OCR Text |
Show ' SECRET SOCIETY IN PLOT TO I 4 DESTROY BRITISH SHIPPING An attempt to blow up the Cunnrd lino steamship Umbrla, sailing from New York last week, with more than .four hundred passengers and a crew of three hundred aboard, was frustrate , ed In tho nick of time. j . Just beforo tho big ocean liner sail- ,ed an Infernal mnchlno containing 100 'pounds of dynamite was found on tho dock at tho foot of tho first cabin 'gangway ready to bo taken nboard tho .ship. Fuses were already burning, and It is estimated by tho police that tho ; i Hpark would novo touched tho dyna- i mlto within five minutes. I A letter written In lead pencil, and i .fe sent to pollco headquarters, gave ! "R warning of the plot to blow up tho Umbrla. This letter was headed "A Warning from tho Mafia," and In It a man whoso namo Is withheld by tho pollco stated that there was a Mafia grlovanco against tho English steamship steam-ship lines. Ho described tho box, and said that tho clockwork which It held was set to explode tho dynamite thirty-six hours after tho time of the delivery of tho box at tho pier. Detectives wcro sent on tho run to tho pier, anil they notified Capt. Watson, Wat-son, tho superintendent of tho Cunnrd dock, and Mr. Floyd, tho agent of the lino. II When Capt. Thomas Dutton of the I Umbrla, wns Informed of the plot to I Mow up tho vessel ho declined to sail I until the box was found. Fiom tho I description furnished by tho writer of I tho lotter tho detectives had little ulf. I Acuity In finding tho box. I It was made of plain pine boards and was 40x20 Inches. Tho cover was on hinges and wns locked with a padlock. pad-lock. There wero absolutely no marks on tho box. Tho dotectlves heard tho clicking of tho clockwork Inside, and thoy forced open tho bottom of tho box. They wero astonished to .find In it fully 100 j pounds of ilynafnUo. , Thero wore 100 sticks of the ex- i' plosive, each about one and u quarter inches In dlamoter and eight Inches long. It A.U This exploslvo was In tho very bottom bot-tom of tho box. Over 11 wns a shelf, and on this shelf rcatori tho clockwork. Attached to tlie clockwork was a wheel, which, after making one entire revolution, would bring a pleco of metal In contact with wires from a dry battery. Tho contact had already been mado and two fuses had bocomo Ignited. Sparks wore eating their way slowly to tho dynamite. The detectives extinguished the THE CUNARD STEAMER UMBRIA. Ocean Liner Used to Point a Threat by Mafia Against English Steamers. fuses. Hopes were Immediately run around tho box and It was thrown overboard. It was submerged for at least an hour beforo tho arrlvnl of tho men from tho Bureau of Combustlblos. Then It uas carefully lffted Into a patrol wagon and driven to a pollco station. There tho contents of tho box wero taken out nnd removed to tho Hurenu of Combustibles. On tho vessel were 130 first cnbln passengers, 122 second cabin passengers passen-gers nnd 150 In the steerage. The crew numbered nlout 23S. At tho dock It was said that tho box had been delivered thero by two Italians. To Mr. Pryor, an employo of tho steamship line, who received tho box, tho men said It belonged to a passenger passen-ger who was to sail on tho Umbrla nnd that ho would call for It. ino writer of tho letter to tho pollco announced It had been tho original origi-nal Intention of the Mafia to blow up tho steamship Oceanic, which sailed a few days ago, but that this plan wns abandoned becauso of tho largo number of women and children who wero on tho Oceanic. Police Have a Clew, Tho man who made the Infernal machlno nnd sent It to the Cunnrd dock lived In New York as n Ixiardor In Mrs, Joseph Currlo's house nt tliiG West Thirty-first street Tor two weeks. Ills name Is 0. IloRseini, 'To all appearances the man was not a foreigner. He spoke perfect English without any more trnco or an accent than marks the Westerner or Canadian, and his lollow Uinrdors believe that ho had come from the West, possibly from Western Cnnndn. Tho pollco are confident ho will soon he under nrrcst. NEW YORK INFERNAL MACHINE. t Diagram of the Mechanism Contained In the Box Containing 100 Pounds of ( Dynamite, Intended to Destroy the Steamship Umbrla. |