The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-20


though persistently baffled in theil
efforts to solve the mystery of tn,
i, Wall street explosion, which las
year killed SO persons. injured q
and caused nearly S1,000.000 prop
erty damage, the New York police
and detectives of the United States
department of Justice have nevel
for moment abandoned it In
! vestigation of this so-called master
| crime is still proceeding quietly
! but determinedly, every detective
cherishing the dream that some day
he will triumphantly march the
guilty criminal into an amazed and
enV1ous headquarters.
Upon the anniversary of~the dis
| asteT. a couple of weeks ago, the
/ financial district of the city was
placed under heavy guard. Upper
| Fifth avenue shone brilliantly with
brass buttons, while downtown, de-
tectiyes from the bomb and homi-
| eide squads of the police depart
ment covered" the sub-treasury
and the assay office and the large
banking houses of the neighbor-
hood, eagerly waiting for some in
dication of proposed violence.
In these propitious circumstances,
of course, nothing happened. After
long day of hopeful suspense, the
guards went safely home to bed, and
the mystery of the bomb outrage
certainly one of the most curious
that has ever puzzled the police
was, admitted to be no nearer a
solution. A few officials went even
further and admitted that it had
been impossible even to establish
the fact that bomb was planted by
any one
That the crime was planned and
perpetrated by an anarchist or a
group of anarchists is the theory
which the police have been working
on all along-a theory presumably
well founded upon clues discovered
on the scene of the crime. Accord
ingly, the search for criminals has
been confined chiefly to radical
groups throughout the country. In
the past year several suspects were
arrested by the agents Of the de-
partment of justice, but all were
later released for lack of sufficient
evidence Occasionally, one hears
the theory advanced that the whole
catastrophe was an accident, but
you cannot make the police believe
that. Where" they ask you quick
ly, do the sash weights fit into the
accident theory? Why would an
innocent wagon of T. N T. be laden
with sash weights, which, in the
explosion, scattered like pieces of
shrapnel among the crowd, causing
much injury?"
And the terrible sash weights are
only one item in the list of strange
which seems to sustain the
theory that the explosion was
planned.
The Known Facts.
The police know that on the
of Sept 16, 1920, a wagon
filled with high explosives and
drawn by an underfed horse, was
driven to Wall and Broad Streets
the heart of New York's great fnan-
cial district-and parked in front
Of the United States assay office di-
rectly across the street from the j.
P. Morgan bank building, a location
not more than 100 feet from the
New York Stock Exchange. The
MONDAY crowds were filling the
narrow streets when the blast came.
The shock was so great that peo-
pie IN distant Brooklyn were
and ran screaming into
he streets. You can imagine.
therefore, what havoc it wrought
among the crowds in Wall street. |
In a brief interval-seeming only !
few seconds 200 policemen J
we're on the scene fighting back the
thousands of persons who rushed /!
Onward, in order that the wounded |
night not be trampIed upon and |
hat the ambuIances and dead |
wagons might have free way. They |
lrrlVed upon a CHASTITY scene. Vic
inns were strewn about in all direc- I
ions, some dead, some dying, and /
many suffering from painful minor |
INJURIES. The dilapidated vehicle I
which had hauled the explosives /
vas shattered into atoms. while the /
lead OF its equally diiapidated |
lorse was picked up on the steps of |
ne united states assay Office.
INC poISe SoQH ndQ the streets
oped off and the scene of the crime
feared IN order that all existing
lues might be preserved for in
estigation. Detectives from police
headquarters and agents from the
learby department Of justice Offices.
Including some of the most expert
in the country. were
lmost Immediately on hand, check
ng up bits of evidence, questioning
LEGGED witnesses and tracing var
GUS reports.
Fairly intelligent descriptions of
he horse and wagon were obtained
rom three persons who claimed to
ave seen the vehicle clatter into
Vail street. Hoof pads of the
orse, bearing the inscription