The Washington times., 1920-09-17
DAMAGE
|S:$2,5OQ,0OO
Losses in Plate Glass Alone
Is Estimated at
S750,000.

NEW YORK, Sept. 17.-Losses in
the heart OF the financial district yes
terday from broken glass and other
material damage are estimated at
s., 500. 900 The force OF the explosion
was seriously felt within an area OF
two blocks on all sides Of IN" s""""
of the blast. There were buildings In
which practically every wn.dO" ,..,s
shattered Here and there telephones
were ripped from walls, desks over
turned, pictures torn from fastenings
and papers scattered In fiurries.
The structures In the immediate vi
cinity OF Broad and Wall streets were,
OF course, most seriously damaged
The ]. L. Morgan banking house, In
front OF which the explosion occurred,
was left a mere skeleton. Every win
dow on the Wall street side and most
OF those on the Broad street side were
blown to fragments. while consider
able damage was done to the expen-
siye dome OF the building. That the
structure was not shattered com
pIetely Is said TO be due TO the TACT
that II had been re-enforced with
steel wire. This wire still held when
the windows collapsed.
sUBTREAsURY DOORS BLOWN IN.
The subtreasury across the street
also looked like hollow shell, with
every window gaping and the doors
blown in. The iron fence between this
building and the United States assay
office was twisted and bent into knots.
On the Broad street side Of the STOCK
Exchange building all OF the largs
plate glass windows. with the excep-
ton of one which happened to be open.
were broken. The dome OF the struc-
ture was so badly damaged that busi-
ness was suspended in order 10 give
workmen an opportunity to repair II.
Only part OF the loss sustained
from broken windows Is covered by
Insurance written by the companies
which make a speciality of this kind
OF business. The Morgan building
was fully covered against breakage Of
its windows from explosion, insurance
underwriters said. The policy, how
ever, does not cover the dome OF art
glass which lets light upon the main
banking corridor OF the structure.
Major A. white. head of the Plate
Glass Insurance Company, which is
sued policies to the Mills, Equitable,
and Bank of Manhattan buildings. es-
timated the window damage to these
buildings alone at between $25, 900 and
$40, 900 The area affected was much
smaller, he said. than that Of the
Black tom explosion, when the firm
paid out 100000 because OF window
breakage.
GLASS EXPENSIVE NOW.
Other plate glass insurance men said
the price OF glass has mounted fully
400 per cent since the time OF the
Black Tom explosion several years
ago. the average window. such is now
costing about s3s. The Black Tom
| nj N n n a
companies paying losses in the neigh
borhood OF $500 900 on plate glass
alone. The damage to plate glass in
| yesterdays affair is estimated at
about s750.00O. The greatest part of
the loss will have to be borne by
the owners of the buildings them
selves. because of the refusal of
majority of the insurance companies
TO insure windows against explosion
above the fourth floor What the eN-
tent OF this loss will be can be seen
from the fact that in the Equitable
Building alone windows were shat
tered from the first to the thirty
second floors.
The Shuttle Cigar Store at "a Wall
Street was almost completely
wrecked. The entire front was blown
in, the counters smashed and the
walls undermined. Goods Uttered the
floor. The cigar firm of H. Stearns
& Co, in the Mills Building, estimated
it's loss at $4,000. Herman Stearns,
the head of the firm, said this will be
a total loss to his company, because
insurance companies had refused to
give them a policy since the Black
Tom explosion.
The greatest force Of the blast
seems to have been exerted in the
northwesterly direction. or the forty
floors in the Bankers Trust Building,
at Wall and Nassau streets, not one
escaped without broken windows.
One OF the columns OF the Wall Street
facade OF this building was badly
Clipped. The superintendent of the
structure said that dozens OF stenog-
raphers here were struck by fiying
glass and other debris, Desks and
cabinets were overthrown in many OF
the offices and many valuable docu-
ments blown out of the windows.
DAMAGE IN OTHER STREETS.
ALL the other structures in Wall
street running west to the First Ma
tional Bank were damaged. Down
New street to Exchange place, across
Exchange place to william street, up
William street to Cedar and west on
Cedar to Broadway. could be seen
evidences everywhere of shattered
laSs. lie VI Inc
Equitable Building announced that at
least seventy panes Of glass had been
broken from the ground floor up to
the thirty-second, and that most OF
the damage was done on the Pine and
Nassau street corner. Glass con-
tinued to fall from the structure here
and there with every breath OF wind
all afternoon.
In relating the circumstances OF the
explosion the occupants OF the build
ing affected all refer to chunks OF
iron and steel which came hurting
through the windows. Many of these
were so hot, they said, that they
scared those touching them. They
resembled portions Of weights usual
ly found in window sashes, ranging
in size from two to FIVE inches.
A nve-inch slug of this kind crash
ed through the skylight of Speyer
e. Co, In Pine street. A member OF the
firm at-whose feet It fell had mar
row escape The Speyer building Is
just behind the Sub-Treasury, the
missile having been hurled high in
4. fztI IL.