Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-10-19
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

driven to Wall and Broad streets
the heart of New Works great fin
ancial district-and parked in front
of the United States Assay office d.
rectly across the street from the j.
z. Morgan bank building, a location
not more than 100 feet from the
New York Stock Exchange. The
noon-day crowds were filling the
narrow streets when the blast came.
The shock was so great that peo-
pie in distant Brooklyn were fright
ened and ran screaming into the
streets. You can imagine, therefore,
what havoc IL wrought among the
crowds in Wall Street. In a brief
overwhelmingly a few seconds
loo policemen were on the scene
fighting back the thousands of per-
sons who rushed forward. in order
that the wounded might not be
trampled upon and that the ambu-
lances and dead wagons might have
free way. They arrived upon a
CHASTITY scene. Victims were strewn
about in all directions, some dead,
some dying. and many suffering from
painful minor injuries. The dilapi-
dated vehicle which had hauled the
explosives was shattered into atoms.
while the head of its equally dilapi-
dated horse was picked up on the
steps of the United States Assay Of
flee.
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 inves-
tigation. Detectives from police
headquarters and agents from the
nearby department of justice offices,
including some of the nos expert
criminologists in the country, were
almost Immediately on hand. check
ing 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.
bearing 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 were also able to judge
from the size and extent of the dis
aster 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) convinced the
police hat 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 Italians
standing neal the fateful wagon five
- ,,rfng ~ So hnfnHn Che nUn1AafAn
Then came the seeming confirmation
of this theory in the news that war
nings of the impending catastrophe
had been mailed to various persons
on the day before il occurred.
The last clue was investigated first.
In a short time. agents of the De-
partment of Justice had uncovered
the surprising information hat the
warnings had been mailed by Edwin
p. Fischer, former tennis champion
of New York city. Keep out of
the financial district on the after
noon of September L." Ia the mes
,ge he had sen to several friends
as well as tosthe French high COM
mission.
The solution of the mysterious ex-
plosion seemed to be reduced to the
mere matter of locating Edwin p.
Fischer. Fischer saved the police
this trouble by appearing in Hamil-
ton, Ontario, 81 hours after the dis
aster, in company with his brother,
who was trying to have him COM
mitted to the care of the Canadian
Lunacy Commission. Instead, he was
taken into custody by the Canadian
police, who held him until United
States Secret Service men could
reach Hamilton. This they did in a
great hurry, bringing with them a
staff OF stenographers for the pur-
pose of recording Fischer'S confess
sion-so certain were they hat he
was connected with the explosion.
They were destined to be disap-
pointed, however. Fischer turned out
to be as unperturbed as he was cor
dial. He greeted the government
agents politely. He admitted writ
ing the warnings. When accused
of having visited a New Jersey NUM-
tions factory two weeks before the
explosion, he also admitted that. He
did not deny that he had left New
York for Canada a few hours after
ii had happened. But that he was
guilty he would not admit. His fore
knowledge of the disaster. he de-
clared. had come to him by reason
OF a peculiar psychic power Inherit
ed from his mother. A voice from
the spirit world had warned him
And through the hard days OF grill
ing that followed. Fischer stubbornly
stuck to his story.