Passaic City record., 1891-05-21
DYNAMITE DISASTER.
Frightful Explosion of Blasting
Powder on the Hudson.
A Car Containing Thirty Laborers
Blown to Atoms.

~
drawn by construction engine was blown
to atoms shortly before noon a few days ago,
at place about one and quarter miles
south of Tarrytown, N. Y.,on the New YORK
Central and Hudson River Railroad. A
gang of workmen, chiefly Italians, were OF,
the car, and of the numhW. thirteen wers
killed, ten were injured and'tive, on the dag
after the tragedy, were missing, 1t was
thought that the bodies of the latter wee
thrown into the river. Efforts were male
to recover them. The bodies OF several OF
the dead Italians have neither been claimed
nor identified. Some of the injured of the
same nativity have been recognized. Three
of the wounded were taken - a local hos
pital at TaIIytown; the rest were brought TO
Bellevue Hospital in New York City. where
they are being properly cared for:
Had the explosion occurred while heavity
loaded passenger train was passing the WorS
train the loss OF life might have been sull
more appalling. No trustworthy Informs
ton was oStainable the day following the ac-
cident as to the direct cause Of the explosion.
The most intelligent theory advanced. how
ever. is to the effect that Illuminating caps
were carelessly loaded with the dynamite
cartridges, and that in some mex xpilcabie way
one or more of these caps WAS lgnlted, caus'
ing the explosion.
4 norton of the track was torn up and
traffic on the read was temporarily sus-
pentied No damage resulted TO surrounding
property bayond the breaking of & few panes
of glass, though the report of the explosion
was heard many miles from the scene ON
both sides of the river. -,
Following is a list of the dead, John Nc
Carthv. timekeeper. twenty-five years old,
North Tarrytown. Frank Morris. water-boy,
eighteen, Tarrytowp, blown into the river.
John Smith, brakeman, thrty.two, sing
Sing. blown into the river. Luclno Rain
iere Iaborer. Raffalle Taniccarle, laborer.
Hito Scaceite, laborer. Seven Italians,
names unknown, thrownfn all directions ana
badly burned, but not much mutliated.
The train consisted merely OF an engine,
driven by George Herrick. and fat car, IN
charge of John ConnorS conductor. On the
car were twenty-four cases of Ajax powder,
loaded at Ludlow's, and intended for use IN
blasting away the rock for a third track just
below the station at Tarrytown. ABOUT
thirty men were aboard, mostly Italians, WAC
were to do the work. Besides Connors and the
Italians there were J. Smith, the brakeman;
Edward Finnegan, the foreman of the gang.
and Frank Morris. the water-ooy' AT
Hoges Point the road makes sharp bend
and a faeman is stationed there, where ne
can watch the track in both directions.
Gus Deerman was on duty and was
watching the train as it approached MN,
when he saw an Italian jump off. The man
struck on his head and was thrown some
distance on the rebound.
The train kept on its way and passed
Deerman, who ran toward the lta! Ian. be
fore he could reach him and While the traih
was scarcely 100 feet away he heard ter
rife explosion. Looking back, he saw the
air filed with smoke, dust and flying deorls
of all kinds. The powder had In some way
jgnitei, and the car, engine, tender, passen-
gers. and even the roadbed, were blown sew
eral hundred feet in all directions.
The flash of the explosion was plainly seen
from the station at Tarrytown, about one
mile distant, and Officer Smith, who was on
duty there. John A. Liant, editor; David
Whalen, brakeman. and hundreds OF oth-
ers rushed to the spot. They 1ouna tne
roadbed blown out for a distance of twenty
or twenty-five feet, rails twisted into sll
sorts of shapes, the car almost completely
annihilated, and the bodies or the Vlctlnls
strewn all about.
Five minutes after the explosion the smoke
cleared away. At least it had all blown out
over the river. A few minutes later the work
men who had been cutting stone by the track
three-ouarters of mile north came running
up. They had recovered from the shock. Peo-
pie from the Tarrytown station came, too,
headed by Chief of Police Charles Nosslter.
They saw dead or wounded men lying
everywhere. Fifty feet south of the spot
where the explosion had occurred was
pile of human bodies tangled together,
legs and arms and heads sticking out OF the
pile here and there. Near by was another
nile. but not so large as the other.
Two bodies fioated in the river 100 feet from
the shore. The steam escape valve on the
top of the engine held one body impaled, the
arms and head hanging on one side and the
legs on the other. The ground was covered
with bits Of clothing and pieces OF flesh.
Some of the wounded were lying one on
top of another. shrieking for mercy
be put out of their misery. The ground for
200 feet up and down the track was wet
with blood. The car had disappeared.
Only bit of it hung over the stone EN-.
bankment ale ng the shore. The brake head
on which Brakeman Cullen had been sitting
was there and uninjured 1t was not even
bent while the heavy steel rails were twisted
into indescribable shapes and broken.
The ties for the length of two rails were
missing. There was hole fifteen feet across
in the ground where they had been. The en-
gine stood dismantled. A piece of sheet iron
was all that was left of the tender The
wheels even had disappeared. One steel axle
four inches in diameter, which had been
snapped in two, was lying on the ground
near the hole.
A piece of wheel was fast to the end of it.
The cab of the engine had been torn off and
had disappeared entirely. The smoke stack
and pilot were gone. About all of the ex-
terror machinery that remained intact was
the safety valve with the impaled man.
Two telegraph poles had been knocked
over into Hoes Pond, and the wires dangled
in the water. The fence which had sepa-
rated the company's property from the
and the pond were full of floating debris