Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-16
CAUSE OF EXP0SION HAS
NOT YET BEEN ASCERTAINED
Believed To Have Been Bomb Carried By Men In Amo Stopping Front
Of Morgan OfceAnolhe Theory Is That An Auto Coided With
Truck Hauling Dynamite.

the cause and loentfor a 'he
explosion. This was difFctlf hr~.use n
the shattered appearances a buildir~-
near the Morgan office but tho aufscrf'ies
were inclined ~ abandon their thcr-y fhaf
the explc sion had occIrred either IN the
Morgan Office ituelf Or tho ~fock fvrtarre
Consensus a opinion ~ l2f5 was : hat
the blow up had occurred N The street
One FIRE marshal expressed fhe opir,cr
that the explosion Rad been one q dyna-
mite. Coupled With this theory vas the
automobile which figured IN Other ryersiors
Of the disaster This automobile vas ~
ported n have collided with truck loesi-
ed with dynamite.
The reported casualty iis' A. 1870 us-
more than a score dead and atcnt 45
injured
Many ~ the niuree. were giri. working
in Office buildings Hundreds a r~r~urs
were thrown ~ the Eidersl. with che
force II the erplcsion and dozens n
trucks and automobiles wcrr prp~s~r into
service 20 csrrv swsy tho uorrnded Istfi@
information WAS ODfsuable from the
Morgan Offices y p. Morgan hlm~~if now
is abroad.
Police reserves hastily as~-nrled found
difficulty in coping with the crowd a
many thousands who tred b prc~s them
selves into Wall Street. hat narrow
canyon in which automobiles can hardly
pass each other with eN~ fessrnou~
service was shut of from many pubic
booths IN the vicinity and All banking
offices were placed under exfreordinar-
ily heavy guard.
An automobile hearing the New Jersey
license number 2f246 wAs found wrecked
near the Morgan building and The police
tried % establish whether thss tne
machine winch had figured 40 prominently
In versions Of the disaster.
Underneath the wrecked autornobiic
was found New Jersey chauffeur h-
cense made out N the name uf derusne
Bronx.
An hour after the explosion occurred the
police were inclined 70 the theory that b
had been caused by a COLLISION of A I ~. T
truck and an automobile on Wall street
between the Morgan once and the sub
treasury building
They pointed 70 the fact THAI a detnolIsh
ed truck was found az tins point near che
wrecked automobile. The e8tnorltie-
switched their theory from dynamite lo
7. y. +. because OF the TACT thAt there
appeared no great hole IN the pavement
such IS would have been blasted BY the
downward force II dynamite.
So far a. could be learned no prumIn.nt
6nanciers or members of the >tocN tt-
change were injured IN the expaosson.
Thomas W. Lamont and Henry 2.
Dawson, members OF the nrIn, were IN the
Morgan offices 40 the time, but Here Doc
hurt.
Seventeen victims Of the explosion V~crc
taken out OF the SIDE door OF the Morgan
banking house az l2.25.
United States regulars from Governors
Island arrived on the scene az l2-Jo Tor
guard duty.
At los doubt was cast on the accident
theory when members Of the bomb squad
expressed the opinion that a bOmb had
exploded. They added that fragments of
metal picked up on the street we're beng
examined on the theory that they may
have been bits Of the internal machine
Police summoned al ambuiances irUm
Thirty-fOurth street south and AZ avail
able police reserves were moblizcd.
The financial district after the explosion
presen ted scene Of greatest demolition.
In addition TO the bodies OF human
beings and horses scattered over the pave
ment, great blotches OF blood appeared on
the white walls Of Wall streets otiice
buildings. Almost every pane OF glass IN
the vicinity was shattered and besides q
mantle OF broken crystal the strocts were
covered with fragments Of brick and stone,
blasted from the base " ais of tho skf-
scrapers. Several persons were hurt m tncse
office buildings when missiles hgrt.ea
through windows.
COntinuod on pace 10