New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-12-03
BLOWN UP BY DYNAMITE.
FIVE LIVES GONE IN A TwINKLING.
AN EXPLOSION NEAR HAvERsTRAw WRECKS
DYNAMITE FACToRY-THE SHOCK
FELT MILES AWAY.
.BY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE,

| A DYNAMITE FACToRY-THE SHOCK
| FELT MILES AWAY.
| .BY TELEGRAPH TKIBUNE.i
Haverstraw. Dec "a tremendous explosion of
dynamite this afternoon in the Clinton Dynamite Com
pany's works. about two miles south Of this place,
caused the death Of five who were employed there
At about 90 p. m. the people in the village were
startled by loud explosion, which shook the ground
| and ratified the windows in the houses. The sound
came from the dynamite works, from which a thick
cloud shot up. crowd OF people at once hurried to
Che and found that two OF the buildings had been
blown almost to pieces and another the boiler house.
was in flames Two men were found on the beach,
dead; one with the top OF his head, broken In, the
| other bearing no marks OF the explo ion.
II wild OF disaster and rle sight slckened
the onlookers. Out Of ten buildings scattered
several acres, six still standing. The explosion
Occurred in the gelatine packing house. in which were
stored 800 pounds OF the explosive Joseph Williams,
| workingman, and Petro Casaria and Giuseppe Bir-
gonsi, Italians, were in the building packing the
dangerous substance, and John Wadsworth fireman,
John DOndiro, an italian boy and John Farrell and
william Mott boys, in the boilerhouse about 200
| feet away. Perry Lonsbery, a Peekskil fisherman,
who had been fishing in the river for bass had just
landed at the Dynamite Works 10 get drink of water
and was coming up the beach. Elmer Nash the fore
man, had gone out the pier to examine the stock
OF acids which stored there. Schooners sailed by
slowly over the peaceful waters, and only the distant
shrek Of the locomotive disturbed the quiet Of the
| fall afternoon.
Suddenly fearful explosion broke the stiffness Of
| the scene and at once the air filled
with timbers and the bodies Of men. The body Of
| Williams few from the packing house and
| landed heavily on the beach. piece Of
timber struck the head Of Lonsbery, the fisherman,
| as he turned to and crushed In his skull. lie
fell in hs tracks, and never moved again. The fore
man stood rooted to the spot in horror; the boys ran
out OF the north door OF the boiler house. and The
| fireman, wadsworth. dashed out Of the south door,
AS he rushed for the beach the powder house, which
contained 800 pounds of giant powder was seen TO be
on fire. The next instant it went up in flames with
| a deafening roar, and Wadsworth vanished. all
that was found of him aferward being his left arm,
which was identified by the absence Of the little finger
The boer-house and the two wrecked buildings, al
frame houses Immediately caught fire and were en-
| Hrely destroyed.
| Nash, the foreman, and the three boys were too
much horrorsrcken at first to move, and, indeed, for
several minutes they did not dare to- as they feared
that the boiler would burst. This additional calamity
was happily averted as the explosion had torn the
! MANTLE the covering Of the boiler, which allowed the
| steam TO escape without doing any damage.
The foreman, who had narrowly escaped being killed
by flying timbers, and the boys, who were the only
other survivors Of the disaster at last took courage
to approach the wild scene and John Donders was at
once sent To inform Coroner Thomas J. McCowan, OF
| the accident Mr.. Mciowan who had heard the ex-
plosion and surmiscd that his presence would be re-
qured did not wait p be sent for but at once drove
down to the works. reaching there twenty minutes after
| the explosion took place.
immediately went to WORK, with the assistance OF
the who had by that time arrived on the scene.
10 care for the dad bodies of Williams and the
fisherman placed In one OF the vacant bu1idngs
| and a hunt begun for the other victims. An arm
| was found which the foreman identified as Wads-
| 80 hnd found
over the grounds and on the mountanside
The coroner gathered the remains of the Italians and
| Wadsworth and put them into bag. lie then took
| the body of Williams to the dead mans home and
took the other bodies to the undertaking. shop. The
| inquest will be held tomorrow. No effort was made
| to save the burning boiler-hOuse.
Wadsworth and Williams were married and had
families in this place. Bergen had just married and
was also living In this village. Casaria was also mar
| ried, but his widow is in Italy, 1t is not
| known whether the Peekskl fisherman was married
| or not. They were all respectable, Woodworking
men and their sudden end has spread feeling OF sad
ness and gloom the entire town.
The owner of the dynamite works is W. p. FOss, OF
this place. He began the manufacture Of dynamite at
SnedekeT's Landing, the Of the explosion about
five years ago. He successful and did large
business He said last night that the loss was about
$4,000, but that it was mere nothing under the
circumstances. TIE regretted the accident exceed
Il
.ster Elmer Nash the foreman of the works. when
seen last night by Tribune reporter had not recov-
cred from the effects Of the scene, and could give no
explanation of the cause Of the accident. lie said
the men were strictly forbidden to smoke near the
| buildings or to have lights OF any kind, and he
Thought that none OF the three men who were In
the packing house at the time of the explosion had
disobeyed the order
Mr. Nash said that he had just turned to walk of
| the pier when the deafening roar came. T1mbers
and other portions of the packing house were sent
400 feet into the air. Pieces of timber flew past his
head one Just missing him he lodged the flying
fragments. lie saw that small quantity OF dynamite
that had been stored in the powder house had caught
fire and knew that In moment the $500 pounds OF
powder would explode but the building was between
him and safety he had TO stand and await the ex-
ploson which he knew sure to follow He saw
Wadswoyeh running out OF the boilerhouse toward the
burning building and had opened his mouth TO
mighty roar, the magazine Of giant powder exploited
and the unfortunate fireman disappeared as II he hd
sunk into the ground 1t was "a fearful scene, inc
foreman said and made him sick at heart, as
LOisbeFy knocked Nfeless by umber ,
The Shock caused by the explosion was felt through
ont a wide extent of territory. At Wmte fIalns,
eighteen miles away, where two heavy reports were
heard and the earth trembled, people believed there
had been an earthquake. Women ran cut OF their
honses and schoolchldren frightened by the
a, fhe lease OF the Clinton Dynamite Company ex-
,i,es an April / next Mr.. FOss will not erect new
buildings. The families OF the DEAD men are htart
broken The neighbOrs doing everything In their
DnUep IN relieve the distressed widows and children
md there is talk of starting fund for the families
$