An Infernal Scheme.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 21 April 1891, Page 2

An Infernal Scheme.

George Gibson, secretary to a great whisky trust, was arrested at Chicago, on 11th February, charged with attempting to bribe a man named Dewar, who is employed as a guager in the Revenue department, to destroy by dynamite a large rival establishment known as Shufeldt's distillery. Gibson, it is stated, held 20,000 gallons of whisky in bond, and Mr Shufeldt's firm had been competing with the trust. An attempt to blow up Shudfeldt's distillery by dynamite was made two or three years ago, and it was in searching for evidence which would connect the trust with the dynamite plot that Detective Dan Ooughlin and the little German Kunze, both of whom were afterwards tried for the murder of Dr Croniu, became acquainted. It appears that Gibson, in his dealings with Dewar, led up by degrees to the proposal to destroy the place. He pointed out to him that as a guager he had access to distillery, and could easily place a machine charged with dynamite under one of the big tanks, tire the fuse, and then escape. The reward he promised Dewar for the job was 10,000dol, but he represented to him that by carrying out the proposals he could make as much as 25,000 dollars. As a matter of fact, however, the infernal machine by which the destruction of the distillery was to be accomplished was so constructed that had Dewar accepted the mission, his own life, as well as that of anyone else in the building, would have been sacrificed. Gibson paid numerous visits to Chicago for the purpose of perfecting the details of the plot, and the machine had actually been prepared and secreted in the city. Gibson had come to Chicago to arrange for the final execution of the diabolical scheme. Dewar, however, had communicated the whole affair to the police, and played his part so well that Gibson never suspected that he was not acting in good faith. The arrest of the latter was therefore accomplished without much difficulty.