The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-10-19
The Wall Street Mystery
BY FREDERICK J. HAskIN

IN distant Brooklyn were frightened
ana ran screaming into the streets.
You can imagine, therefore, what
havoc IL wrought among the crowds
IN Wall street. In a brief interval
seemingly only a few seconds, 100
polcemen were on the scene fighting
back the thousands of persons who
rushed forward, in order that the
wounded might not be trampled upou
and that the ambulances and dead
wagons might have free way. Thoy
arrived upon a CHASTITY scene. Many
victims were strewn in all directions.
some dead, some dying, and many
suffering from painful minor injuries.
The dilapidated vehicle which had
| hauled the explosives was shattered
into atoms, while the head of its
equally dilapidated horse was picked
up on the steps of the United States
assay office.
The police soon had the streets
roped off and the scene of the crime
cleared in order that all existing clues
might be preserved for investigation.
Detectives from police headquarters
and agents from the nearby depart
ment of justice offices, including some
of the most expert criminologists in
/ the country, were almost Immediately
| on hand checking up bits of evidence,
questioning alleged witnesses and
! tracing various reports.
Fairly intelligent descriptions of the
horse and wagon were obtained from
| three persons who claimed to have
seen the vehicle clatter into Wall
! street. Hoof pads Of the horse, bear
! ing the inscription Bison Hoof Pad
| Company, Buffalo, New York" were
picked up, and from the size of these
! pads the investigators were able to
| judge the exact weight of the horse,
They also were able to judge from the
size and extent of the disaster that
it had been caused by approximately
| 200 pounds of I. n. T. The presence
of small bits of metal, scattered over
a vast area (the deadly pieces of sash
weights, already referred to- con
WINGED the police that they had to deal
with a deliberately planned crime
This assumption was strengthened by
the statements of several witnesses
who claimed to have seen three ltaa
, ians standing near the fateful Wagon
five minutes or so before the eXplo
sion. Then came the seeming con
firmation of this theory in the news
that warnings of the impending catas
trophe had been mailed to various per
sons on the day before it occurred.
The last clue was investigated first
In a short time agents of the depart
ment of justice had uncovered the
surprising information that the warn
l'ings had been mailed by Edwin T
Fischer, former tennis champion q
New York City. Keep out of the fl
nancial district on the afternoon o
September 16," was the message III
, had sent to several friends as wei
as to the French high commission.
A Psychic Warning.
The solution. of the mysterious ex
, plosion seemed to be reduced to tn
mere matter of locating Edwin J.
Fischer. Fischer saved the police thi
: trouble by appearing in Hamilton, Or
tario, "a hours after the disaster, il
company with his brother, who wa
trying to have him committed to tn
care Of the Canadian Lunacy commits
sion. Instead, he was taken into Gus
tody by the Canadian police, who he'll
him until the United States secre
service men could reach Hamilton
This they did in a great hurry. bring
ing with them staff OF stenographer
for the purpose of recording Fischer
confession-so certain were they tina
l he was connected with the explosion
: They were destined to be disappoin1
| ed, however. Fischer turned out t
be as unperturbed as he was cordia
! He greeted the government agent
: politely. He admitted writing tn
: warnings. When accused of havin
5 visited a New Jersey munitions faf
? tory two weeks before the explosion
. he also admitted that. He did no
2 deny that he had left New York 70
, Canada a few hours after it had hal
? pened. But that he was guilty, h
t would not admit. His foreknowledg
7 of the disaster, he declared, had com
to him by reason of a peculiar psychi