Dow Jones employee recounts evacuation from nearby building.
By: George Frey
Some Princeton area firms saw their offices and business around the country and world affected following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon today. Many offices were evacuated, and other firms decided to close their doors voluntarily.
Steven Goldstein a vice president at Dow Jones & Co. was working at the World Financial Center Tuesday morning. The World Financial Center is across the street from the World Trade Center.
"At 9:15 the World Financial Center was evacuated and most of the people in there walked west towards the Hudson River," Mr. Goldstein said.
"I myself and others watched the second plane hit the second World Trade Center tower, and at that point we walked as fast as we could toward the river."
Mr. Goldstein said he caught a ferry to Harborside, an office park in Jersey City where Dow Jones has its wire services and from there, was able to find car transportation to South Brunswick where Dow Jones also has offices. Mr. Goldstein said the Jersey City police also evacuated the Harborside complex.
"We think that there were no injuries or fatalities. Right now we’re not totally comfortable making that assessment. Not everyone is accounted for yet," Mr. Goldstein said this afternoon.
As for damage in the World Financial Center building, Mr. Goldstein said he thought that there were only a few windows blown out and that there was little in damage beyond that. For the interim, the Wall Street Journal’s headquarters will be in South Brunswick. Mr. Goldstein said the company could run the paper there indefinitely.
Dow Jones bureaus in addition to New York and Jersey City that were evacuated or closed included San Francisco, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Mr. Goldstein also said many Dow Jones employees chose to work from home.
"We will be publishing the Wall Street Journal tomorrow with two sections but with only one edition," he said. The paper’s content on the Web will be free tomorrow.
Merrill Lynch also has offices in the World Financial Center complex. A receptionist at the company’s offices in Plainsboro, who would not give her name, said she had not heard of any injuries.
"Someone who was there called and said they thought everyone got out," she said, adding that all non-essential employees in the region had left for the day and that the company had voluntarily closed. She could not say what the company had planned for its offices in New York, and public relations representatives from the New York, Philadelphia and Princeton area offices could not be reached for comment.
Charlie Borgognoni a spokesman with Bristol-Myers Squibb, said the company had little to report from its world headquarters in midtown Manhattan which is not near the World Trade Center. The company did not close early.
"Folks have left for the day now. With the catastrophe, there wasn’t much you could do. All mass transit was pretty much stopped until a few hours ago," Mr. Borgognoni said.
"I don’t know if it will be business as usual tomorrow, but we’ll be open to ascertain whatever it is we need to do."

