National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1872-12-13
NitrO.Glycerlne Catastrophe.

!. Another frighful addition to the sata
Q logue OF horrors occaiioned by the sub
4 Ito and destructive properties OF nitro
/. glyccrine took place nj Yonkerr
8 Westchester county, n. Y, when TIVE
lives were instantaneously sacrificed ant
two others placed in imminent peril.
II appears that four youths, nance
respectively George Hill, Michael Gala
!, CHER, John Donelly and William Terry
whose ages ranged from sixteen &c
twenty-one, left their homes in Yonkers
on cunning expedition.
The party found themselves in the
woods about equi.distant from the nud'
son river and Harlem Railroads, aud i'm
mediately on the line Of the New York
and Boston Railroad, now being con.
structed in that vicinity. Here il seems
they discovered several large cans con-
tanning nitro glycerine deposited in an
excavation about two feet deep and sur
rounded by some rough boards in the
form of fence on which were distinctly
traced the words, Beware--Danger-
Glycerine." What transpired to bring
about the accident Is not yet definitely
known but about noon tremendous
explosion took place, which was distinctly
heard for many miles throughout the
county,a and which shattered the windows
in houses situated quarter OF mile
from the vicinity. On Fastening to the
scene, the spectators found Hill and
Gallagher dead, while OF their more for
tunate companions, Donnelly was dis
covered with his clothes burned off and
himself buried in heap OF mud, and
al hal traa al
with blood and in an unconscious condi-
ton. Donnelly was speedily rescued, i'll
dying state, having received inju es
which it is said, must result fatally. u ,,
together with Terry, badly woundeo,
was shortly afterwards conveyed to tn
Riverside Hospital where everything
that medical skill could prompt was done
to assuage their agonies.
The scene Of the catastrophe presented
a truly horrifying spectacle. The terri
tlc effects of the explosion were manifold |
and striking in the extreme. a cavity |
in the earth nearly fifty feet in length |
and in some places several feet deep,
evinced the terrible force Of the explo-
sion, while sundered rocks of huge pro-
portions and trees, in some instances
denuded of their bark, al
most persuaded the spectator that au
earthquake had taken place there or that
lightning had visited the spot. At a
distance of nearly two hundred feet from
the cavity lay the charred and mutilated
trunk of Hill, youth OF twenty one
the face and almost tho entire head
gone, the lower limbs blown away from
the trunk, the left arm torn from the
socket and various portions OF the en-
trails hanging in the surrounding trees,
1t height of at least fifty feet from the
ground the trunk was perfectly nude
and afforded sickening sight De-
ceased had lived with his parents in Or
,hard street, Yonkers.
The body of Michael Gallagher, aged
sixteen, WAS blown under projecting
'ock, the clothing torn away, the body
hockingly mutilated, and the features {
bruised and blackened beyond the pos S
ubility of recognition. The parents of
Gallagher are both dead, but his aunt, {
Who appeared on the scene as night was 9
closing in, made the woods resound with +
Ter wild lamentations. |
According to the incoherent state a
nent of Terry, whose injuries are not t
onsidered to be of necessarily fatal i
ature, Hill took up large stone, and g
landing directly over the cans of nitro t
lycerine, announced his intention of o
ropping it in order to see what effect it a
'ould produce. Gallagher almost equally d
S daring, took up position near his o
lore desperate companion, while Terry f
nd Donnel!y stood behind trees in the a
Immediate neighborhood. n