Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-09-18
FINANCIAL CENTERS
Of NATION GUARDED
AGAINST EXPLOSIONS
Authorities Are Sure That
Blast Was DeIibepte and
No Accident, as Claimed
:. by Lamont

NEW YORK, SeptA16.-(By the AS
ISOLATED Press.)-A mysterious ex-
plosion, disastrous in it's effect, &C.
Cured at noon today in Wall street,
killing more than a score Of per-
sons and injuring hundreds.
Office workers were just hurrying
into the street for their MONDAY
meal when jet of black smoke and
flame rose from the center of the
worlds great street of finance.
Then came blast. A moment la
ter scores Of men, women and chill
dren were lying, blood-covered. on
the pavements.
Two minutes later, nearly all the
exchanges had closed. Men had
turned from barter to an errand OF
mercy-and there was need Of 1t.
While the police toiled for hours
seeking the dead and injured, train
cd Investigators were trying in vain
to determine definitely whether the
explosion had occurred from a bomb
dropped in front of the office or J.
P Morgan & Co., or whether an au-
tomobile dashing into a wagon load
Fed with explosives. had taken Its
ftoll.
Frank Francisco, one of the most
able Investigators of the department
of justice, declared after arriving
on the scene that it was his opinion
that not a bomb plot but collision
had been responsible for the blast
which rocked skyscrapers, tore the
fronts from office buildings Tor
blocks around and scattered deadly
missiles in all directions.
Although the front and sizes OIL
the Morgan banking house were oe-
molished. no member of the firm
was seriously injured.
J. P. Morgan himself is IN Eu-
rope but at the time of the blast,
Thomas w. Lamont. Eliot G. Ba-
con, Dwight C. Morrow and George
whitney, all directors Of the conn
Ipany, were in consultation.
Police Commissioner Enright said
| that after comforting with members
| of the. firm he had learned that Mr..
Bacon was slightly injured and also
| Junius Spencer Morgan, another Of
fetal of the company. Several en-
ployes were injured and one killed.
Mr.. Enright quoted firm members
as stating that the blast assuredly
came from the street and not from
within the building
The specular explosion ripped
windows from the esubtreasury
across the street from the Morgan
office and within E short time sol
diers from Governors Island and all
the police reserves that could be as
sembled were placed around the
government building in which was
stored more than billion dollars
in metal and notes. Banking houses
also were placed under heavy guard
and United States regulars with
fixed bayonets were patrolling the
streets.
Tie explosion came at a time
when the canyons of lower New
York were thronged with hustling
office workers intent only in crowd
ing their way into lunch rooms
nearby.
Flames Leap High
A reporter cf-the Associated Press,
making his Way down Wall street
from Broadway, suddenly saw go up
in front of him cone Of flame and
smoke. 1t came from the very CEN
ter of Wall and Broad streets. be-
tween the Morgan building and the
sub-treasury. 1t mounted SO high
that awnings on the fifth floor of
many skyscrapers were buSped to
cinder.
Then there was a roar that was
heard far up Manhattan Island, and
hundreds of persons were hurled to
the pavement. Cries arose and on
Wall street, paved with broken glass
there gashed forth streams of blood.
more fit for battlefield than Amer
ica's financial center.
One man was seen to sit up, brush
his hand over his eyes and then
topple over dead into the gutter.
Near him were found the bodies Of
three women and further on more
bodies lying side by side with the
carcasses of horses
Hardly had the roar of the explo-
sion ended when rush for the fl
nancial district was made from all
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