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Show EXPLOSION ALARMS RESIDENCE SECTION Rumors of Bomb-throwing Excite Fourth Avenue-F Street Neighborhood. A d-af'-nir.g detonation and a plrclng Hash, followed by the immediate disappearance disap-pearance of a myMerlous automobile v. ith Its l:ghth dimnud, late last n:yht thiew rchider.ts of the ndghborhoo'l of Fourth avenue and F street into a panic. Many of the excited citircna were positive that a bomb h.id been tr.ri.nvn. The rtport was heard Ui the downtown b'-aine.-s uis-trh uis-trh t. ThA rxploslon, as nearly as could be dt u rmlnc J. occurred almost directly in front of the rtsi lciice of l"nit-d States Collector of Customs T. F. Thomas, J 1 . F i-tree t. Mr. Thomas, having retired for the night, was ask-ep and knew nothing noth-ing of the explosion until awakened by Mrs. Thomas, who w.us positie it occurred oc-curred in front of tht-:r home. A squad of policemen, armed with rifles and rcvohvis, hurried to tne scene In an automobile, and, aided by searchlight?., search-light?., made a careful examinat ion of tne ground In the vicinity. Not the shcht'Mt trace ot the vause of the explosion, ex-plosion, nor any damage resulting from it, was found. Several rtyidents said they saw an automobile, au-tomobile, apparently a large roadt-ter, proceeding slowly in a southerly Oirec-t.on Oirec-t.on on F street, keeping closely to the curb on the loft ekU of the street the side on which Mr. Thomas's residence is situated and playing its searchlights on various houses s it went along, among them that occupied h' the collector of cuftoms. J. W. Clark, 179 F street, who was conversing with a neighbor in front of his hou! said he saw the automobile stop, with dimmed lights, at the corner of F street and Fourth avenue, which is a few doors below Mr. Thomas's residence. resi-dence. A few minutes later came the explosion, and the automobile sped down F street toward Third avenue. Mr. Thomas declared he was ignorant of nny act or wo rd that would provoke alien enemies or members of the I. W. W. ! "But," he adued, "1 suppose the radical rad-ical element is after all government officials." of-ficials." Mr. Thomas slept with n gun under his pillow during the remainder of the night. |