Omaha daily bee., 1891-05-20
DEATH DEALING DYNAMITE.
A Carload Of the Explosive Goes OFF Near
Tarrytown, N. Y.
CONCLUSION FELT FOX MILES AROUND.
List Of Killed Foots up Eightccn-Fivo
Bodies Blown into the Rivcy
Twenty-Five Badly
Injured.

TARRYrowN, N. Y, May 19.-Thoro was
horrible accident near here today In which
the loss OF life is estimated at between six
teen and twenty and the injured as many
more.
An engine and ono fiat car were conveying
load OF Italians and twenty cases OF
dynamite, each case containing fifty pounds
Tho Italians were being taken to q section of
the road where athird track was being laid.
coil Of rope lay in front of the truck Of tho
engine Just as the train was passing
Holmes Point, midway between Tarrytown
and lrvington, spark from the engine ig-
nited the coil OF rope. Tho moving train
famed the flames and before the Italians
realized their danger tho flames reached ono
OF tho packages of dynamite. One man
seeing the danger, spraug off the flat
car. He fell under tho wheels and was
killed. The next moment there was rum
bling noise, dense cloud of smoke and a
lying mass shot up in tho air. Before the
explosion some of the Italians had tumbled
off and few saved their lives by so doing.
One man was blown fifty feet into tho air.
He fell into the Hudson river. Another man
was blown over into the bluffs. Tho others
were thrown in various directions. Several
of them are supposed to have been blown
into the river
James Niskernall of Yonkers was at tho
scene of the accident shortly after It oc.
Cured, He says he counted sixteen dead men
on the track and sixteen wounded He un.
derstood that twenty had been blown into
the river. Most OF thom were Itali ans
George HelSer, the engineer of the train,
was cut on the head. So was Fireman
Leonard Pam. Pam also had three or four
ribs broken and he was badly shocked.
John Smith, b brakeman, was killed
John Corners. the conductor, was badly
injured and was sent to his home at Trivoli
Jimmy Carson, boy employed in carrying
powder, was also killed.
John Mccarthy, the timekeepcr, was
killed.
The others killed were all Italians. The
names of the Italians are not known. They
are known only by numbers.
Twenty-Five men are injured. Among
them was Tom Finnegan, the blacksmith and
foreman, his leg being smashed.
Two bodies have been taken out of the
river Nobody knows how many more re-
main there The two Italians who were not
killed by the explosion were badly fright
ened that they ran to the river wall and
jumped into the river. They have not been
seen since.
The waiting room of the railroad station in
Tarrytown was turned into temporary hos
pltal, where all the surgeons who could be
had operated on the sufferers. The wounded
were stretched on the waiting room floor and
one Italian died. The floor after their re-
moval looked like the floor of an abbatoir
The blood lay all about in great clots and
pools.
AS to the number of men on the train ac-
counts differ. Some say there was tifty-two.
The lowest estimate placed the number at
forty. Diston, the boss thinks there were
over forty and as matter of account the
aNf
river is to a certain extent matter of spccu-
lation.
The train was torn to atoms, the railroad
tracks ripped from their bed and great hole
many feet deep dug out of the earth, totally
blocking the traffic on the road for many
hours. Up in Tarrytown and across tho
river in Nyack and oil up and down the
stream the force of the explosion was ter
rife The walls of several Tarrytown houses
were shaken and cracked and window glass
few in showers to the sidewalks Even over
in Nyack heavy panes of glass were smashed.
The list of dead is now eighteen. OF these
thirteen are accounted for and the remaining
five are in the river. Gangs of men in boats
are now dragging the rive" for them.
Three of the ItaIiana died in tho Tarry-
town hospital after being removed from the
wreck. Ten bodies were picked up along the
track. while five were taken out of the water
About three minutes before the explosion
occurred the Chicago limited express, having
on board many passengers, passed this point.
In the high school of Tarrytown q portion
of the ceiling was knocked down and panic
ensued among the pupils. The teachers with
difficulty prevented stampede.