Norwich bulletin., 1920-09-21
Saw Death W
 Near Assay Office
Claim Made by Joseph Meade Police Attach Much Inn portance to Statement.

the scene just before the blast, furnish ed the most important developments to- | day in the several investigations that are being made of the disaster. Other interesting developments of the l day included: Announcement by the district attor- ney's office that Edwin P. Fischer law yer and. former employe of the French high commission, who sent postcard l warnings of the disaster from Toronto had virtually eliminated himself from any direct knowledge or cemplicity in the case after eight hours of question ing.
 1 Receipt of a warning by WiA m H. l Edwards, collector of internal .uyenue, l that an attempt would be made. to de- stroy the customs house at 2 D. m. to- morrow. This is regarded by the po- l lice as hoax.
 l Identification of the hitherto uniden- tified body, previously believed as prob ably tha tof the driver of the explosive laden wagon, as that of Elmer W. keh- Ter, an unemployed chauffeur and lack of any evidence connecting him with the | crime.
 | Release of Alexander Brailovsky, a Russian journalist, who was arrested on a technical charge of being an undesira- l ble alien after he admitted having been seen in the vicinity of Broad and Wall Streets shortly after the explosion took place.
 l Search by federal agents for re- ported cache of explosives on Plum Beach Island, government reservation off Sheepshead Bay, where a quantity of l trinitrotoloul was found in an abandoned
 vessel several months ago.
 1 Joseph .de, an agent of the society l for the prevention of cruelty to animals is the man who claims to have seen the | death wagon" ill Wall street at 1O3C l Thursday morning. He said that he ha6 been sent to Manhattan from a Brook I lyn court to serve a summons and while Il walking up Broad street noticed an oit ;, red delivery wagon in front of the assay office around the corner. The horse ap peared broken-down, he said and he went over to make an examination O | 1t, finding a bad sore under the collar. I He looked at his watch and noticed ,l was 10.30. he told the police, and wait !, ed beside the wagon until 11.39 witf the intention of serving a summons ol the driver, when he was forced to leav in order to serve his Brooklyn sum !, mons, which was for a morning sessiol
 of the court. He did not examine closet the contents of the wagon. but describe it as "an ordinary dilapidated expres wagon.'' . I Meade also told the police the colla l worn by the horse was of the "K" typ
 and this is the kind of collar that wa l found in the street after the explosion He also noticed that al lthe ornaments ) knobs and other markings had bee
 stripped from the harness and in thi.
 too his description talIies with that C
 the material actually found. He als stated the horse had been but recent
 clipped and that the wagon bore n a name but had some, numerals on tn n side
 y Police attach much importance t
 Meade's statement and are using tt e material he furnished in their investig; x tion into the identity of the wagon an ), it's driver.
 o Information that three suspicious J. looking men were seen running from Il n scene was furnished by Samuel B. We n lington, president of the West Indi l. Trading Company. He declared he le IT lawyers office in Wall street a fe e minutes before noon Thursday and as c did he heard voices calling
 ''Hurryi Beat it! Get out of this!"
 He looked across the street and sa
 two middle aged men, who looked to hi N like East Side peddlers,'' beckonir
 and calling 10 a third man who was ie the other side of the street nearer Il in assay office and across the street fro ye the Morgan bank. The third man, b H. lieved to be about 60 years old and q n scribed as greasy Joking, was tht s. peering into the ramshaeile wagon Id the curb.
 is In response to the call of the othe
 the third man, MT. Wellington sa
 itarted to run after them toward "
 liam street. He took them for bo l ha ad nd ta (
 them chased by policeman. When of reached the corner of Nassau street ad was knocked, unconscious by the exp ns Eion. Mir Wellington has been summt ,v ed as a witness before the Septeml IT, Erand jury.
 a At the concIusion of Fischer's exal hv nation tonight he was sent. to the p ut uhopathic ward of the Bellevue hospi
 for observation. If adjudged insa
 measures will be taken to have him co
 initted to an, insane asylum. it. was VI, inounced by the district attorneys 'H flee.
 Secret service operatives decla !p Fischer had been investigated four ye 'n Ago and found "a harmless letter VI Is' CT" He is alleged to have sent Presid Id Wilson several crank letters in Is W Wto posing as a religious pacifist and call ne upon the president to stop the Na g lie by so doing put amend to the 'slau
 ter of human. beings" No action '
 taken against Fischer at that time.
 Testimony, tending to contradict t YS of Meade, was later furnished by Os
 Sayre, Y. M. c. A. secretary, who s he an auto truck drew up in front of he assay office to carry away ashes at Il mo a. m. Thursday and that no other we ice cles were parked near there at the til ng This was confirmed by the men Y rly took away the ashes.
 ln- Detective Sergeant James Gegan. ' accompanied federal agents to Plum
 land, declared he had found a case
 smokeless powder weighing 300 pou
 today in the hulk of an old boat at Pl ED Island. This was turned over to
 authorities at Fort. Lafayette. Aer One of the freak" happenings of an explosion became known today wher ny Wall street brokerage firm reported t ieo package containing $400,000 worth e" securities was blown from the hands it's messenger who was near 2thei SC. ms through the third story window of .o other firm. When the messenger, was knocked down but uninjured Y, gained his senses he notified his office ~, the loss Fifteen minutes later, the 1 nc- was notified that the securities 70 been blown into the. shattered win, o, of a stock exchange firm at Wall st will and were sate,
 ssth Victim of Explosion.
 New York, Sept. 2o-Wfliam Peter
 2 vAars ojd df Roeota N T died. al