
John Sloane twenty years. When the
District Attorney presents the evidence
20 the Grand Jury to-day Mrs Wanna
maker and the maid, Mary O'Brien, will
be asked to testify.
THE detectives found in the box four
parlor matches. the business ends of
which were pressed against piece Of
sandpaper. The other end Of the
matches were fastened to the lid. II the
lid had been lifted friction with the
sandpaper would have caused ignition
Near the heads of the matches was a
piece of loose cotton resting on the COM
pound of gunpowder, red pepper and
fragments of brass.
Label From store.
The box was about five inches long
and four wide. The label on the wrap
per was a regulation American Express
Company label. bearing three cancelled
2 cent stamps and addressed in hand
writing to Mrs. Rodman wanamaker.
Tuxedo Park, N. Y" The package had
post office sub-station nearest the Wan
smaker store. Everything possible had
been done to make it appear that this
was an innocent parcel sent by the New
York store.
The detectives were told about the but
Ter, Kurth, who had been discharged a
few days before. Search of Rodman
Wanamakers city home, 81 West Fifty
sixth street, disclosed in the cellar a
workshop where Kurth had tinkered in
his spare moments. The detectives then
swept the floor and found ends of
matches of the same length as those in
the perfume box. From an ash can they
retrieved part of newspaper from the
same page apparently as the torn frag-
ment used with the gunpowder. In the
furnace Of the steam heating plant they
discovered other amputated matches cor
responding to those in the bomb box. a
piece OF cardboard and a wad OF cotton.
Kurth Is Arrested.
The bomb squad arrested Kurth with
out saying what the charge was In
deed they had no positive evidence. He
accompanied them to his home at 219
East Seventeen street, where nothing of
importance developed, and then to So
West Fifty-eighth street, a new apart
ment house where Kurth had got a job
as superintendent. There, the police
say. they found in his room a revolver
and property taken from the Wana-
maker house. including a bronze electric
fixture, linens and about 5000 worth of
wines. Kurth, according to the police
admitted that he had taken this stun
without leave. but denied that he had
sent the bomb. He was thereupon held
sy Magistrate Douras In the Yorkville
Court in $4,000 bail on a charge of grand
larceny. He is said to have confessed
later to William ]. Lahey, Second Dep
uty Police Commissioner. and Detectives
Newman and Cooper.
The police say Kurth told them that
rot long ago. when he thought Mrs
Wanamaker would lie away over the
weekend, he went up to Greenwich
Conn, to help a friend install some
house fixtures. The next day one of the
Wanamaker servants telephoned him
that Mrs. Wanamaker had not gone
away and that as he had left withou,
permission he must come back and Civ !
an explanation. AS he had no adequate
excuse permission was given him to re.
sign. He accused Mary OBrien of tell
ing on him." The confession in the hand7
of the police says: II sent this bomb
for the purpose of soaring Mary, as ]
knew she opened all packages addressed
to Mrs. Wanamaker. and did not like
Mary
Got Powder From Shells.
Kurth. the police say. told them he got
the gunpowder from some shells giver
him by a friend several years ago ant
the red pepper from the Wanamakei
kitchen.
District Attorney Swami said las
night: 81 want to get a good look at the
prisoner at the first opportunity. Twenty
years ago / knew a man of the sam,
family name who worked for a wealth,
family in this city and who was sem
away as insane"
Kurth was born in Germany, is s;
ia