Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-07-06
Explosion Came as EXcla-
nation Point to His
Campaign for Peace.
WROTE TO PRESIDENT,
Letter Signed "R. Peace"
Received by Several
Washington Papers.

NNAsHINGTON. July 5'-Inyes'isa-
w ton of the explosion which late
last night wrecked the senate reception
room Of the national capitol was in,
terrupted tonight by the confession
in New York of Frank Holt, the man
who shot j. p. Morgan at his nome
in Glen Cove l.. l., this morning, thal
he also had been responsible for the
Washington crime. Early ~ the day
Washington papers received letter
signed "R, Peace IN which the
writer stated that he had planned
the CaUltOl explosion as the cACla-
nation point to my appeal for peace
Police could find no trace Of the
mysterious "R. Peace" but tonight
they sought to trace the movements
Cf Holt
Had Been suspected.
Hours before Holt's confession,
however, suspicion was aroused here
that the asslilaut Of Morgan and the
man who sought to wreck the capitol
were Identical. Holt had given ut
tcrance in New y 0rl following his ar
rest to statements Striklngly similar
to expressions on the Peace letter.
"If Germany should be able to buy
munitions here, we would, or course
positively refuse to sell to her Holt
said, after MS arrest,
I'VE would, OF course. not sell to
the Germans if they could buy here
is a statement in the Peace" letters
His lettar to the Times, which Holt,
I'm his confession said gave all MS
reasons for planting the bomb, was
rambling argument against aNpGr,s OF
war munitions to Europe.
"By the way" said the writer, at the
outset of his argument, don't blame
this on the Germans or on Bryan. |
am an old fashioned American, with
a conscience If it is not a sin to have
q conscience, Let each ma
tIon make her own man killing ma
chimes Sorry | had to use explosives
(fOr the last time | hOpe), 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 refer
endum on the question Of war exports,
which he characterized "a colossal
American crime"
Letters and Statement Similar.
Holt said:
"The reason the American people
have not as yet stopped the shipments
seems to be that we are getting rich
out Of this traffic, but do we not get
enough prosperity out Of noncontra-
band shipments and would it not be
better for us to make what money we
can without causing the slaughter OF
thousands of EurOpeans?"
Pearce wrote
I'VE want prosperity. Yet, But
Europe needs enough noncontraband
materials to give us prosperity. Let
us not sell her explosives"
other portions Of Holts interview
and the Washington writer's letters
also were similar and officials here re-
gardod this as more than a cOinCi-
dence. An investigation to establish
a possible connection between the two
crimes was started.
Souvenir Hunters in Force.
The havoc wrought by the bomb was
terrific. The framework around the
window where the bomb was placed
was of iron and was shattered by the
conclusion Telephone booths nearby
were blown into splnters and bits of
metal were imbedded in the spllnters
gathered up by the investigators.
Directly In front of the switchboard.
TO ycstige Of which could be found
save Il few pieces Of the metal, was a
framed mirror, admired by capitol
visitors for years. 1t was shattered
into thousands of pieces AMI souvenir
hunters seeking these fragments, had
to be restricted by the police while
the inquiry into the explosion pro-
gressed
An onyx clock, fixture OF the re-
Ception room for 20 years. was
ground almost into powder. A few
bits of onyx were scraped up from
the debris by capitol attendants,