Omaha daily bee., 1916-07-24
blast SENT ITS
| FLAME over THE
CROWD ON Walk
Many Women and Children
Swept by Breath of Bomb
and Piled in Heaps on
Ground.
TIDAL WAVE OF TERROR
g. A, R. Veterans Show Great
Courage in Holding Ranks
and Stopping Panic.
MANY FREAKS OF DISASTER
TIDAL WAVE OF TERROR
MANY FREAKS OF DISASTER

San Francisco, July 23.-Police
have secured no tangible traces of
the person who left timed suitcase
to explode on downtown street cor
ner during preparedness parade,
killing half a dozen persons and in
juring more than forty others.
San Franciso, Cal, July 23.-"It
looked as If the sidewalk went straight
up into the air." said Colonel Thoman
F. O'Neill, former sheriff Of San Fran
cisco, who was in the line OF march,
ers, until there was a loud, terse
noise, lots Of smoke and dust and cries
of wounded and shouts"
One police officer was standing
alongside his horse twenty-five feet
from the scene. Both were knocked
down by the explosion, the man fall
ing on top Of he animal.
Theories Of the Police.
Several theories were put forward
tonight by the police. One was that
the owner Of the suitcase had intended
to set it out along the line of the pa
rade, but was delayed, and, knowing
the bomb was timed, left it standing
by the side Of the saloon.
One of the marchers in the parade,
who was there when the bomb ex-
ploded, but escaped, said:
Il was standing in crowd right
near the point where the explosion
occurred. whirled with the sound,
It was like trying to dive through q
tidal wave to get through the mass OF
men, women and children that charged
toward me"
Veterans Derounce Anarchy.
When the parade dispersed the d.
vision Of California Spanish War Vet
Grams, the division. nearest the. explo-
sion, marched to the city hall and held
an indignation meeting, declaring that
an anarchist meeting against prepar-
edness scheduled for tonight would
be broken up.
Many divisions OF the fore part OF
the parade knew nothing Of the explo-
sion and terrifying scenes behind I'M
til they bought newspaper extras.
District Attorney Charles F. Fickert
said he thought the bomb had been
placed by fanatic who had been in
cited to the act by listening to the
speeches and arguments OF those OPP
posed to the preparedness parade. He
said every effort would be made to
apprehend the culprit.
Josephson Denies knowledge.
Josephson, the suspect, was arrested
while making speech after the explo-
sion in which he is said to have lauded
anarchy and declared: This is moth
ing" After his arrest, however, he
said that he was not an anarchist and
denied having any knowledge of the
bomb explosion.
The handle of the suitcase which
the explosives, together
with part Of the lock and pieces OF
clockwork, we're picked up near the
scene.
The deaths Of two of the bomb vic.
Tins was due to 1 chance meeting.
Howard Knapp and his wife met G.
c. Lawlor, q lumber salesman OF their
acquaintance, at the corner few min
utes before the explosion. It was
their first meeting in several weeks
and they paused to chat. Lawlor and
Mrs. Knapp were killed outright.
Veterans Respond to Training.
To men Of the Grand Army Of the
Republic who had faced exploding
shells at Vicksburg and Gettysburg
lell the task of averting panic when
the ranks of the paraders were split
by the shrapnel-like blast. The griz-
zled veterans were almost on the
scene Of the explosion when the de-
came. For moment, while
crawling women and men could be
seen cropping painfully through the
smoke caused by the bomb, the lines
halted in confusion and disruption
seemed imminent,
Then some unnamed marcher
sprang to the front of the thin blue
ffne and called Attention."
Instantly his comrades returned to
their places and the little column
past the huddled heaps Of
dead and injured on the street and
sidewalk.
That the two score OF casualties re.
sulting from the explosion might
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