The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 38, February, 1894: An Illustrated MonthlyVarious
General
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 07, Issue 38, February, 1894: An Illustrated Monthly
Various
English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
Again came a trio of events. On the 24th January, 1885, an explosion
occurred at the Tower of London, doing serious damage--scattering
the stands of arms and playing great havoc with other implements of
warfare. Great was the wreckage in the old Banqueting Hall (Fig. 24).
There is every reason for the belief that the man who introduced the
explosive did so in an apron fitted with pockets and worn under his
greatcoat. On the same night a charge of Atlas Powder, similar to
that used at the Tower, created no small havoc in Westminster Hall;
while the third explosion was the well-remembered event at the House
of Commons. Fortunately, the House was not sitting at the time. The
Strangers' and Peers' Galleries were severely injured, and to give an
idea of the wreckage, the Estimates of the following year provided a
sum of £6,125 for repair of damage done to the House of Commons, and
£2,500 for Westminster Hall. Two men were convicted and sentenced to
penal servitude for life.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--EXPLOSION AT TOWER OF LONDON--THE BANQUETING
HALL.]
We give a reproduction of the Salisbury infernal machine discovered in
this year--a machine of exceptionally rough make (Fig. 25). A series of
minor events had taken place in Wiltshire and Hampshire, which caused
the police some trouble for a couple of years. They were not believed
to be of any political significance, but done simply out of pure
mischief. Still, this sort of fun does not pay, as the two ringleaders
found when they were sentenced at the Salisbury Assizes to twelve and
two months' hard labour respectively.
The year 1886 was fairly clear; but 1887 brought about the discovery
of a conspiracy between Callan and Harkins to commit an outrage by
means of dynamite. The police found at 24, Brixton Road, some 28lb. of
explosive in the dust-bin and garden, which had been left as a legacy
to Callan. Callan's empty portmanteau--also left him by the same person
who bequeathed him the dynamite, a man named Cohen--condemned him,
for on a microscopical examination by Dr. Dupré and the Government
Inspectors, the tell-tale kieselguhr was found.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--THE SALISBURY INFERNAL MACHINE.]
There was little of serious moment in 1888. The most important event
of this kind in 1889 was on November 18th, when an effort was made to
blow up the police and bailiffs engaged in carrying out evictions on
Lord Clanricarde's estate in Co. Galway. The charge was intended to be
exploded under the ground, and 25lb. of powder was to be used. The mine
was to be actuated by opening a door. As the officials entered--the
door having a string connecting it with the machine in use--the
mine would be exploded. Happily, it failed to go off. The infernal
machine used on this occasion was of a type to be found amongst the
accompanying illustrations--showing a knife and string, the knife
cutting the cord and releasing the trigger of a small pistol, which was
designed to fire the necessary detonator.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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