Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-09-17
Was An Eye Witness to Ter rible Explosion Which Oc-
 cured in Wall Street
WASHINGTON STATUE
 WITHSTANDS SHOCK
Lifeless Bodies and Dying Victims Lay in Street After Crash; Horse is Torn to
 Pieces

a twinkling turned into shambles the busiest corner of Americas fi- nancial center and sent scurrying to places of shelter hundreds of wound ed, dumb-stricken, white-faced men and women fleeing from unknown danger"
 It was a reporter for the Asso- ciated Press who was an eye witness of today's explosion in New York's financial district, who thus describ- ed the scene.
 q was just turning into Wall street from Broadway" he said, "when Il first felt, rather than heard the ex plosion. A concussion similar 10 that experienced on the subway when train dashes into one of the under-river tubes was felt. It's force was sufficient to all but throw me off my balance. Instantly following the concussion came sharp re- sounding crash which shook to their foundations the monster buildings facing either side of Wall street. With the roar of the blast, came the rattle of falling glass and from the junction of Wall, Nassau and Broad streets--a block distant of injured men and women.
 "I lodged into convenient door way to escape falling glass and to reach a telephone and call the office looking down Wall street later could see arising from the vicinity of the sub treasury building and the U. P. Morgan and company bank, T mushroom shaped cloud of yellowish green smoke which mounted by dart ling tonues Aof flame.
 T reached the scene a few moments after the explosion took place. The smoke had partially cleared in the street, but in the Morgan building there was belching forth through the broken windows clouds of dust and white vapor. In the street an over turned automobile was blazing fu- riously and nearby, close to the body of dead horse, was another fire, evidently from a pile of wreckage.
 Body Near Steps.
 "Almost in front of the steps leading up to the Morgan bank was the mutilated body of man. Other bodies, most of them silent in death, lay nearby. As gazed horror strick- en at the sight, one of these forms, half naked, and scared with burns, started to rise. It struggled, then Itoppled and fell lifeless into the gut ter.
 "On the opposite side of the street were other forms. One of them was that of young woman, her cloth ing torn and burned away. It wal moving not in an effort to rise, but in the agony of death. started to- ward her--but as did, she became still. Glancing down I saw that the pavement was discolored with blood
 In plain sight, within a radius oi thirty to fifty feet, were nine life. less forms.
 The body of the dead horse in ths
 middle of the street showed piais ,evidence of having been in very clos. proximity to the scene of the blast
 It was literally torn to pieces.
 "The windows of the Morgan build ling were blown out and through th, |openings could be seen the smoke
 blsckened interior of what but fes
 moments previous had been one Q
 the handsomest banking rooms in tn
 lefty. Opposite. the entrance to tn
 newly completed white exterior Q } the sub-treasury annex was batterei and torn as if having been subjecte' to . bombardment of machine gu fire. The doorway, with it's massiv steel grill work. was shattered an the stone surrounding the doc lcracked and battered away.
 l By this time the crowd was pres : Ising in, held in cheek by the hastil
 gathering policemen. At the door
 way of the Morgxn hank was . mi D formed guard, apparently half dazes { Ibut sticking to his post and holdin 2 back those who sought to enter. ! "The crowd was strangely quiet D and over it seemed to hang . feelin ! of awe and horror. At the command s of the police it moved and fell bac z silently. On the steps of the ol ' sub-treasury building the spt -lwhere years ago stirring scenes COT . Inected with the American reyolutio dIwere enacted stands statute {
 George Washington Looking dow : from it's pedestal between Il
 lmassive granite columns, scarrt By missiles from the explosion, Il Ioutstretched hands of the father { his country seemed to carry . : lent .commsnd to be calm"
 Then came the ambulanee, nea Iby trucks aud automl lbiles were fiji tpressed iuts ssF ee. voIuntesr I hieles ths X Ss n TIT TT Fl