Bomb Thrown In Cathedral

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30733, 24 April 1965, Page 15

Bomb Thrown In Cathedral

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

NEW YORK, April 23. A “Molotov cocktail” exploded in a sheet of flame among five people kneeling at the main altar rail at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral last night.

One of them, Mrs Emma Reeves, aged 47, had her clothes and feet enveloped in flames and was rushed to hospital badly burned- Her condition was described later as only fair. Police later arrested a 25-year-old Negro in connexion with the bomb-throwing. The man, David L. Malone, was taken into custody at a men’s settlement house operated by the Welfare Department. Police said he was traced

by a library card found in a jacket left in the cathedral. Malone was charged with arson, desecrating a house of worship and felonious assault.

Police described him as a “drifter,” and said he professed no religion.

It was the third act of desecration on a Roman Catholic church within a week.

Police said that earlier yesterday burning candies were found on the wooden floor of St. Barnabas' Church in the Bronx.

Priests discovered the candles before any damage was done.

On Good Friday a former mental patient hurled a chunk of concrete through a glass case enclosing a statue of the late Pope Pius XII in the rear of St. Patrick’s. The statue was not damaged.