Doc. 130.--New York to be burned.
New York, May 3.
A week or two since, Mr. Kennedy, Superintendent of Police of New York, received information of a design to burn the city, the supply of water to be cut off at the time the city was fired.
A guard was placed over the mains of the aqueduct in the two counties through which they run, and was made so strong that no attempt to cut the pipe could be successfully made.
Since then full evidence of the design has been obtained, and additional evidence that the cities of Philadelphia and Boston were included in the list.
The leaders of the enterprise were well-known secessionists, some of whose names are now in possession of the police, but whose voices have been silenced by the recent uprising of the people.
The whole police force has been on the alert since the first intimation of the probability of the attempt being made.
Here is a letter received last evening from a source entitled to consideration: Louisville, April 30, 1861.Sir:--I have travelled four hundred miles to be able safely to mail this letter. A thoroughly organized plot is now in progress of execution to burn New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. A portion of the men assigned to your city are already in your midst, and others are on their way. I know what I say to be true. I dare not tell you how I know, for that would lead to my inevitable detection, the consequences of which you can readily guess. The intention is to fire the three cities simultaneously, at as many places as possible, and at the same hour at night. This is to be done the night before the attack on Washington. * * * * * * has the direction of the whole plot. One hundred and twenty-five men have been assigned to your city and Brooklyn, and eighty to each of the others. This is not a movement of the Government, though known to Davis. At first he discouraged it, but since Lincoln's proclamation, he has withdrawn his opposition. The men intrusted with the execution of the plot all belong to the inner temple of the Knights of the Golden Circle. The plan has been maturing for two months past, but did not include New York until within a week or ten days. The men assigned to Boston and Philadelphia have been at their posts for a week, but the determination to include New York has caused a delay, and now the time will depend upon how soon Davis is to attack Washington. I have told you not all that I know, but all that I can with safety to myself. The chances are you will disregard this warning; but I feel that I have at least discharged my duty. * * * * * * I am not your friend — I am one of the most unrelenting of your enemies; but I am an open, and, I hope, honorable foe. I expect to fight you to the death, but not with lucifer matches and camphene. Do not do the people of the South the injustice to believe that one out of ten among them would for a moment sanction this hell-begotten scheme. It is foreign to their nature. * *
--N. Y. News, May 4.
