The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-17
Eyewitness GiUes
 Nuid Picture of NelU York Horror
Bx Associa4ed press

By Associated Press
 New ork, September l6.-.'1t was a crash out. of blue sky-an unexpected. death dealing bolt which in a twinkling turned into shamble the busiest corner or
 Americas financial center and sent sour rying to places of shelter hundreds of wounded, dumb-stricken. white-faced men
 and women, fleeing from an unknown danger
 was an eye witness Aof today's explosion in New York's financial district thus de- scribed the scene.
 II was just turning into Wall street from Broadway he said when I first felt-rather than heard-the explosion. A concussion of air similar to that sex- perienced by passenger on the subway
 when a train dashes into one of the
 under-river tubes was felt. f,s force
 was sufficient to all but throw mo off
 by balance. Instantly following the con
 cussion came a sharp resounding crash
 which shook to their foundations the
 monster buildings facing either side of
 Wall street. With the roar of the blast
 came the rattlng of falling glass. and
 from the junction of Wall. Nassau and
 Broad streets, block distant. screams
 of injured men and women.
 I lodged into convenient doorway to
 escape falling glass and to reach reie-
 phone and call the office. Looking down
 Wall street later could see arising from
 the vicinity of the subtreasury building and the J.P. Morgan < Co. bank nush-
 room shaped cloud of yellowish, green
 smoke. which noun ed to the height Of
 more than 100 feet, the smoke being licked
 by darting tongues of flame.
 T reached the scene a few moments after the explosion too1< place. The smoke lad practically cleared from the street, 1s..% ftxo 1~,,s T ,~~< belching forth through the broken win dcws clouds of dust and white vapor. In the street an overturned automobile was blazing fercely and nearby close to the body of dead horse was another fire. evidently from pile of wreckage.
 Almost in front of the steps leading up to the Morgan bank was the mu- tilated body of a man. Other bodies. most of them silent in death, lay near by. As I gazed horrorstricken at the sight, one of these forms, half naked and scared with burns. started to rise. It struggled, then toppled and fell life less into the gutter.
 sOn the opposite side of the street were other forms. One of them was that of a young woman, her clothing torn and burned away. It was moving mot in an effort to rise, but in the agony of death. l started toward her, DQl dS l QlO S1c peCdIut Stlll IidHClnS down, I saw that the pavement was dis colored with blood. In plain sight, within a radius of thirty to fifty feet were nine lifeless forms.
 The body of the dead horse in the middle of the street showed plain evi- dence of having been in very close proximity to the scene of the blast. It was literally torn to pieces.
 'grhe windows of the Morgan building were blown out and through the open ings could be seen the smoke -blackened interior of what but few moments pre- yious had been one of the handsomest banking rooms in the city. Opposite, the entrance to the newly completed white exterior of the sub treasury an- nex was battered and torn as if having been subjected to bombardment of gun fire. The doorway, with its massive steel grill work, was shat tered and the stone surrounding the door cracked and battered away.
 By this time the crowd was pressing In, held in check by the hastily gather ing police. At the doorway of the Nor 1 gan bank was, an uniformed guard ap- l parently half dazed, but sticking to his post and holding back those who sought 1 to enter the structure.
 The crowd was strangely quiet-and | over it seemed to hang a feeling of awe | and horror. At the commands of the i police it moved and fell back silently 1 On the steps of the old sub-treasury | building--the spot where years ago stirring scenes connected with the 1 Al American revolution were enacted stands statue of George Washington, | Looking down from it's pedestal be- .ween the massive granite columns, | scarred by missils from the explosion. l .he outstrchethed hand of the Father ,f His Country seemed to carry silent l to be calm
 Then came the arnbulances. Nearby | rucks and automobiles were first pressed | nto service Volunteers, needing not hands and clothing. ten i lerly lifted into the vehicles the bodies i ,f the dying and the dead. The dead | hat remained for additional conveyances were chartaby hidden from sight by | coverings torn from awnings or by robes rom arriving motor cars