The New York herald., 1876-09-22

Al time, and, therefore. General Newton can only
.who knows" say others, "whether tho rock bc
solid, who tell whether IL extends more than
foot below the oor OF the cavern And should there
prove to be assure below, cave what becomes OF
all the elaborate calculations of the officers in charger
The number OF those that talk thus IS considerable,
and as they. impeled by their fears talk much more
the subject than their confident neighbors, It
would seem TO casual observer that the people are IN
stale OF breathless suspense or abjec1 lear whiie
awaiting the result
one OF the most fortunate circumstances In connsc-
ton with the whoie business Is ishc iact
that there very few houses within
distance OF 500 900 yards OF the excavation and
they are. with one little exception, built OF wood,
which would prevent their being injured even II there
should occur pretty severe shock except perhaps,
that their plasterng might suffer slight rupture
Along the shore road, which General Newton pro-
nounces the locality most nkely to feel the maximum
effect of the Shock there between the works and
the Terry only three small cottages. not one OF which
Is than two stories high.
GOOD ADVICE TO RESIDENTS.
General Newton last night published IN the Long
which will doubtless have good effect IN resssuring
those who were to leave their homes on Sunday.
al have" he says, 'the pleasure 10 inform the c'ti-
zens OF Astoria who have SO patiently endured the
accumulation OF explosives in the yiciny OF their
town. that the time Of explosion is fixed or Sunday.
the cath inst, at ten min uics TO three i. N.
81 have also to thank them tor their lorttnde, not
withstandng attempts to make panic Instituted by
poltroons Of the male sex The explosion will have no
elect upon tho atmosphere and the effects conveyed
through the ground Will not exceed jar upon build
nrs IL might. however, be sufficient TO cndanser
.srhe elects through the ground will be most felt
along the shore line leading from Hactrs Point to
the ferry OF police and regular soldiers will
guard The limo OF Fulton IRON the ferry Ste
street 10 Franklin, up Franklin 10 Remsen, and
following Rcmsen to Pot Cove
"ihe Inhabitants arc advised when the time OF the
explosion arrives be without The Gordon TO he
established leaving their houses with doors and win
dows In every case when the soundness OF cell
ngs distrusted tho advice would be to vacate the
houses at the time OF explosion Thcre is no liability
Of walls being overturned or injured"
Mr.. A. G. Rand, OF the RcndrOck Powder Company
President of the Rock Drill Company, may well bo
considered expert regards explosives, and his
views are therefore, published with pleasure by tho
HERALD to aay the alarm spread by many timd peo-
pie Mr. Rand has hesitation saying that the
character OF the work accomplished by General New
ton is such that the explosion may be anticipated with
IE' %o thinks 'Sms' that some of the rocks at sne
edge OF the excavation, where the water Is not very
high, may DO blown up little distance above the
water but that otherwise the disturbance viii be Of
far less magnitude than most people imagine 81 think
people will be astonshcd," said Mr.. Rand, "to see
how little disturbance the explosion will produce"
Mr.. Rand thinks that 1t is high timc to allay the
alarm felt by many morous people who arc ignorant
ON the subject of explosions. He says his physician
has narrated to him the extreme apprehension felt by
several of his patients living near Eghteh and Nine
tie;h streets The erroneous Impressions on which
these fears are based may, in his opinion he traced
back to peoples general remembrance OF the Bergen
Heights explosion when the shock felt tor so great
q distance. People
COMPOUND A PEW AIR EXPLOSIONS
with explosions under the rock and under water To
illustrate the immense difference between the TWO Mr..
'.Come down with me to Communipaw, or any other
place where may freely try the experiment any day,
and let us explode quarter or half pound OF rend-
rock in the open air. What will be the eiectS
Comparatively it will be tremendous: The
shock will be heard, perhaps Tor half
mile But now let us see what The effect will be If
put the very same quantity of this explosive under
two feet of water You will Immediately see the wide
difference The powder will throw up column OF
perhaps dfty eet high bnt tho sound and shock
viii be confined to tar smaller distance and even
this very same quantity of rendrock under
twenty-five thirty feet OF water, as the
will be tho effects Only little bubbng OF the waters
surface and scarcely any shock. II you will come
down with me to any convenient place shall be happy
to demonstrate the principle OF explosion In the man.
have indicated. IL is an exact illustration OF tho
relative dangers existing at He'll Gate. The shock of
such vast explosion would undoubtedly be great II 1t
took place in the open arr,
BUT UNDER ROCK AND WATER
AS is, the effect must necessarily be slight and the
atmospheric transmission of the disturbance exceed
ingly limited"
Mr. Rand then spoke at some length or the Blossom
Rock explosion, which he compared with that at He'll
Gate and mentioned points OF superiority Of the lat
work convincing as to It's greater safety. Onc ad
mirabe novelty in this work. said he, 'introduced
by General Newton, is the distribution o. the cxpo-
svc through SO many charges and over such largo
surface of tho rock II he had put all the pow
der into one hole" said he, 'as they did
Blossom Rock, you would undoubtedly have fine dis
play Of shooting rocks; but besides being dan
gerous this mode would also have been more costly.
The distribution OF the charges makes 1t far easier to
rend the rock. We ALL mean myself and other ex-
merits in the business-think the work has been excel
ien,ly and cheapy done or course as far as cheap.
ness concerned the cost would only have been two
thirds OF what is If the government had been
prompt in supplying the money when 1t was needed
Mr. Rand was asked as to the dangers existing until
the time OF the explosion from possible
CARELEssNEss IN THE HANDLING
Of the explosives and said Therc always danger In
handling explosives-no doubt about tha--but think
General Newton and his assistants have taken every
possible avoid accident, and II part OF
the powder should explode 1t does not follow that
all would explode. Even then the explosion would
be merely local effect" The gentleman also
dwelt on the exaggerated impressions entertained by
many people OF the wonderful strength Of these
modern explosives, such nitro gvcerinc sc. He
said that while they undoubtedly stronger than
tho gunpowder formerly used-which was also used at
Blossom Rockther elect did ao extend for so great
distance Mr. Rand is little afraid Of the effect OF
the explosion that he will view 1t from Wards Island
aud gladly take his chance to be blown up with the
rock.
PEARS PLATE GLASS; IxsuRERa
There is no ulc anxiety ict among tho insurance
men regarding the Hell Gate explosion. and especially
among the plate glass insurance companies. These
companies insure the plate glass windows In nearly all
the large and many OF the small stores. Mr..
Charles Rousha, President oil the Empire
Plate Glass Company, said Yesterday that he
believed tho explosion would break large
number of windows, aud tho company would
be called upon replace them. He believed that tho
explosion greatly undcrestmated and that serious
damage would be done Mr.. Rousha said that there
were five plate glass insurance companies this
city, and he expected that they would all suffer loss.
For his sake no hoped that General Newton's
true.
WHERE TO SEE THE BLAST PROM.
Tho explosion Is causing no little excitement among
the west side rcsdens-that is those who reside on
Manhattanville and Fort Washington As rule, they
feel thoroughly from all danger, only expect
ing feel Slight shock OF the rocks
on which their houses built But their
great anxiety is as to how they obtain good Wow
of the great blast The thousands who were present
Saturday last at the centennial celebration OF the
battle OF Harlem Plains dad not fail to
notice that The location was . splendid and
safe
ridge extends for about threc-quarters OF . mile
and every inch OF II commands view Of tho OF
the explosion. Below the ridge lilo the famous Harlem
Plains on the right Central Park, but, excepting
the top OF the old tort, tho view of He'll Gate OBJ
struccd from the heights by the trees. On the left
Is Manhsttnnville and front Mount Morris
square. Thus the spectator has clear and sale view
the plains from 10th street to 120th street. and
the prominent ridge will accommodate thousands with
crn,ydipc The ciiizcns res ding The uoiglbor