New-York tribune., 1920-09-17

MUCH mystery was aCCacneQ TO the
twisted and battered wreck of what
once had been touring car, standing
at the Wall Street curb, directly in line
with the explosion. 1t was more than
two hours after the first blast when its
owner, D. S. Belden, South Orange
(N. J.) .Jeweler, appeared on the scene
and claimed what was left of his car.
Il came to New York to-day" he said,
to see. my accountants. l stopped my
car alongside the Morgan Office and
left il about ten minutes before the
explosion. That's why Pm here now."
Aside from few bits of wood, the
only trace of the wagon that blew UP
was bottle of pills the driver evident
iy had been taking to relieve an attack
of Indigestion.
A chauffeur's card bearing the name
of Jerome H. Mexican, 1407 Nelson Ave
nue., the Bronx, was found in the street
after the blast, and for time it was
believed he had been driving the dyna-
mite wagon and had been killed.
tenants in the Iselin Building just af-
ter the shock. All the awnings on the
| front of the building were ablaze.
A tenant on the thirty-eighth floor
of the Equitable Building notified the
police that piece of wagon axle
had been thrown through his window
One freak of the blast was that
none of the workers of Albert A. Volk
Company, house wreckers, who were
clearing away the site Of the Stock
Exchange addition at Wall and Broad
streets, was injured.
While the excitement was at its
height photographer was permitted
to make a picture of the interior of
the Morgan Offices. When he set off
the f1ashlight even the veteran police
men jumped.
1t was common sight an hour after
the blast to see men and women with
bandaged heads and faces circulating
through the crowd. Virtually every
body who was on the street had been
! hit
Where millionares' luxurious auto
mobiles are often parked at the curbs
of Broad and Wall streets, in the
afternoon were solid rows Of ambu-
lances, one backing in as another
pulled out carrying away the dead and
! had never before visited New York 8
| great financial center. The great Bank
| OF England witnessed similar scene,
however, barely four years ago, when
focks of German Gothas plastered the
vicinity of that institution with high
! explosive bombs. And similar scene
| during the waN was also enacted within
| a stones throw Of the Credit Lyonnais,
the big banking institution Of Paris.
Except for the steel netting which
protected the big plate glass windows
I of Morgan & Co., the strength of the
blast might have driven shattered
glass into the building with such force
/ as to have killed virtually every one
| in it. The Wall Street side Of the
building met the full force of the ex-
| plosion. The netting bulged inward,
breaking the blow before it touched
! the glass. The unprotected windows
i of the United States Assay Office,
opposite. more thinly peopled struc-
ture than the Morgan office, were OBJ
! lterated
! Virtually all of the sidewalks in the
! financial district were closed to pedes-
( trians in the afternoon. Glass from
| broken windows was continually fall
! ing to the street and the police or
! dcred building owners to rope off the
! walks.
| In addition to being one of the most
! prominent professional women in the
/ United States. Miss L. G.. Jones, the
assistant cashier of the Bank of Cuba,
at "a Wall Street. is one of the most
fortunate. Just an instant before the
explosion Miss Jones left her desk to
telephone her mother. The blast oc-
CURED just as she reached the phone
and her desk was buried under a
glass partition, a cabinet and other
debris.
Had the explosion occurred few
minutes after noon except on the hour
the death roll might have been
hundreds. Stenographers, clerks and
others from the nearby buildings
had just begun to emerge into the
street on their way to luncheon. With
in another five or ten minutes the
| street would have been crowded. In
stead only the first trickle Of those
a trf1e ahead of time, headed for the
choicest luncheon seats, was caught.
The great statue of George Wash
| ington in front Of the Sub-Treasury
stood through the affair without a
scratch. Pieces Of flying metal gouged
holes in buildings in every direction.
even cutting 8. large slice from win
dow on the second floor Of the Bankers
| Trust Building at Nassau and Wall.