BOMB SENSATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 9

BOMB SENSATION

LONDON TUBE STATIONS

OFFICES WRECKED

THE POLICE ACTIVE

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received February 4, 10.20 a.m.); LONDON, February 3. Explosions believed to have been caused by time bombs hidden in suitcases in cloakrooms at the Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square tube stations occurred at 5.55 a.m. and 6.20 a.m. today respectively, and caused a sensation in London. ■'.'""./

A ticket collector at Tottenham Court Road station was seriously injured by a door which was hurled from its hinges, seven people were slightly injured, and many travellers were treated for shock. The booking and luggage offices were wrecked. Fortunately few passengers were travelling by train when the explosion occurred.

Special squads of police were" rushed up, but normal services were maintained and passengers were permitted to leave the station but . were prevented from entering. Thousands of business men and . „ women were forced to join trains at "7 other stations. WIDESPREAD EFFECT. Shop windows a hundred yards distant were shattered and whole blocks of flats in which hundreds of persons were sleeping were shaken. Telephone cabinets were wrecked and doors burst open. Tha "

glazed wall, tiles or the booking office were broken and luggage strewn lift confusion.

Twisted metal, splintered woodwork, and broken glass were scattered at both stations. Great cracks split the ceiling outside the Leicester Square booking office. , The cloakroam was a chaotic scene Luggage was burst open and burnt the racks buckled, and brickwork blown out. A tobacconist's shop was completely wrecked. Henry Long, a porter at Tottenham Court Road. Station, said that eighi passengers were going up the escala« tor when the explosion occurred. "Two women were blown down," he said.'"l ran up to warn others, and saw a ticket collector lying on the floor with his legs broken.". Eye-witnesses at Leicester Square Station said that they heard a sound like a heavy object being dropped and tfelt the ground tremble. They saw a vivid flash, followed by cloud? of acrid smoke. Waterpipes at the Tottenham Court Road Station burst and flooded th< station till the supply was cut off Heavy columns of smoke poured oui of both.stations and mingled with tho heavy fog, adding to the confusion. The police found among the wreckage at Tottenham Court Road Station small twisted pieces of metal, probabls the timing mechanism df an alarm ' OFFICIAL STATEMENT. ' The Passenger Transport Board issued an official statement, in which it said that the staff at Tottenham/. Court Road Station noticed a red glow behind the door of the cloakroom, which was followed immediately by an explosion, which wrecked the interior of the cloakroom, flinging the door across the ticket hall and breaking the ticket collectors' leg. It describes the damage at Leicester Square Station as the more serious, and adds that orders were immediately issued for all other cloakrooms to be examined. No more deposits of luggage will be accepted unless it is opened, for inspection. ■"• . . y'"i Special police guards are being placed at cither tube stations, and cloakrooms at the main line termini are being examined. The authorities immediately informed the Ulster Government, which is making intensive inquiries and seeking clues in Northern Ireland, especi- ■ ally among I.R.A. supporters, i _ 7 After a conference, police chiefs and -. representatives of Scotland Yard mobilised all their resources'"^ order to detect the perpetrators of the outrage. POLICE CONVICTION. The police are convinced that the outrage was the work: of Irish republican sympathisers. They believe that the bomb was placed in the Tottenham Court Road' Station luggage office before it closed at midnight. They took a statement, from two women residing ia Imperial Mansions, overlooking the station, alleging that they saw a young man rush out from the tube entrance immediately after the explosion. Tottenham Court Road Station wai ft reopened to the public at 9.30 a.m.