Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1920-09-16
'Explosian In! In ....:...
Morgan Building.

Notiueu from rage One.)
three girl. terribly multilated. 4
police Gordon was hastily thrown
around the entire district whar
thousands, hearing the explosion
flocked there. Police reports !,
1885 had fifteen dead.
Unofficial reports had thirty
dead. '''i y
The United States sub-trea surv
immediate opposite the scene of tbe
explosion was placed under heavv
police guard to protect its mil,,on,
OF dollars in gold, silver and paper
money. i,Ape'
Die Lie on Walks.
| The first efforts of the nol;oo
We're directed toward aiding the in-
Jured and removing the dead Al
1910 fourteen bodies were seen lv.
ing on the sidewalk and ten others
were reported to have been taken
by volunteer workers.
An emergency call was sent to
Governors Island, from which 4
heavy detachment was sent to New
York to guard the sub treasury and
aid the police.
Heads of the fire department
however, on reaching the scene di-
rested their efforts toward ascer.
tanning the cause and location OF
the explosion. The latter was diff
ficult because of the shattered ap-
pearance Of buildings near the Nor
gan office, but the authorities were
inclined to abandon their theory
that the explosion had occurred
either in the Morgan office itself or
the stock exchange. Consensus of
opinion at 12:45 was that the blow
UP had occurred in the street.
The reported casualty list at
1850 was more than a score dead
and about rs injured.
Dynamite Thought Used.
One fire marshal expressed ,ne
opinion tina the explosion mad
ben one Of dynamite. Coupled with
this theory was the automobile
which figured in other versions of
the idaster. This automobile was
reported to have collided with a
truck loaded with drwnamite.
Many OF the injured were girls
working in office buildings. Hun
dreds Of persons were thrown to
the sidewalk by the force ofsthe ex-
plosion and dozens of trucks and
automobiles were pressed into serv-
ice to carry away the wounded.
Little information was obtains
able from the Morgan offices. J. P.
Morgan himself is now abroad.
Police Hard Pressed.
Police hastily assembled found
difficulty in coping with the crowd
of many thousand persons who
tried to press themselves into Wall
street. Telephone service was shut
off from many public booths in the
vicinity and all banking offices
were placed under extraordinarily
heavy guard.
A wrecked automobile bearing a
New Jersey license number was
found near the Morgan building |
and the police tried to establish |
whether this was the machine
which had figured so prominently |
in versions of the disaster.
An hour after the explosion oc-
cured, the police were inclined to
the theory that it had been caused
by collision of a TINT truck and
an automobile on Wall street be-
tween the oMrgan office and the,
sub treasury.
INT Theory Advanced.
The pointed to the fact that a
demolished truck was found at this
point near the wrecked automo-
bile. The authorities switched their
theory from dynamite to INT be-
cause of the fact that there appear
ed no great hole in the pavement,
such as would have been blasted by
the downward force of dynamite.
So far as could be learned no
prominent financiers or members
Of the stock exchange were injured
in the explosion. Thomas -. "a
mont and Henry P. Davidson, mem
bers of the firm, were in the Nor
gan offices at the time but were
not hurt.
Seventeen victims OF the explo-
sion We're taken out of the side door
of the Morgan banking house at
1926.
Underneath the wrecked autom0-
bile was found New Jersey chauf-
feur's license made out in the name
If jerome H. ,McKeen, of 1407 Mel
son avenue, Bronx.
Troops on Guard.
United States regulars from Gov
srnor's Island arrived on the scen@
1T 1880 for guard duty.
At 1905 doubt was cast on the ac-