The Washington times., 1920-09-18
DEATH, NOT RUIN,
Object OF BOMB
Government Expert Believes
PIotters Sought to Kill
Morgan Employees.
(Con tinued from First Page)


the explosive in sufficient quantity
or with the proper preparations for
this purpose.
Prom their use Of scrap cast iron
in connection with what / believe
was dynamite, l am pretty sure their
intention was destruction of human
life, especially the force in the Nor
gan offices. If so. they certainly
could not have planned better.
Il was in a New York subway at
the time OF the explosion, but ar
rived on Wall Street within few
minutes after it occurred. l had no
authority to pass the police lines for
investigation at the time, SO was
hampered somewhat in my work.
when / did get to work l first
tried to fix the place of the explosion.
This | was readily able to do. From
the angle at which missiles entered
the walls OF the buildings ! was able
to find the point pretty accurately.
NEAR ASSAY OFFICE DOOR.
This point was in the street, at
place about twelve or fifteen feet
from the west jamb of the Assay Of
flee door. and about one-third of the
distance between this building and
the Morgan offices across the street.
-So"' IL Is pretty kno"
that there was a hole in the street
at about the point where the ex-
plosion occurred. / examined this
hole, and 1 am of the opinion that it
was not caused by the explosion. 1T
looked more as II it had been dug up
with pick and shovel. From wit
nesses I heard that this hole had been
there previous to the explosion, as n
result of street repairing. and that it
was at the time full OF water.
BY queer coincid nee the point o.
the explosion must have been almost
directly over this hole. The hole,
however, hadNnonc OF the appearance
OF an explosion crater. The bottom
was flat and there was no debris
around the edges, as Is the case when
crater is caused by explosives.
~ think dynamite WINS used. The
quantity was probably between
tvcnty-Avc md nifty pounds OF 20
per cent dynamite. certainly not
enough to damage buildlnxs Of the
character OF the Morgan offices and
other buildings In the vicinity. This
dynamite, l think. was In a package,
not In n metal container. The pack
nEe wss probably covered with
heap Of scrap metal, mostly cast
iron window sash weight. and the
like.
WAGON CAREFULLY PLACED.
THE men who arranged the explo-
sion placed the wagon containing the
dynamite on the opposite side of the
street from the Morgan offices with "A
very definite purpose. They knew
that the missiles hurled by the cxplo-
sion would travel In mn arc so ns to
crash through the windows on the
lower floor Of the Morgan building and
create the greatest possible amount
Of destruction within. Hut I think IL
wns not 20 much destruction OF prpp-
crty as destruction OF life that wns
planned
Cast iron was largely used for
missiles. Cast iron is the ideal metal
for shrapnel use, as 1t fractures into
sharp missiles readily.
"Tho force of the explosion was
cxerted in a horizontal plane, rather
than up and down. The sidewalks
barely were touched and the missiles
seemed concentrated within a height
of from three to eight feet above
the walks. OF course, number of
fragments flew up, but they were
relatively few.
Then, too, the hour chosen was one
when the greatest number of people
would be on the street. Luckily the
missiles were not placed so as to rake
the streets lengthwise or the number
OF casualties would have been doub-
led. 1t Is a surprise to me that there
were not more persons killed and in
jured.
WORK OF TERRORIsTs.
"Everything seems to point to the
fact tho explosion ~n- the work Of
terrorts's, who sought 10 create