The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1909-07-02
BOMB 81 JARS
CHICAGO BLOCK
Loss by Latest Explosion
Aggregates Sl50,OOO.
SEVERAL INJURED BADLY

Outrage Occurs In One of the Busiest
Sections of the "Loop District
Head of Police Department Inclined
20 Believe Labor Troubles Is Cause
of the Property Destruction-Girl
Telephone Operators Faint When
Exchange Is Rocked.
With an explosion which wrecked
the rear of the Chicago Title and Trust
building, 100 Washington street, Chi.
cago, and damaged every structure IL
the block bounded by Washington
Clark, Madison and Dearborn streets
and the Boston store, the series oil
gambling bomb outrages in Chicngl
reached its climax. Seven persons were
injured and loss Of $150.000 was
caused.
In the series it was bomb thirty-one,
In destructiveness 1t exceeded the loss
of all the other outrages combined.
The nearby streets were filled with
pedestrians, who were showered with
the glass which came pouring down
from the windows for blocks around.
The dynamite, which the police of
f1oials are convinced was the explo.
sive used, evidently was placed in the
alley at Ill Madison street. The room
used by Mont Tennes, king of gam.
blers,' as the base of operation from
which all his syndicate business was
conducted and as his clearing house,
WIS on the second floor just above the
place where the fuse had been set off.
At the opposite side of the alley is
the Title and Trust building, which
houses the Central and Randolph ex-
changes of the Chicago Telephone
company. The full force of the blast
struck the manhole of the main cable
vaults leading to the exchanges, and
twelve of the cables, each containing
hundreds of subscribers wires, were
snapped apart like thread. Thousands
of telephones in the loop district are
out of service.
At the time of the explosion thirteen
girl operators employed in the two ex-
changes were at work on the third
floor. Some of them tainted. while
others ran to the street.
Among those injured were the fol-
lowing: John Laduc, employe Thomp.
sons restaurant, probably fatal; A. l..
Mcdonald, secretary Building Trades
Council, cut about face and hands;
Frank Kean, secretary Steamfitters'
union, cut on face; Frank Leslie, vice
president of Painters and Decorators
union of st. Louis, cut on right hand;
Clara Wilson, actress in Pastime thea
ter, bruised by fall; George Roberts,
actor in Pastime theater, bruised about
body; Elizabeth Dawes, 1909 Calumet
avenue, cashier in Thompson's restau.
rant, cut by glass.
The wreck and ruin wrought by the
explosion were terrific. Heavy steel
gates at the rear the Title and Trust
building were twisted as if made of
straw. A heavy sheet iron ventilator
pipe five feet in diameter, leading from
the kitchen of ThOmpson's restaurant
was crushed like an eggshell. Many
large plate glass windows on the west
side of the Boston store facing in
Dearborn street, were blown out.
The following resolution was adopted
by the city council:
The mayor is hereby directed to of
fer reward of $1,000 to any person or
persons who may furnish the olice
department information which will
lead to the arrest and conviction the
person or persons who caused tie ex-
plosion which occurred in the RI ar of
the premises OF the Chicago Title and
Trust company.