Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-05-29
DYNAMITE DISASTER.
Frightful Explosion of Blasting
Powder OF the Hudson.
A Car Containing Thirty Laborers
Blown to Atoms.

drawn by a construction en- yine was bIewn
TO atoms shortly before noon a few days go
at place about one and quarter miles
south of Tarrytown, Y. N.,oH the New YORK
Central and Hudson River Railroad. A
gang of workmen, chiefly Italians, were o,
the car. and Of the number thirteen were
killed, ten were injured and five, on the day
after the tragedy were missing. It wsS
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
identified. Some of the injured OF the
same nativity have been recognized. Three
of the wounded were taken to local hos
pital at Tarrytown; the rest were brought to
Bellevue Hospital in New YORK City. where
they are being properly cared for.
Had the explosion occurred while heavily
loaded passenger train was passing the work
train the loss of life might have been still
more appalling. No trustworthy lnfOrma-
ton was obtainable the day following the &C
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 lnexpiicabie way
one or more of these caps was lgnlteI, caus
ing the explosion.
A portion Of the track was torn up and
traffic on the read was temporarily Sus-
pended. No damage resulted to surrounding
property beyond the breaking of Il 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
Carthy, timekeeper. twenty-five years old,
North Tarrytown. Frank Morris, water-boy,
eighteen, Tarrytown, blown into the river.
John Smith, brakeman, thirty-two, Sing
Sing. blown into the river. LucinO Rain
iere Iaborer. Rqffallo Taniccarle, laborer.
Hito Scaceite, laborer. Seven Italians,
names unknown thrown in all directions and
badly burned, but not much mutilated.
The train consisted merely of an engine,
driven by George Herrick and a fiat car, IN
charge of John COnnOrs conductor. On the
car T~ere twenty-fOur cases OF AJAX powder,
loaded at LudlOW's, and intended Tor use III
blasting away the rock for third track just
below the station at TarryJown. About
thirty men were aboard, mostly Italians who
were to do the work Besides Connors and the
Italians there were J. Smith, the brakeman;
Edward Finnegan, the foreman or the gang,
and Frank Morris. the water-ooy. At
Hoge's Point the road makes sharp bend
and a hagman is stationed there, where he
can watch the track ill., both directions.
''Gus' Deerman was on duty and was
watching the train as it approached nm,
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, VINO ran toward the Italian. Be
fore he could reach him and while the train
was scarcely 100 feet away he heard tel
rife explosion. Looking back, he saw the
air filled with smoke. dust and lying debris
of all kinds. The powder had in some way
ignited and the car, engine, tender, pasSen-
gers and even the roadbed, were blown sew
eral hundred feet in all directions.
The fash of the explosion was plainly seen
from the station at larry GOWn, about one
mile distant, and Officer Smith, who was on
duty there, John A. Liant editor; David
Whalen, brakeman, and hundreds OF 9TH
ers rushed to the spot. They found the
rOadbed blown out for a distance OF twenty
or twenty-five feet, rails twisted into ell
sorts of shapes, the car almost completely
annihjlated, and the bodies Oh the victims
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-quarters of a 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 Nossiter
They saw dead OF wounded men lying
everywhere. Fifty feet south of the spot
where the explosion had occurred was
pile of human bodies tangled togetner,
legs and arms and heads sticking out Of the
pile here and there. Near by was another
pile but not SO large 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 lmpaled, 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
and groaning and begging to
be put out of their misery The ground for
200 feet up and down the track was wet
with blood. The had disappeared.
Only a bit of it hung over the stone en-
bankment along the shore. The brake head
on which Brakeman Cullen had been sitting
was there and uniniured. 1t was not even
bent, while the heavy steel rails were twisted
into understandable 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
pond was missing for 300 feet. The river
and the pond were full of floating debris.
MISS ALICE PARKER attorney at law OF