The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-05
BANK BUILDING HDYNAMITED Many Customers Are
 Injured. EXPLOSION CREATES PANIC Police and Bank Officials Have No
 Clue.
EXPLOSION CREATES PANIC
A Motive Is Lacking, But It |. Re- Iieved That the Explosion Was The Work of Some
 Crank,

sus of expert opinion tonight Is, that the explosion in the beautiful marble building of the First National Bank here this afternoon. was caused by dy- namite or some other high explosive. A piece of pipe, believed to have been q part of the bomb, was found late today in the wrecked basement.
 A motive is lacking. but the bank officials and the police incline to the belief that the explosion was either the work of crank or that . bomb had been secreted in the basement by would-be burglars for future use and had been touched off prematurely
 No arrests have been made and the police are without any definite clue upon which to work. Joseph Pech, a Hungarian carpenter of this city, one of the ten persons injured. was taken to the police station this afternoon and questioned by the police. No charge was preferred against him. He satisfied the police that he had no con- nection with the affair and was soon released. Pech said he was passing the building and was cut by dying glass.
 The loss is placed at $10.000 confined almost entirely to the basement. None of the ten injured Is fatally hurt and the injuries of only two are considered serious.
 Many Are Antuheu.
 The injured:
 EIbert Ward, negro porter. cut and bruised, serious; Logan Wilson, bank clerk, blown across basement, cut, se- rious; George w. Evans, member of the wholesale drug firm of Smith and Evans, cut by flying missiles while walking on opposite side Of Balti- more Street; Vatican Brightwell, clerk, cut on head and face: J. D. Wilson, en- ploye of the United States and Mexican Trust Company, with offices across the street from bank, cut in face; R. M Klapmeyer, bank clark. cut on head and face; Joseph Pech, carpenter, pass ing building at the time or the e5- ploaion, teeth knocked out. face cat: R. w. Cole, knocked senselesH by concusslou. J Donaldson, bank clerk. cut by aIasA Charles Grant, bank clerk. bruised.
 John F. Pelletir. Superintendent of the Fire Insurance Patrol, who was m the banking rooms at the time or the explosion, and E. r. swinney. Presl- dent of the bank, are authority Tor the statement that the explosion was the result of a bomb set of by some per- son unknown to them. At first It was supposed to have been caused from leakage of natural gas. Neither was able to give any cause for the commits sion of the act
 The bank was crowded with custom ars at the time. these together with the employees numbering perhaps z0V persons panic ensued and there was a wild scramble for the doors. The First National Bank building was one of the most beautiful structures in the city. It was only finished last year and cost close to $1.O00.00O. The main floor was occupied by the bank. which is the largest financial institution m Kansas City, The two upper stories are occupied principally by real estate and law firms.
 Investigation developed the fact that the bomb had been placed Tn toilet room in the northwest corner of the basement twenty feet from the main vault The toilet room was eighteen by twenty feet square and was separ- ated from the adjoining room by three-inch plaster partition. This par tition was supported by steel post. The bomb struck this post with such force that it bent 1t foot out or posi- ton: wrecked the partition and tho plumbing and sent a cloud of dust up the wide stairway leading to the bank ing rooms. Half a dozen basement windows with steel rods protecting them. were blown out into Baltimora Avenue and across the street. The building Aas shaken as if by an earth quake and it's force may be appreciated from, the fact that it was felt in all parts of the city.
 Tells of Explosion.
 Mir Pelletir, who was standing at the paying teller's window when the explosion shook the building. said:
 'Following the explosion. there was A great volume of smoke and dust which poured up the stairway Into the banking room. The bank was unusu- ally well filled with people at the mo- ment of the explosion. the crowd turned and rushed for the south door. leading into Tenth Street. I called out in a loud voice for quiet, shouting that there was no danger, and rush. ed for the stairway. When l reached the stairway powder smoke was pour ing up the entrance way. groped my way down the stairs and at the bottom found Ward. the negro porter. | carried him mp stairs where others took care of him, and returned to the basement where I was soon able to make an investigation. The smell of powder and the hole in the basement made by the explosion. made it eer- tain that the explosion had resulted from a bomb being set off. There was no trace of the bomb thrower. and as yet I have been unable to find any tangible clue to the manner in which the missile was placed"
 Logan Wilson, another of the ifi- tured. was In the basement at the time. He was blown clear across the base ment, and probably through the par tition. a distance of twenty feet. When he was picked up he was unconscious. He was removed to the Emergency Hospital and so far he has been tan- able to give any account of what hap pened.
 J. Donaldson. the third person in- jured. was working in his cage in the banking room. He was cut by glass that fell from a chandelier