The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-12-16
BLOWN TO ATOMS.
Explosion of Tugboat's Boiler at
New York.
Everybody on Board the Craft In
stantly Killel

The recent blowing up of Flood Rock at
He'll Gate, New York city, was a terrific
spectacle, but an explosion on a tugboat near
the same place the other afternoon was much
more terrible in its effects. From the metro
po.itan journals We gather the following par
t%iculars:
The tug Dorie Emory, of Hoboken, began
at dusk to make up q tow to 60 to Rondout,
bv hauling out from Candee q Smiths dock
a5 tine foot Of East Sixty-third street, an
empty brick scow. Half a dozen men were
OH the scow, and as soon as the tug headed
down stream, against the tide, sat
down in the hold to eat their supper. The
TUG was to pick up another scow at Fifty
third street, and kept within 400 feet of the
New York shore. She had reached Fifty
ninth street at about 5:335 P. NJ, and was off
the bluff known as Riverview Terrace, when
she blew ND with a report that persons at the
Charity hospital on Blackwell's Island say
was much louder than the last He'll Gate ex-
ploSion.
The upper works OF the tug appeared to
leave her suddenly and the hull spread.
There was a momentary glare, a long shock
with a sort of lull in the middle, and up went
a column of smoke and steam 700 or sou leet
in the air is straight as a rocket. With the
column went all sorts Of wreck, and some
say they saw one man who moved
his limbs in the air. Then a wreckage
began to fall over all area which extended
from First avenue to near Blackwells Island,
and for many blocks up and down the river;
Most of the debris was small and pattereo
like hailstones in the streets and on roofs,
but loud thuds and crashes told Of larger
pieces falling on houses and pave
ments and in yards. The smokestack
and part CT the steam pipes were thrown on
the rocks at the foot Of East Fifty-eighth
street and the shore was strewn with al!
sorts of w~reckage. Few windows remained
unbroken on River View terrace, and in new
houses south Of it, which are known as River
View, and hundreds Of panes of glass were
broken in thu neighborhood of Avenue A
and Fifty-eighth street. which Is KNOWN as
Sutton place.
Within a very few minutes 5000 persons
were at the river front or on their way there,
and within a quarter of an hour four times
that number were on the shore or on the ter
race in front Of which the explosion
took place, peering into the darkness.
Police Captain Gunner and a section
of policemen went to Fifty-eignth
street at the double quick. When
the tug blew up Pilot McAvoy was steering
the steamboat William H. Wickham across
to the island. He made quickly for the scow,
"llCu was IL lloiuS hoiPASooAy pow ASSAON
over, toward Sixtieth street. Her bows were
shattered, but those on board cried out to
him that none of them were hurt, but that
six men on the Dorie Emory had persisted.
There was not a trace Of the tug to be seen
on the water except here and there a piece Of
timber. Making fast to the scow, Captain
McAvoy waited until the Cornell tug Crosby
came along and took her in tow. The men
on the scow. although she was making water
fast, declined t. leave her, with the exception
of one who went in the William H. Wick
ham. In the meantime at least thirty craft
had gathered around, and the water was
patrolled in every direction to dis
cover those who were IN the
tug when she blew up. No trace was found
except some receipts and billheads.
When the damage done On shore was in
vestigated it was found that, although no one
was hurt. hundreds had had narrow escapes
in the streets and in houses. A timber which
two men could hardly lift fell at Fifty eighth
street and First avenue, making a dent in the
pavement. Pieces OF iron and timber were
distributed promiscuouslv through the streets,
and many windows were shattered.
Five or six men-the captain, engineer,
fireman, cook and observation-disclosures ON the
tugboat ut the time of the explosion, and not
a vestige Of any Of them, alive or dead, could
ba found