Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-12-17
BLACK HAND
is AT WORK.
Second Bomb Within a Yaar
Set Off in Mott Street
Tenement.

NEW YORK, Dec. 17:-For the
second time within a year the Black
Hand early. to-day attempted to
wreck the five-story. tenement at No.
1872 Mott street. The intended vic
tim was Pasqualle Diodate, a flour
merchant, on the ground floor, after
whose life the band has sought for
many months.
With a roar that woke the street
for blocks and was heard inside pol
ice headquarters, four squares away,
the explosion of a bomb blew in the
front of the stores and hurled part of
the sleeping occupants from their
beds. Powder marks on the sidewalk
were the only evidence the police
found to indicate that a Black Hand
bomb had been set off to terrorize the
proprietors of the stores, who live in
the tenements above.
The neighborhood has been in ter
ror of the Black Hand outlaws for
the last fortnight, during which
scarcely a night has passed without
an explosion, a kidnapping or a MUIR
der, This mornings explosion,
throwing men, women and children
from their beds, made the worst
panic the Black Hand outrages have
yet caused ontthe lower east side.
Women and Children Fled.
Sd Screaming women and children
fled down the fire-escapes and stairs,
and five minutes after the explosion
the terrified occupants of the densely
populated tenements were all out in
the street. Police came running from
headquarters and occupants of sur
rounding tenements rushed into the
street.
N The two. stores on the ground floor
of the building are occupied, n as
a restaurant by Thomas Annello, who
lives on the floor above with his wife
and six children; the other by Como
& Diodate, flour merchants. Paolo
Diodate; the flour man, lives above
the store with a family of five. His
brother, Giuseppe, a butcher, lives on
the same floor in the rear.
Annello and both the Diodates said
they were awakened by the explosion
to find themselves on the floor and
the building trembling as if from an
earthquake. The windows on the
second floor were blown in, as was
all the glass in the store fronts. In
side the stores there was no damage,
indicating that the bomb was explod-
ed on the outside.
Black Hand Clue.
The police were at first unable to
get any clue from the excited men.
They seemed to be afraid to talk
about the Black Hand, and they all
declared they had not received
threats. 1t was soon learned, how
ever, that a year ago, on a rainy
night, Giuseppe Diodate's butcher
shop, under a tenement across the
street, had something to tell.
He said the explosion followed the
receipt Of thirteen threatening let
tiers. The gang at hat time demand
ed $500, and receiving no answer to
their threats. raised the price OF
Giuseppe's life to $500 and finally
to $1,000. Then Giuseppe'sF shop, al
No. LAT Mott street, was blown out OF
doors. ,gnH
Next door to the scene of this
mornings explosion, at No. 124 Mott
street, a new building is being erect
ed. The Waterman, an Italian, de-
clared he did not see any n ap-
proach to plant the bomb.
/. 1t was an hour before the police
fcolud quiet down the neighborhood
and get the twenty families to return
to their tenement. Then Inspector
Mclaughlin, with Detective Petros-
mi, in charge of the Italian work Of
the bureau, set about a thorough in
vestigation, which is still in progress