The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-05-23
A FULL HARVEST OF DEATH.
A Package of Dynamite EXplOdes
Upon a Moving Train in
New York.
A SCORE OF MEN SENT TO ETERNITY.
The Victims Blown in Every Direction
and Many Into the Hudson
River.
Houses Shattered and Walls tracked
for Miles Around Large
Numbers Wounded
4 TERRIBLE EXPLOSION.
Nearly Twenty Men Killed and as Many
More Wounded.

More Wounded.
TARRYTowN. n J., May 10. There was
a horrible accident neal here today. by
which the loss of life is estimated at be
as many more. An engine and one flat
car were conveying a load of Italians and
twenty-four cases of dynamite, each case
containing fifty pounds. The Italians
were being taken to a section Of the road
where a third track was being laid. \
coil Of rope lay in front of the truck of
ing Holmes point, midway betecn larry
town and lrvington. a spark from the 10
motive ignited the coil of rope. The NOV
ing train famed the fire and before the
Italians realized their danger one of the
packages of dynamite exploded. William
Brannigar. engineer Of the derrick train.
happened to be 30 yards from the track
at the time. He tells the following
story:
when the coil Of rope set fire to the
first package of dynamite one Of the men
seeing it ON fire sprang off the fiat car.
He fell under the wheels and was killed.
The next moment there was a rumbling
noise; a dense cloud of smoke and a fly
ing mass shot up in the air. Before the
the explosion some Italians had tumbled
off and "A few saved their lives by so do
ing. The train had just about come toa
stop. Brannigan saw one man blown
fifty feet in the air. He fell into the
Hudson river. Another man was blown
over ON a bluff. Others were blown in
various directions. Several are supposed
to have been blown into the river. James
Niskcrn of lonkcrs was one of the gang
and went to Tarrytown to have his tools
sharpencd. The gang was then working
at Mount st. Vincent. While he was
away in Tarrytown the gang was moved.
When Niskern was returning from larry
town he saw the wreck made by the cX-
pIosion. He says he counted sixteen
dead men on the track and sixteen
wounded. He understood that twenty
men had been blown into the Hudson
river. Most of them were Italians.
George Hecker, 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. brakeman. was
Killed, j. Corners. conductor, was badly
injured, and was sent to his home at
Tivoli. Jimmie Garrison, a boy en-
ployed in carrying powder, was also
killed. John Mccarthy, time-keeper,
was killed. The others killed are all
Italians. 1t is o said eighteen in al
were killed. The names of the Italians
are not known. They are known only
by numbers. Twenty-Five men are in
jured. Among them was Tom Finnc-
gan, blacksmith and foreman, his leg
being smashed. Two bodies have been
been + out of the river.
No bod! knows how many more remain
there. lwo Italians who we're not killed
ny thceXplosions were SO badly frightened
thcy ran to the river and jumped into it.
They have not been seer since.
The waiting of the beautiful
new station in Tarrytown was turned
into a temporary hospital where all the
surgeons who could be gathered up one
rated on the sufferers. The wounded
men were stretched upon the
waiting room floor and there
ON" of them, an Italian died
floor after the removal looked
= H""r Of an ahattoir. Blood |?
abolt in great pools. As to the numb
Of men on the train, accounts differ,
Some say there were 3. The lowest cs
innate places the number at over 30.
Disston, the boss, thinks there were over
40, and, as a matter OF fact, the number
Of those blown either to atoms or into
the river is to a certain extent a matter
OF speculation. The train was torn to
atoms, railway tracks ripped from their
beds and a great hole dug out Of the
earth, blocking traffic on the railroad for
many hours. Up in Tarrytown, over
across the river in Nyack and
al up and down the stream it was terrific.
The ground trcmbled AS though in an
earthquake; walls Of several Tarrytown
houses were shaken and cracked and in
Tarrytpwn streets window glass fell in
showers u the sidewalk. Even over in
Nyack heavy pains of glass were smashed.