Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-10-15

shore, while great many OF the metro-
politan police were stationed al inter-
walls along the New York shore To keen
ventu Some sight-seers out of danger.
A few minutes before III O'Clock a
small band of earnest men stood about
small battery in little Temporary
building on the Long Island shore on
the dock north of the Astoria ferry slim.
These were the engineers who had
planned and prepared for the great
work OF To-day. Gen. Newton, their
chief, stood quietly and coolly talking
10 one OF the engineers. Frequently he
consulted his watch. All houses near
the battery were deserted. The en-
glneers were just about 900 feet away
from the mine.
At ll:l2 precisely one of the party
touched the little key of the battery.
Instantly 1926 dynamite cartridges,
pertruding from that many holes drill
ed In the mine, were exploded, and the
24O,0O0 pounds of roek-a-rock packed
back OF the dynamite cartridges went
up second later Flood Rock went
up, TOO. A vapOr covered the troubled
waters Immediately after the explosion,
but the watching thousands could dis
Germ plainly that Flood Rock was no
more. All New York, from Harlem to
the Battery, south, and north to the
Bronx River, felt the shocks, for there.
We're three of them, lasting over one
minute.
The current of electricity let loose by
tne touch on the little battery went
over single wire under the river to a
heaVy bichromate battery on the rock
wnlcn dlftused the current through "a
independent circuits into the mine.
Ihe Inner ends of those wires were unit
ed oy bridge of fine platinum wire.
Inc heat communicated in this way
made the first explosion in the mine,
The report was not as loud as was ex-
Pected. The pieces of heavy ordnance
discharged simultaneously might make
as loud noise. But second before
the report was heard persons looking
toward Hell Gate saw a rareand grand
picture. A great mass of foam white
as snow went into the air to distance
of perhaps 200 feet, falling back in wild
confusion to be met by swollen up-
heavals that came with and after the
dull report that shook the biggest build
ings in town. Big pieces of rock went
into the air in perfect shower, but
were covered and almost hidden from
view by the great mountain of foam,
TOUCHING 1T OFF.
Mary Newton, daughter of Gen, New
ton, whose baby fingers caused the ex-
piosion nine years ago, closed the KEY
which sent the current through the
wires and fired the mine. Gen. New
ton was slightly injured in the neck by
the explosion of q illuminate torpedo.
He claimed the honor of being the only
man hurt. In its appearance in the
sound and in the character of the
shock, the explosion to-day was much
like that at Hallett's Point, in 1875, ex-
cept that the upheaval of the water was
to-day far greater, both in extent of
river line which it covered and in the
height to which it rose.
When the explosion occurred, big
waves were sent swelling to the shore,
and vessels at the docks rocked and
tugged at the lines which held them.
When the water subsidized it was of
peculiar yellowish color, and an odor of
carbonic acid gas filed the air which
vas unpleasant to inhale. The crowd
on land and water cheered wildly and
waved their hats, and the steamers
blew their whistles. Nothing was left
of Flood Rock, save little pile of frag-
mentary stone, on which rested the
solitary derrick, wrested from its posi-
tion, and almost covered with the
ruins.
Scarcely had the seething mass of vel
)owsh sea become calm before steam
ers, tugs and row boats made for the
scene in an attemptto be the first to
cross the place where q minute before
lay one of the most dangerous reefs in
these waters. A stalwart oarsman in
little red boat was the first to reach
the spot, and his little boat bobbed up
and down in the boiling water. At
Flood Rock, where previously there
was only from four to five feet of water,
now is found from four to six fathoms.
1t was intended to buoy the place, but
Capt. Somers, of the lighthouse boat
John Rogers, found no necessity for SO
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