New-York tribune., 1886-01-17
SHAKEN UP BY DYNAMITE.
TERRIFIC EXPLOSION IN wEsTCHEsTER.
HOUSES sTIRRED AND WINDOWS BRoKEN-THoUGHT
BY MANY TO BE AN EARrHQUAKE.

BY MANY TO BE AN EARTHQUAKE
| The members of the Produce Exchange who live up
| the Hudson, but who stopped over" to hear
" Evangelue" at the Fourteenth Street Theatre on
Friday night, congratulated themselves on boarding
the cars on their way downtown yesterday morning
that they had by tnat means escaped AN earthquake
Produce men, real estate Dealers stookbrokers, aud
business men Of all kinds who string themselves along
the Hudson River, the New-Haven and the New-York
City and Northern roads, locke each other anxously
IN the faces they waited for the at their various
stations and exclaimed " Did you hear it P
Hear what P
1.-THE earthquake"
"Oh 60 on; you were at Evsngeline last night
II you had been bed and asleep like good Christian
you would have heard no earthquake Guess it was in
your hat. What's the size of your head"
These and similar kind remarks greeted many OF the
men who dared present the earthquake theory. Some
of the brokers positive that there had been one
however. One had been reused from heavy slumber
at 11:4O p m. bys loud sound others had slept
peacefully through II ALL II not until the veterans
in oas and reached Dobbs Ferry that their doubt
and incrcduty were put at rest. There they
told that at 113O o'clock of the night before large
AMOUNT Of dynamite had blown up at Ardsley on the
New-York City and Northern Railroad. three miles
back OF Dobbs Ferry, where Shaft No. IA Of the
aqueduct Is situated.
Adjacent TO tie shaft there was, before the
plosion low wooden structure eight feet by eight in
which 80 pOunds of dynamite were stored for use in
blasting in the aqueduct The dynamite, as Is custom
ary, kept in frozen state. Through one part OF
the magazine ran steam pipes hom an engine some
200 feet away. and these pipes some of the ex
plosiye had been placed to be thawed out preliminary
to use The ight shift at work IN the shaft.
Engineer William Gill and Time keeper Peck in
the engine house and lights visible here and there
in the OF the inhabitants scattered at varying
distances from the magazine, Suddenly terrible eX
plosOn heard, the earth rocked, stones heW anu
the people within short radius were thrown INTO
state Of cousternatior. The engine house swept
away If by magic and Only few pieces Of studdmg
and an occasional lett of 1t. Strange to
saw the engineer and the tmekecper were uninjnrcd
he shock felt throughout Nestchester County
and in Connecticut. Every window within mile was
broken and even at Iarrytown; four miles away the
crushing of glass took place. People who had retir d
jumped from bed those who were up rushed out OF
doors But they soon learned that, whatever the
cause of the sharp disturbance the sound was not re-
eated and those living within short distance OF the
OF the explosion soon ascertaned that the niue
egntby -ci ght wooden structure no more the ZOO
pounds of dynamite had resolved themselves INTO their
original elements. the steam pipes had retired from
sight. aud the stationary steam engine had hastily
and had distorted itself out OF all recognition
Instead of the solid rock on which the shanty bad
stood there hole twelve feet deep and thirty feet
In diameter.
SDirectly opposite whero the shanty had been there
had stood the frame house OF John Vincent Mr. Vim
cent and his family, consisting OF nine persons tor
tunatey had been passing the evening at the house OF
a friend Mr. Lawrence. On hearing the explosion they
hastcucd homeward and found that their lives had
been saved through thtir absence for the wi ole u
terror OF tie house lad been blown out leaving only
the roof and the sides standing. Tho house was
struck its gable end aud the whole interior
was swept ont at tho opposite ond Every
thing in the building smashed and rnined.
Nearby little further from the storage battery was
the boarding house OF Mrs Fox Every pane or glass In
10 broken Two boardors Barney Moran and George
Thonpson had 10 bed aud were asleep Their rest
breasts OF two doors and window frame which the
concuasnn caused 10 rs from their usual places Tue
men, nat Of bed scared than hurt Mrs. FOX
who wastn bod. was hit by n large stone which iew
torn from their fa-tepings. The Methodist
Church by badly shattered and the village
blacksmltn's shop demolished. There Is not a
whole building within mile OF the scene of the eXplo-
sion. ~ -
AT VT Vernon. twelve miles away. tho Athletic Club
were In their and felt tho shock. Tho jantor
down In terror to what was the matter AT
Sew Rochelle, three miles cast Of Nc. Vernon, yet
further up the sound II supposed that vessel had
exploded 10 the sound the explosion fe still more
at Mamatopcck Rye and Portchester; I'm the last pace
windows ratified and crockrry much shaken up.
ono 20 his basement thinking that burglars had
slammed n door there. AT Norwalk, stamford anu
Greenwich. Conn. the shock was tolt.
IN YOnkers Hastings D0bb- Ferry 1rvlng0n, larry
town. scarborough, Sing Sing CrOiOn Sufcrln, SpriEg
Valley, PermODt, Sparkill. Hayerstraw aud ROckdnd
Lake the shock heavy. one man In Croton was
wakened from heavy sleep and went searching Tor
gas explosion
Flanagan & Co. arc tho sub. contractors in blasting
under brown. Howard a Co. They estimate their loss
al 10000 It supposed that the steam pipes became
overheated and caused the dynamite to ekI Lode