Show Gibson of the Whisky Trust Indicted CHICAGO Feb 10 Secretary George J Gibson of the Whisky trust has been indicted in-dicted by the grand jury and tomorrow barring flight will probably be again arrested ar-rested and compelled to give bail in the courts in addition to the 20000 federal bonds already piled up against him After hearing the evidence presented by the government officials regarding tho I alleged plot to blow up with dynamite the antitrust Shufeldt distillery there was a unanimous opinion that an indictment should be found against Gibson and States Attorney Longonecker spent some hours at his office tonight arranging the proper counts on which the Whisky trust secretary is to be tried The law under which he will be held is contained in the sectionof the criimnal code relating to the possession manufacture and guilty knowledge knowl-edge of explosives ihtended to be used for the injury of any building or person The Whisky trust directors held an important secret meeting this morning at which the exposure of the alleged plot to blow up Shufddts distillery was discussed Another meeting will behold be-hold this evening at which a statement to the public will be prepared and issued I is said the statement will exonerate Gibson and will make an emphatic denial of any desire or intention upon the part of the trust to injure Shufeldt that President Greenhut aud VicePresident Woolner and Gibson are still in Peoria and that all ro ports to the contrary are false They declared de-clared Gibson would make no effort to escape es-cape The Whisky trust would they said do as much or more than anybody else to sift the alleged conspiracy to the bottom Notwithstanding the statement by Presi i dens Greenhut that Gibson is in Peoria a friend of the latter said that he saw the secretary of the Whisky trust in Chicago this morning oThe purchase of fifty pounds of dynamite by Gibson a short time ago is explained by Woolner who says he bought it to clear out boulders and stumps in I tract of land which he had purchased The board of directors at the close of the meeting this afternoon mado the following statement We are holding our regular monthly meeting in Chicago instead of Peoria for the purpose of ascertaining so far us ppssi ble the truth in respect to the charges made against the secretary of the company Such widespread publicity has been given to the charges and so many false rumors are being spread through the press that we deem it our duty to make a brief statement state-ment Since our election as directors we have devoted our time and best endeavors by honorable methods to the establishment establish-ment of tho business of the company on u paying basis We made such progress in this direction that for many months the company has been earning and paying pay-ing monthly dividends of onehalf of 1 per cent equal to 0 per cent per annum on its stock and has in addition put aside a surplus each month our business showing show-ing continuously a large increase in the output for every month over the outputfor the corresponding months of the preceding preced-ing years Outside competition never has been felt as little as during tne past six months In the midst of our unexampled prosperity that any one interested in the company should imperil the immense inter est of its stockholders by such a scheme as charged we think no sane man will believe In regard to Gibson we have to say that he was a gentleman gentle-man of character and high standing and he has been a faithful and efficient secretary sec-retary of the company and that we do not credit in the least that he is guilty of the crime charged against him The interests of tho company will in our judgment in nowise bo affected by this charge Gib sons resignation has boon tendered and accepted ac-cepted Gibson in his letter of resignation assures the directors in tho most emphatic terms th t he is absolutely innocent of the charges made against him and he wH if justice prevails succeed in fully establishing establish-ing that fact not only to your satisfaction but to the satisfaction of the whole world The directors in accepting his resignation assured Gibson of their entire confidence in his honesty integrity and innocence |