The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-09-16
EXPLOSION SCATTERS
DESTRUCTION IN PATH

EXPLOSION SCATTERS
DESTRUCTION IN PATH
CONTINUED from page ID
assay office lay horse torn PRAGUE
ally in two by the explosion.
Up to 1890 the police were IN
able to offer any explanation tor tne
explosion, but it was generally
sun,ed that it must have been causeu
hx bomb. 1t was stated that 1ne
work on the Assay building was no.
/ such as to make blasting Necessary,
In all it's varied history, wa,
street probably never experiences
such a sensation before. srokers,
/ bankers and clerks dropped tner
work and rushed into the see.
! Others clambered up stairs 10 t"s
iroof and every fire escape or TOY.
within sight of Wall street or ever a.
far away at Broadway, was ero"oeu.
| Lunch rooms were deserted as men
and women jumped from tables ahu
ran toward the sound OF the e2P'o-
sion p.,o,,
Brooklyn bridge, the hundreds o.
tn thousands of persons, having JUS
left. or leaving their offices for iuncn'
! damned into the narrow streets 'eSu-
inc to the financial district.
I The task of clearing the ssSeees 70
enable fire apparatus ana ainou'.
ances to reach the scene, was one o.
the greatest of its kind ever pre-
scented to the police.
Two automobile trucks loaded win
Einfantrymen from one OF the NEW
York stations, arrived at the scene
of the explosion just before one
o'clock. The soldiers ne'peo inc
police handle the crowds.
So far as could be learned carry
this afternoon no member OF the oSew
York stock exchange was seriously
injured. Many employees OF broker
ace and banking houses, however on
their way to lunch when the expo
sion occurred, were hurt by Hy'ne
glass
MAYBE TWENTY-FIVE DEAD.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16-S'xteen
persons are known to have been XIII
ed in the explosion that rocked inc
financial district Of New York at noon
today. The police believe that o'ne'
bodies may have been blown to atoms.
! Several of the injured in nosP''a's
| were in such condition that 1t was DC
! Iieyed the death list might reach
tive nty-five before night
| A majority of the dead had not oeen
| identified late today.
! One of the theories being invest.
Gated is that the explosion was caused
/ by a bomb in a wagon load OF nitro
oiycerine, timed to go off at noon.
F.. This theory was advanced by former
jhioh official of the police department.
GRUESoME SIGHT.
NEW YORK, Sept. 16.-A United
Press reporter who was on the scene
at Broad and Wall streets five minutes
after the explosion, gave the follow
ing description:
aEiqht bodies, mangIed beyond De
! scription, lay sprawied before the
white stone Broad street side OF the
worlds greatest banking house.
i"of these three were of girls in their
teens. On window ledge lazy the sew
cred forearm of a girl, impaied agains'
the GLASS. Across the street lay he'
body, the head smashed flat asains
the brown stone front of brokers' OF
Ice. Along the sidewalk we're men ant
boys, their legs few feet away,
foot here, a head there. EveryWher'
was blood. Glass fell all about me a
| tried to keep my head and count tn
bodies When | reached the Wal
street side Of the Morgan concern, al
even more gruesome sight met m.
eyes. Auto trucks gathered up tn
dead and injured impartiaily. mer
idazed from shock, fell all around me
1t was impossible to count the injured
bot there must have been easily
| hundred.
"A'i' windows of the Morgan hous
, ~ere shattered, highly polished MI
} roaary furniture lay in the street.
) Windows in seven buildings aIon
| the Morgan house in Wall street an
) every structure in down town NeN
/ York felt the shock. The sub-trea!
ury windows were smashed, and tn
4 statue of George Washington VIA
l damaged by flying debris. The wiz
: dows in the United States assay o
;. fees were also smashed.
. "As far as could be asce rtained, tn
! ma iority Of the dead were passersb
! before tho Morgan house when the e.
D pIosion occurred. The only evidenc
to substsntiate the theory that a wa!
: on loaded with INT had explode
Y were fragrants of red wood such d
i dynamite wagons are made of.
a "Groans and screams split the ed
q and even police officials lost the
4 heads at sioht of the horrors. SIEVE
$ al women in the crowd of thousand
@ which soon collected, tainted and wer
(. left where they lay, all medical attei
d ton being given to those Injured
, As two volunteers lifted woma
!, whose stomach had been torn out, sh
S easped and expired.
+ "Shades were torn from the window
O of the big banking concerns in Wa
g street to cover the bodies. At tn
e corner Of Wall and Broad, in front {
r the Bankers Trust building, lay tw
v horses hoofs- On window ledge la
Il the pump-covered foot Of a woma'
e severed at the ankle"
N Bomb at Noon.
=, NEW YORK Sept IA BON