Morning journal and courier., 1891-12-05
Destructive FIRE IN JERSEY CITY,

Destructive FIRE IN JERSEY CITY.
Ten Men Crushed by a Wall
In st. Paul
TERRIBLE BOMB EXPLOSION.
A Crank Makes an Attempt Upon the
Life of Russell Sage-The Bomb
| Threwer Instantly Killed - The
| Building Badly Wrecked-One Man
| Blown Though a Wfndow-Story
of the Affair as Told by Mr.. Sage
| The List of Killed and Injured.
NEW YORK, Dec. "A terrific explosion
occurred at 1920 o'clock to-day in the old
"Arcade" building at the southwest corner
of Broadway and Rector street, just across
the way from old Trinity's burying ground.
The building is brown-stone structure,
| five stories in height, with frontage of
| seventy-five feet on Broadway and extend
| ing back two hundred feet to Church
street.
The noise and shock were caused by q
dynamite bomb exploded in the Office of
| Russell Sage, the millionaire fnancier and
railroad magnate, who occupied rooms
Nos 3S and 80 on the second floor. The
| bomb was hurled by crank whose iden-
tity has not yet been definitely dertermin-
ed, but he is believed to have been d. D.
Wilson, residence unknown. Wilson de-
manded 100000 from Mr.. Sage, and,
being refused it and ordered from the Of
fee, took the bomb from a small gripsack
which he carried and flung it upon the
floor.
RUIN AND DEATH.
A deafening crash instantly followed;
walls and ceilings came tumb1ing down
| upon those in the offices; the windows of
| the building were blown out and across
Rector street into Trinity cemetery, and
| ruin and death marked the catastrophy.
| The building trembled to it's foundations,
rocked to and fro and seemed about to ut
| terly collapse. The floors seemed to rise
up and then to sink beneath the feet.
Panic reigned. Every Office in the struc-
| ture WAS emptied of its occupants in q
| trampled upon each other in their mad
haste to get down the stairways.
BLOWN THROUGH A WINDOW.
People close at hand saw a man blown
| through one of the windows of Sage's
Office into Rector street. Pedestrians pass
| ing the building at the time of the explo-
sion were thrown to the ground. The
noise was heard for blocks around, and
| people rushed from their Offices along
lower Broadway and Wall street and ran
bareheaded into the street to learn what
had happened. For few moments every
body in the vicinity was stunned, and
| then there was a rush for the building,
which was now enveloped in a thick cloud
of white dust which poured out from the
| broken windows. In less than five min
utes after the explosion Broadway and
Rector street were packed from curb to
curb with struggling mass of excited hu
| manity.
EXCITEMENT IN WALL STREET.
Probably never in the history of the
metropolis has an event occurred that for
the time caused more excitement in Wall
street and lower Broadway.
| Fully fifty thousand people were drawn
| to the scene and for an, hour the police
were powerless to bring order out of the
chaos. A fire alarm and an ambulance
call were Immediately sent out and both
were promptly responded to. A large
force of policemen were also soon on the
ground and formed fire line about the
building.
INJURED TAKEN TO A DRUG STORE.
Meanwhile the injured were being cared
for in O'Connells drug store, on the op-
posite side of Broadway. They all came
from Sage's Office. One of the first to be
brought to the store was Russell
Sage. He had CROPPED his way out into
| Shn Of tha nvrln and
was assisted down the stairway and across
the street. He had an ugly wound on the
forehead, from which the blood was flow
ing freely, several lesser lacerated wounds
of the head, and was suffering from shock
He was placed upon a lounge in the drug
store and his injuries were attended to.
By his direction dispatch was sent to DR..
J. P. Mum, the physician of Jay Gould,
who shortly was in attendance on Mr.
Sage.
Mr.. sAGE's STORY.
Mr.. Sage rallied quickly and was soor
able to tell the story of his mad visitor
He said that a man had called at his offc'
about noon and sent him card bearing
the name "H. D. Wilson," His clerk in
formed him.that the visitor desired to Sc,
him Immediately and he left gentleman
with whom he was conversing to go to tn
outer Office to see the stranger. The mai
told him he must have 100000 for i'm
mediate use Mr.. Sage, seeing that tn
, man was crank, began to temporize will
him.
IT want it right away" said the visitor
| "I have a lot of dynamite in this bag an,
if don't get the money forthwith I'll blo'
up the place"
9 Mr.. Sage thought this was mere bluster
a,,I %a1ls 4 hn 10 ort f11rn
go back to his private Office.
e ''Then I can't have itr said the man.
. "Well, here goes"
Il After that Mr.. Sage said he knew moth
ing until he found himself on the loung
in the drug store. After his wounds ha
been dressed and he had recovered SOM
what from the shock Mr.. Sage was take
home in cab.
POLICE SEARCH THE WRECK.
- The police cleared the building of a
persons and made search in the wrecke
Offices. The interior of the Offices Shove
the force of the explosion was somethin
terrific All the partition walls we
blown down and the sashes and windo
frames forced outward. The ceiling b.
been torn down and the floor forced dow
! ward, rendering it unsafe to walk O.
= Desks and chairs were overturned ar
8 hurled into an indescribable mass al
q every piece of glass in the big air-sha
q that ran to the roof was shivered in
81 myriads. Just inside the door of t
q general Office was the body of man. T
81 head was severed from the trunk. T
q man had had pointed reddish beard a
8 brown curly hair, and heavy moustact
3 The whole lower part of the body "
q shattered to pieces. The right arm "
j missing, as was the left leg. The renal
are supposed to be those of 81. D. Wilsc
/ who threw the bomb. He seems to ha
been the only person killed outright.
DIED AT THE HOSPITAL.
Benjamin F. Norton, who was bio
through the window, clerk in the of
. of Mr. Sage, was removed to Chamb
street hospital, where he died at L:
while under operation for a fracture
81 the skull His injuries consisted Of
OK fractured skull, burns on the face and
ii ternal injuries. He was a resident
-, Far Rockaway, L I. He was thirty-i
'oA years old.
: Reports which could not be verified
NTH creased the number of those killed.
X is was said young woman employed a.
q typewriter in Mr.. Sage's office had b
; to instantly killed and her limbs blown fl
pet, the body. There were also rumors o