New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-09-24
Trail of Bomb
PlOtters Ends
With Explosion
Story Told by Bank Watch.
man Gives Authorities
Complete Narrative Up to
Time of Wall St. Outrage
Death Wagon Described
New Witness Says Gold
Horse and Unsteady Cart
Attracted His Attention

In the story OF William O'Neill, a
special officer Of the Bank of America,
ID Wall Street, the authorities believe
they have the most reliable escription
yet obtained of the horse and wagon
thought to have conveyed the death
bomb to the scene Of the Wall Street
disaster on September 16.
O'Neill yesterday told agents Of the
Department Of Justice that he left the
bank about 11:45 a. m. the day of the
tragedy for the American Express
Company Offices on Broadway. He
was walking west on the north side
of Wall Street when he saw an old
horse and a dilapidated wagon stand
ing in front of tn Assay Ofic. The
horse was so thin, he says, that he
couldn't resist remarking to another
pedestrians: "That's some horse" He
could only remember that it was of
dark color. !.
Canvas Roll Under Seat
It was an open wagon with slaves or
racks on the sides and was of a dark
grayish color. In about the middle Of
the vehicle O'Neill noticed box about
two feet long, sixteen inches wide and
from eight to ten inches deep. 1t re-
minded O'Neill of ketchup box. The
wheels of the wagon, says O'Neill,
were striped with red. Under the seat
was what appeared to him to be a
canvas roll. The seat was Of col
lapsible construction and stood about
scarcely crossed Nassau Street and was
in front of the Bankers Trust Building,
when the explosion came, throwing
him violently to the sidewalk.
Department of Justice officials regard
ONeill's statement as of the highest
Importance in that it substantiates the
stories told by at least three other wit
nesses. 1t is declared that, taken with
the testimony of Samuel B. Wellington,
head of the West Indies Trading Com
pany; George Bruno, an ash removing
contractor; Matilda Schless and Thomas
LIE Boutillier, Of Gay & GODDARD, 50
settles the fact that the wagon was
on the scene only ten minutes before
the explosion. The description of the
vehicle accords with that given by
Wellington and Matilda Schless, who
agree that it had top and was open
on the sides.
Bomb Plotters Trailed
The authorities have thus been fur
nished with fairly good idea of the
appearance of the horse and wagon, the
time they arrived and what occurred in
connection Herewith up to the time
Of the blast. From Wellington they
learned that three men were seen to be
hurrying from the wagon a few min
utes before II o'clock noon, with two
of them remarking: Hurry up0 Beat
it! Get out Of hcre!" to the third.
From the information of Miss Schless
and lie Boutillier they see these men
getting into a small car in front of the
National City Bank a short distance
away.
Hope that health tag, thought to
have been attached to the ear of the
horse that drew the death wagon might
lead to the identification Of the owner
faded last night with the discovery
that it belonged to a horse still alive.
The tag, No. 1869, was issued to the
Reid Ice Cream Company of Brooklyn
in 1918, who sold the horse that bore
it to the r. W. Scharf Trucking Com
pany, at the Fulton Docks.
The tag dropped off the ear Of the
horse while at trough at Front and
Wall streets last Tuesday. A driver
took it to the police. 1t was at first