Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-07-03


today.
Letter Sent to The Star.
A typewriter letter signed by "R.
Pearce" was received by The Star in
the morning mail. 1t was the letter of
= crank protesting against the export
of ammunition to European nations.
The letter. although dated June 1. was
mailed last night at 10 o'clock, nearly
two hours before the explosion. 1t in
dicated that the writer had been wait
ing some time for an opportunity to
carry out his plan which. he said. would
be 'the exclamation point of his ca
reer."
The letter was addressed in pencil.
in printed. not script letters. as II to
Disguise handwriting, as follows:
D. c." On the back of the
letter. in very small printed characters.
at the uppermost edge, was the word
Senate" The writer had sealed the
turned it over and then up
side down before stamping and ad-
dressing it.
The second line of the letter began:
I'm connection with the - affair.
There was an unexplained blank be-
tween the" and affair"
Calls War Exports Colossal Crime" :"
by the way" continues the writer. at
the outset of his argument, don't blame
this on the Germans or on Bryan. 1 am
an old-fashioned American with a con-
science, If it is not a sin to have con-
science - Let each nation make her
own man-killing machines
Sorry l had to use explosives. (For
the last time l trust) 1t is the export
kind and ought to make enough noise to
be heard above the voices that clamor
for war and blood money. This explosion
Is the exclamation point to my appeal for
peace
He closed his letter with a proposal for
a referendum on the question OF war ex-
ports, which he characterized "a colossal
American crime
The body of the letter was typewrit-
ten and a postscript was written with
a pencil and printed. The handwriting
was apparently not that of an unedu-
Gated person. The letter was at once
brought to the attention of the police.
The explosion occurred in the room
directly west of the room occupied by
the Senate committee on the District
of Columbia and an office occupied by
the Senate sergeant-at-arms. II Is on
the Senate floor. There are two win
dows facing directly north. two doors
entering into the rooms mentioned on
the east, two doors to the south, enter
Ing into the Senate corridors and hall
ways, and two doors to the west. one
entering a hail in which a half-glass
door swings. and the other into a
small anteroom used for no particular
purpose. The long portico of columns
Which marks the north end of the Sen
north end Of the damaged room.
A man could not easily Chamber up the
outside of the building to the windows
behind which the damage occurred, but
the outer portico ends only step from
the first of the two windows. There is
a ledge extending around the building
and it would not be a difficult matter
for any one to crawl along the ledge
and toss a bomb in the window. There
is a blotch of mud-colored dust on the
ledge underneath one of the windows.
but no other clue to footmarks was
Found at the earlier Investigations.
Explosion a Severe One.
The explosion was a severe one. In
the Judgment of Supt. Woods. At first
rllnce it would appear that the explo-
sion was one that merely damaged the
glass by scattering it all over the place,
cayed in door panels and wrecked the
telephone booths. Supt- Woods said
that the fact that one Of the windows
Of the room was open would result in
of the explosive force be-
ing lost; also the swinging doors would
relieve the pressure considerably. How
ever. Capt. M. Louthan. in charge Of
the Capitol police. says that the win
dow which Supt. Woods believed was
omen was in reality closed.
II think it was closed for this rea-
son." said Capt. Louthan- There was
a man on the lower floor, patroling
that portion of the building. He was
prank Jones, a veteran Of thirty years.
placed at the lower door because he
knew every one who had anything to
do in the Capitol and could stop
Strangers George Gum, a recent ad-
dition to the force, was the only man
on the Senate or main floor of the
building. Jones complained that a ter
rife draft was blowing in somewhere
from the upper floor, and Gunn was
supposed to see that the window was
shut. He told me it was eventually
closed"
The veteran, Jones, was in his place
at the door to the Senate wing. on the
ea st front of the lower door, when the
explosion occurred. and was startled
30 that he' nearly fell from his chair.
he endeavored, to. locate
re damage, and on finding II tels-.
phone calls were put IN Tor CaDh