SAN FRANCISCO -- Six persons were killed outright, two received injuries from which they died an hour later and upwards of 40 were injured this afternoon when an infernal machine was exploded In the crowd viewing the great preparedness parade in which 50,000 residents of San Francisco and the bay cities marched. The thousands of spectators and marchers in the vicinity of Stewart and 1 Market streets, where the explosion occurred, were thrown into a wild panic and the procession was completely broken at that point.
A suit case in which the bomb had been "planted" was placed or thrown upon the sidewalk by the dynamiter. Just how it was exploded the police had not ascertained tonight, but they believe the bomb may have had a clockwork attachment set for a certain hour. The dynamiter escaped and had not been apprehended early tonight.
Following were Instantly killed:
MRS. HENRY GEORGE.
LEWIS H. LANHORNE.
ARTHUR NELSON.
GEORGE PAINTER.
Mrs. Howard Knapp of Alameda, Cal., and George Lawlor were so badly injured that they died at 3 o'clock in the emergency hospital.
Anonymous letters were sent to the newspapers several days ago threatening "direct action" against the parade. They were believed then to have been sent by cranks opposed to the preparedness idea and were not taken seriously.
When the bomb exploded one baby's foot was torn completely off. A man carrying a flag in the parade was pierced through the leg by the flag pole. People on the sidewalk were piled in a screaming mass. The Mirrors and Rensandt saloon near where the bomb exploded, was badly wrecked.
The man who planted the infernal machine fled and no trace of him had been found at 3 o'clock.
Two little children, a boy and girl were badly mangled, but remained conscious and told what they knew about the explosion.
The explosion came as the tragic climax to the greatest patriotic demonstration in San Francisco's history.
Nearly 50,000 persons, representing this city, Oakland and all the cities on both sides of the bay, were marching up Market street in orderly procession, as a living expression of the marchers in favor of the movement for national preparedness.
About 2 o'clock, half an hour after the head of the parade had passed Stewart and Market streets, marching from the ferry building, a deafening explosion shattered the windows for several blocks around and threw the spectators and marchers into a panic.
The bomb in the suitcase had gone off in the thickest part of the Market street crowd. Scores of persons were knocked down and either slightly or seriously Injured. People the sidewalk were heaped in a screaming, yelling mass. The foot of one child was completely torn off and a marcher, carrying a . big American flag, had the standard blown from his hands and a piece of it driven through his leg.
The wildest confusion prevailed. Policemen patrolling in the vicinity of the explosion turned in hurry calls for police reserves and ambulances and made a futile effort to check the panic and restore order.
The police are also investigating the recent receipt of threatening letters by certain newspapers. Postal officials declare that for the last few days postcards have been sent through the mails addressed to a number of San Francisco firms threatening them with reprisals if they permitted their employees to march in the parade. All of these postcards have been held up and forwarded to the postmaster general in Washington before today's explosion occurred. The police believe the senders of these postcards may have been behind the dynamiting plot.
