Evening star., 1927-08-16
Family of Five Blown From
Beds, House Wrecked
by Explosion.
BLAST, FELT MILE AWAY,
DIGS 20-FOOT HOLE
Only Threat Received Long Ago
Victim Says-Residences of
Three Others Guarded.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
EAST MILTON, Mass, August 16.
An explosion. believed by the police
to have been used by bomb
equipped with a time fuse, wrecked
the home early today Of Lewis Nc
Hardy, juror in the Sacco-Vanzetti
trial seven years ago.
McHardy, his wife an( three grown
children, who We're blown from their
beds by the force Of the blast, narrow
ly escaped death. All five suffered
was thought to have suffered from con-
cussion.
She was trapped in her room on the
second floor of the two and one-half
story wooden house. Police rescued
her. Her husband was able to work
his way from the ruins and his two
sons, Jack and Theodore, carried their
sister Helen from her room. The
family was cared for at the home of
neighbor.
Blast Felt Mile Away.
Windows We're blown from houses
d
stripped Of their leaves. With the eX-
ception of the rear wall of the Nc
Hardy home, the sides OF the house
were blown out The granite founda-
ton was cracked. the front piazza torn
off and a bulkhead was blown out of
the back of the house.
A line of police was thrown about
the wrecked house and an investiga-
ton started Immediately by State po-
lice. Guards We're dispatched to the
homes of three other jurors who live
in the vicinity.
The explosive was plaC d under the
northeast corner of the house near the
front door. The detonation of the
charge blew a hole 20 feet deep in the
earth.
The blast occurred at $3.50. At 3
o'clock the policeman whose beat
passed the McHardy house, rang in his
box about 300 yards away. The patrol
man said he saw nothing suspicious
in the neighborhood, but a report
reached the police that a small sedan
had been seen leaving the vicinity
shortly before the explosion.
Received Threat Long Ago.
The family went to bed about IL
o'clock, and had seen no one in the
immediate neighborhood during the
evening who aroused any suspicious.
The Mcf1ardy home Is in a sparsely
settled section of the town with Woods
bordering two sides of 1t.
McHardy said that a long time ago
he had received a threatening letter,
as had others of the jurors in the
famous trial. He said that he had not
feared an attack and had had no mis-
givings as to his safety. He is EN-
ployed in a chocolate factory in Mil
ton
During the investigation by Gov
Alvan T. Fuller into the entire case
McHardy had been called for an inter-
view. He was in the executive cham.
ber about two hours. he said. Since
then, he said, he has received no
threats of any kind.
THE first 1 knew" said Theodore
McHardy describing his impressions
Of the explosion. Il found myself on
the floor Of the attic where Jack and
I had our rooms. l thought at first
1 had simply fallen out of bed in a
nightmare or something of the kind,
and then suddenly the floor began to
shake under me and 1 heard a dull
roar, followed by a strange humming
sound like an arplane in the distance.
Then the door fell in upon me, the
glass in the window fell smashing on
the floor, and before I was really
awake the roof opened up and |
could see the sky"
He said he groped his way to the
room in which his brother Jack had
been sleeping and the two then
searched for their sister and led her
out through hole in the side of the
house. They went back after their
parents and found their mother lying
on the floor. cut and bruised, and
their father cropping about in the
debris.
Besides the investigation by the
State and local police. Assistant Dis
trict Attorney Sullivan OF Norfolk
County went over the scene.
South Braintree. where the crime
of which Sacco and Vanzetti were
convicted occurred. is also in Norfolk
County. .