Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-09-17

opened without interruption but at the
assay offices, In front of which the ex.
plosion occurred, it was found necessary
to close the front doors and access to the
building was not obtainable withou,
| Identification.
Scores of persons seeking exemption
| from classification as enemy aliens or de-
string the wise of the department on the
passports of friends in Europe who desire
to immigrate 10 the United States, were
| questioned at the bureau today rs to
whether they had any information pos
| sibly bearing upon the explosion.
At noon police Investigators declared
| they stood "about fifty-ffty on the dyna-
mite wagon and time bomb theories
Police Inspector William Iabey, direct
| ing detectives, said that in addition to
seeking to reconstruct the bomb and
establish ownership of the wrecked wagon,
his forces were examining swecpings col
lected by the street cleaning department in
the financial district.
The inspector said marks had been
found on the shoes of the dead horse at
tached to the wagon and that he hoped
soon to find the blacksmith who had .hod
the beast. He expressed the opinion that
the vehicle was probably junk wagon.
The financial district was crowded with
sightseers this morning. Police lines were
established for distance of two blocks
north, cast, south and west, the market
police aiding In maintaining order.
The stock market opened promptly
at 10 o'clock with no outward signs of
excitement and few traces of yesterdays
disaster aside from the temporary windows
Vovu ylrth
More than $50 pounds of broken sash
weights and other metal fragments have
been collected by the FIRE department at
the scene of the disaster and turned over
to the police, Commissioner brennan
said.
AT police headquarters it WAS said the
first task of detectives would be to
assemble the fragments IN an effort to
reconstruct the bomb and determine
whether il was made by skilled hands or
by novice.
The explosion, according to the official
reports, apparently occurred in horse
drawn covered wagon at a point almost
opposite an entrance to the United States
Assay office.
The investigators found that the wagon
had red running gear and that there
were no markings on the harness other
than to show IT was for one horse The
small pieces of window weights with
which the internal machine had been
loaded had been fused by an intense
heat" indicating they had been cut into
slugs by a high powered gas burner
Referring to the theory that the ex-
plosion had been caused by collision of
an automobile with a powder wagon,
Commissioner brennan said that only
plosives through the streets of New York, |
and that all of their wagons and motor
trucks had been accounted for.
No blasting powder, dynamite or trini- |
trotoluol was delivered by either concern /
TO any OF the four places In the down |
town districts where blasting is being /
done, the report stated.
Rigid inspection OF the magazines and /
each place where blasting is being done
in the downtown district. the report |
stated, showed that "no explosives have
either been delivered or removed"
pieces OF sheet metal resembling tin"
the report said, were found in the debris
similar to metal lining such as Is used in |
the construction OF export cases for high |
explosives"
No sash weights such as were used IN |
the bomb, and fragments Of which pitted
the windows and walls of the ]. p Nor
gan & Co. institution and the United
States assay building are missing. the
report said, from any of the windows in
.he vicinity of the explosion. The type
II sash weight is regarded as an important
lew IN the unravelling of the great mys-
cry.
Agents of the Department of Justice,
after working all night on the mystery,
we're unable at noon to advance any
positive theory as to the cause of explo-
ion. AS in the case of the police, the
ederal agents are busily engaged in ex-
mining fragments of metal found at the
Gene and in checking up on two "warn-
ngs' received in the financial district
NE by the French High Commission end
he other by a brokerage clerk.
"We nave thousand and one things
0 do, said William j. Flynn, chief of the
apartments bureau of investigation, who
anne from Washington yesterday on being
formed of the explosion, "but we viii |
orbably untangle the mystery
A. preliminary report by an expert failed
o indicate any connection between yes
erday's affair and the countrywide bomb
yplosIons OF year ago when the ;
ONES of Attorney General Palmer in |
Washington and residents of other promi- ,
ent men in different parts of the country |
-ere bombed.
In fact, the federal agents were in ,
lined to the belief that in yesterdays
air was planned by anarchists they /,
ere of new school, at least in their |
estructiYe methods.
New York, Sept. 1.-THE mysterious
zplosion that rocked New York's fnan-
al district yesterday causing the death
81 persons and injuries TO 200 others,
as probably caused by an Internal ma !
line-possibly time bonb-according ,
, the almost unanimous opinion of ex- :
ert Investigators of the Department of :
lstice and the police today
Search Of the wreckage near the scene
yealed, according to a higher official,
ho requested that his name be withheld,
agments Of clockwork such as is com !
only used In making bombs. Three b
eces of curved metal were also found be- o
sath the surface of the pavement in the f
,le caused by the explosion. Another r
ece Of similar metal was taken from the
,dy of Robert Westday, 16-year-old
n r