Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-05-02
BOMB To HARDW|CK
WAS PART OF PLOT
ON MANY OFFICIALS
Former Senator's Wife and
Negro Maid Injured il Ex-
pIosion; Whole Batch Of
Similar Bombs intercepted

That the sending of an internal
machine to- Thomas w. HardWick,
formerly United States senator freau
Georgia, was part of a far flung plot to
assassinate scores of public men
throughout the United States, ARID
anarchists with the idea of launch
ing reign Of terror on the first1o
May MAY day., or by violent agi1
tatorss who resented the efforts made
by their intended victims to put "a
stop to foreign immigration, is now
coveries following on the heeIssso
the explosion of the bomb in former
Senator Hardwick's home last Tues
day afternoon. Soi
The bomb sent to Mr.. Hardwick
was mailed in New York and was
wrapped in the parcel post label Of
Gimbel Brothers, a famous New
York department store. 1t was Ae
dressed to Mr.. Hardwiclz at Sanders
vile, his former home; was forward
ed from there to his residence at
7S9 Peachtree street in Atlanta; and
was delivered at 2:30 O'Clock on
Tuesday afternoon, in the midst Of 4
violent rainstorm.
Mrs. Hardwicl1 tried to open the
package and could not get it open.
She then gave it to the negro maid.
Ethel Williams, and told her to take
it in the kitchen and open it. JUST
as the negro succeeded in getting
off the top of the package Mrs. Hard
wick walked into the kitchen.
a Terrific Explosion
A terrific. explosion shook the
apartment house. Windows were,
shattered and dishes broken. The me-
gro maids hands were blown or
completely, one of them at the ell
bow. Mrs. Hardwick was painfully
burned and cut in the hands and
cot To- 49,
in the face, neck and body as if BY
hand grenade or an exploding
shrapne1 shell. She is now at Grady
hospital in Atlanta in serious COM
dition. Mrs. Hardwick may sustain
scars for life, but is not SO painfully
hurt as the maid.
The bomb was wrapped in an OBJ
long package about the size and
shape of package containing a
dozen lead pencils; t was labeled
constructed by means of placing
| nitrog1ycerine inside of container
with slugs Of lead. This container
was placed inside of al wood cylinder
with a top that exploded a ypercus-
sion cap when 1t was removed.
Other Bombs Discovered
In twenty-four hours after the de-
! livery of the bomb to Mr.. Hardwick,s
residence, fifteen or twenty other
bombs of identically the same COM
struction We're intercepted in the
New York postofftce. All of them
pers of Gimbel brothers, like the
bomb sent to Mr.. Hardwick. They
| were intercepted by accidental good
| fortune when it was discovered thar
| they bore insufficient postage. The
postoffice sent them back to Gimbel
brothers store for additional postage,
and there they were held up. Among
the men to whom these bombs were
addressed were the following:
Postmaster General Burleson, Sec
rotary of Labor Wilson, Attorney
General A. Mitchell Palmer; Judge
Kennesaw M. Lands, of Chicago:
Anthony Camminetti, commissioner
of immigration at New York; Mayor
Hylan, of New York; Police Commits
sioner Enright, of New York; Will
office department; John D. Rookie
Teller, J. Pierpont Morgan; Congress
man John L. Burnett, of Alabama,
former chairman of the immigration
committee of the house.
The Immigration Trail
All of these men have been con-
nected in one way or another with
the handling Of immigrants or the
shaping of immigrant legislation.
with the exception, of Mr.. Rockefeller
and Mr.. Morgan, who evidently were
marked for destruction because OF
Former Senator Hardwick's very
first suspicion, on receiving
the bomb, and before knowing of the
other bombs, was that he had been
marked for destruction because of his
efforts to stop foreign immigration.
He was formerly chairman of the
immigration committee of the senate
and introduced in the last week of
his term in the senate a bill prohibits
ing foreign immigration. His sus-
picion apparently have been confirm
ed by the subsequent developments
in the case.
Postoffice inspectors, secret service
men and police authorities in many
cities are combing the country with
fine-tooth comb, SO to speak, in an
effort to apprehend the anarchists or
Bolshevik agents who sent the
bombs through the mails. The fed
eral agents are throwing out a drag
net in every known rendezvous OF
these trouble-makerS in every city In
the country, and especially in New
York.
Warnings have been sent out 3ato
public men to beware Of opening sus-
picious looking packages which come
to them through the mails. It is not
known whether the New York post
office intercepted the entire lot, ar
only a part of it. A day before the
bomb reached Mr.. Hardwicks home
in Atlanta a similar bomb had been
received by Mayor Ole Hansen, of Ses
attic, who recently broke up an at
tempted Bolshevik uprising in that.
city. Several other public men have
narrowly escaped injury or death
ing out of the explosion in Mr.. Hard
wjc<'S home. trlff y