Surnames: Anderson, Bishop, Brown, Charlton,
Conklin, Edward, Ehrenhardt, Flannigan, Flynn, Franke, Friscing, Gilles, Grant,
Henlon, Henry, Henschrow, Hepberg, Hopkins, Joyce, Krech, Lamont, McIntyre,
Morgan, Neville, Oblson, O’Keefe, Robinson, savage, Serbin, Shattuck, Siegel,
Stoba, Sutler, Towrae, Vanek, Weill, Weyhrerauch, Williams
Claims Explosion Was a Time Bomb Loaded On Wagon
International News
Service
New York, Sept. 16 -- A former high official of New York’s police department, who refused to be quoted at 1:30 o’clock this afternoon after an investigation of the scene of the explosion at the J. P. Morgan offices, declared that it, was the result of a conspiracy.
“The explosion was caused by a time bomb in a wagon load of nitroglycerine set to go off at exactly 12 o’clock “, he declared.
“This wagon load of explosive was purposely set off directly in front of the Morgan offices.”
New Castle News – New Castle, Pa. – Thursday, September 16,
1920
Transcribed and contributed by: Frances Cooley
New York, Sept. 16 -- According to a clerk in the Morgan offices at the time of the explosion three men and one girl employee of the Morgan house were killed. A number of the employees of the Equitable Trust Company were injured and have been taken to the Broad Street hospital.
Among the injured are:
W. D. McIntyre, of Post and Flagg,
hand nearly severed.
Earnest C. Friscing, lacerated
head.
P. Henschrow, badly lacerated head and
back.
H. Y. Serbin, hand and head cut.
Alvin W.
Krech, injured about face
Edward Towrae, 25, Albana
Avenue, Brooklyn, lacerations.
Margaret Anderson, 113 S. Hoe
Avenue, Bronx, head cut.
John Robinson, 62 Pearl Street,
legs cut.
George Edward Brown, 157 East 30th Street, head
and arms cut.
Unidentified woman, skull
fracture.
FrankVanek, 1534 Mayflower Avenue, West Chester,
lacerations legs and head.
H. Weill of Shanghai Bank,
cuts.
Frederick Franke, Brooklyn, legs cut.
Mary
Bishop, 1040 Park Place, Brooklyn, face and body
cut.
Patrick Flannigan, 2601 Bainbridge Avenue, Bronx,
lacerations scalp.
Cornelius O’Keefe, Bronx, lacerations
scalp.
George Williams, 945 St. Nicholas Avenue,
cuts.
Gustav Oblson, Jamaica, head and back
injured.
Albert Siegel, Glendale, L. I., badly
cut.
George Weyhrerauch, Brooklyn, arms and head
lacerations.
Two sisters, named Hunger, in serious condition
from cuts.
Irene Sutler, 9601 Spencer Avenue, cuts and
bruiser.
Rev. Dr. Shattuck of the Dyker Heights Episcopal
Church, a volunteer worker, says he found seven young women members of his
church in a serious condition at the Volunteer hospital.
P. W.
Joyce, an employee of Morgan’s concern, slightly.
Usyless
Grant, deputy assistant treasurer of the U. S. sub-treasury, slightly
injured while sitting at this desk.
Charles Neville
J.
Hepberg
H. L. Gilles
William Ehrenhardt
George M. Conklin
Frank
Stoba
M. Hopkins.
New Castle News – New Castle, Pa. – Thursday, September 16,
1920
Transcribed and contributed by: Frances Cooley
Hospitals Taxed By Explosion Victims
New York, Sept. 16 1:08 p.m.
Dr Savage of the Broad
Street hospital makes the statement that in the neighborhood of 200 persons
injured in the explosion have been received at the hospital. He said that
practically every available inch of space in the institution was now occupied by
the injured. The police now also estimate the number of injured at
200.
New Castle News – New Castle, Pa. – Thursday, September 16,
1920
Transcribed and contributed by: Frances Cooley
Terrific Explosion Wrecks Banking House of Morgan
24 Dead and 200 Injured
With Chances That Death Record Will Mount Higher
Believed To Have Been Bomb at First, But Later Investigation Indicates That
Wagon
Load of Dynamite Was Hit By Automobile
Hospitals in Down Town Section of City All Filled With Injured
By Frank Charlton
International News Services Staff
Correspondent
New York, Sept. 16. – At least 24 persons were killed and hundreds of others were injured and the offices of J. P. Morgan & Company were wrecked by a gigantic explosion at Wall and Broad streets in the heart of the financial district at noon today.
The explosion was believed this afternoon to have been caused by a wagon load of dynamite on its way through Wall Street to the excavation site of the new stock exchange building on the southeast corner of Broad and Wall Street. An automobile is said to have crashed into the vehicle carrying the explosive just as it was between the Morgan offices and the United States sub-treasury where millions of dollars worth of government funds and bullion are stored. U. S. troops were rushed to the scene to guard the sub-treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank.
Business Suspended
Business was brought to a standstill throughout the financial district. The stock exchange and curb market closed down. Sensational reports of a bomb plot threw bankers and brokers into a panic.
If the explosion was caused by an anarchist’s bomb which was intended to destroy the life of J. Pier-Pont Morgan, it was a futile enterprise because Morgan is at present in Europe.
The blast carried a panic throughout the financial district. The New York stock exchange and the curb market were both closed.
All the members of the first escaped but Junius Spencer Morgan, son of J. P. Morgan, was badly cut on the hands by flying glass.
The Morgan offices were completely shattered. Pedestrians in the streets were buried from their feet.
There was intense confusion and 30 minutes after the explosion the cause of the blast was still unknown. In the meantime Wall Street was filled with sensational rumors of every description. The death list was put as high as 60.
The police learned that a horse and wagon were in front of that building when the explosion took place. The horse was killed and the wagon was blown to kindling wood. One theory of the police was that a time-bomb had been placed in the wagon roof at noon, the busiest hour of the day, when Mr. Morgan would be in his office. This theory received support from the fact that the bomb exploded exactly at 12 o’clock.
Another Theory
Another theory was that a small motor car filled with high explosives, collided with another automobile in the street immediately in front of the Morgan offices. The police were certain that the explosion was outside of the offices and not inside.
The Ford car was said to have borne a Connecticut license plate. According to the police version it was crossing the street diagonally at Broad and Wall when another machine crashed into it.
So terrific was the force of the force of the explosion that the police were certain it had been caused by dynamite or T.N.T. and possibly a mixture of both.
Granite Crumbles
It was definitely established by a close examination of the building that the explosion occurred on the Wall Street side and not on the Broad street side and had originally been believed.
Officials of the fire department were rushed to the scene with the police, said that the blast might have been caused by an underground channel of compressed air from excavation in the neighborhood, but this theory was subsequently discarded.
So devastating was the force of the explosion that the dome over the entrance to Morgan and Co., supported by gigantic columns of solid granite crumbled and crashed to the ground.
United States troops were rushed to the scene of the explosion to guard the United States sub-treasury which is just across the street from J. P. Morgan and Co. Two wagon loads of infantrymen were brought in Manhattan from Governor’s Island.
Felt Mile Away
The rumble and shock of the explosion was felt plainly a mile away. One person was killed and several injured in the Post and Flagg building in Wall Street some distance from the scene.
Never in the history of New York have such scenes of turbulence and excitement accompanied a great disaster. All streets leading to Broad and Wall were choked with people. The police were powerless to open traffic lanes for ambulances until all the downtown police reserves were sent to the scene.
More than 40 persons have so far been brought to the Volunteer hospital. Several of them seem to be in a dying condition. The force of the explosion is indicated by the fact that the Brooklyn Bridge was seriously shaken.
Strange to say fire did not follow the blast. However firemen were on hand.
At 1 o’clock Fire Chief Henlon said that he was unable to account for the explosion.
A great hole was torn in the street in front of the Morgan offices.
Six Are Dying
Father Henry, of Seven State Street, has just administered last rites to six of the dying at the Broad street hospital.
Within twenty minutes after the explosion, 15 bodies had been recovered. Some were badly mangled. They were quickly removed for identification. Later the death list increased.
Many young women stenographers, who were on their way to lunch, were caught in the hurricane of debris thrown up by the explosion. Many were hurt, others were hurled from their feet; others fainted from sheer fright.
The dead were carried across the street and laid out on the steps of the United States sub-treasury.
In front of the sub-treasury building was a pool of blood and part of a straw hat, all that was left of some luckless pedestrian who had been blown to bits.
So far as could be learned the only member of the Morgan firm who was on the scene was Thomas W. Lamont. He was in his private office dictating letters and talking with a business caller when the detonation occurred.
Junius Spencer Morgan, son of J. P. Morgan, was cut on the hands by flying glass. It is understood that he is not a Morgan partner, but is only learning the banking business.
The police estimated that from 200 to 300 persons had been more or less injured. Most of them pedestrians. Many of them suffered injuries so slight that they were able to go home or to offices where they were employed for treatment.
Word was received here at 1:30, that William J. Flynn, chief of the U. S. secret service, was speeding to New York upon a special train to take charge of the federal end of the investigation.
New Castle News – New Castle, Pa. – Thursday, September 16,
1920
Transcribed and contributed by: Frances Cooley
Looking west on Wall Street, the world's greatest financial center. At the end of in the background is famous old Trinity Church. In the right foreground is Ward's Statue of George Washington which stands directly across the street from the J. P. Morgan and company bank. The statue is on the steps of the sub-treasury and it marks The spot where Washington was inaugurated. The cross on the other side of the street marks the scene of the explosion. The Morgan bank is on the southeast corner of Wall and Broad Streets. Broad street is the first intersecting street shown just beyond the Bank and the statue. Across the street on Broad Street and to the left of the building on the corner is the New York Stock Exchange. The building in the immediate foreground to the right is the Assay office. Wall Street is only a quarter of a mile long. It derived its name from a line of palisades built by Peter Stuyvesant in 1652 to protect the little Dutch village from attacks by Indians.
The Des Moines Capital - Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, September 17,
1920
Transcribed and contributed by: Frances Cooley
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