The sun., 1893-07-23
CRUSHED BY TONS OF ROCK.
1wo PERSONS KILLED AND sETERAB
HURT BY A BLAsT IN HARLEM.


Fnrnitnre nnd BuiidInx Wrecked by Dynn-
mite - The Contractors Take Flight.
A great ledge Of rock forty feet high fronts
the west side Of Fourth avenue between l22d
and 123d streots and runs westward some
200 feet on tho line OF these streets Tho diff
Guilty and cost Of removing the tons upon tons
OF rock has kept this block vacant many years.
All about II. however. are whole rows OF flats.
Grattin Lyman OF SO East 122d street owns
tho rocky lots facing on 1921 street. Last
June he employed Altlerl Brothers. italian
contractors. to clear the lots for building pur-
poses The contractors began operations
about the middle Of June with gang Of If
teen italian rock men. Dynamite was used In
the work. and the tenants OF the neighboring
flats have been fearing q disaster from the
blasting ever since the work was begun. Yes
terday the disaster came. Shortly after
o'clock blast was fired that was heard all
over Harlem and killed two persons instantly.
besides injuring many others. The victims are:
THE DEAD
PosKr MAR,x. aged 50 years. wife Of Francis Posey,
Jr. n letter carrier
Poskr. MAniE ApELS. Ased years. her daughter
THE INJURED.
0pAHAx, Alnsnr Of 1873 East listh street. sprained
ankle.
Laws MARY. bruised and face cut.
Lxwu, LApiE bruised and cut
McAp.N Mrs MARY. aged 28 years. skull fractured
spine injured body and limbs covered with bruises;
will probably die
Posrr AUSTIN aged 8 years bruised on body and
lmbA
Posrr. Ins.. aged 10 Year,. cut on face
PosEY RrGiS,Lr aged years. skull fractured and leg
broken; will probably die.
All except Albert Graham lived at 81 East
1921 street. This building is five STORY dou-
BILE FAT house. is one of row OF four flats.
oil Of which are occupied by the botter class
OF colored people. The owner Is John Kelly OF
205 East Forty-nth street.
The workmen had pursued their usual
course in leveling high lodges Of rock. They
drilled holes In a line with the face OF the
rock. charged them heavily with dynamite
cartridges. and fred the charges smulta-
neously with the object OF cleavinE of great
masses OF earth. which In turn were broken
up BY smaller charges. Yesterdays was tho
fourth OF the big blasts fired since the work
was begun.
No Ono knows how much dynamite was placed
in them. The effect was terrific.
Great masses Of rock weighing several ever ~ tons fns
rock from which they were disodgep. while
hundreds Of smaller pieces were hurled'aganst
Tho air was ilIled with dust and smoke until
e ws
that the wall OF the fiat house lnoked asif u
had been bomharded with artillery: Greet t
wall. and through the rents could be seen
debris piled in the rooms on the three lower
In the side wall Of the main building were
large one asoot three fesf sds
floor. .Briow this second opening was another
jnKged rent about two feet square.
aE n n
small bath rooms crowded lp between. and
The windows ot the three lower floors were
hSh and fT places s ten cet @ore none vide All
over the side wall OF the extension were rag
Gsa from tw9 roc to three Gss feet Il
FoI space sSSSt elShs feet high .. and !, three re
S making it highly probable that the rear OF
Weight wei Of the doris piled upon the Various
T%o dead victims were found W UPON the sec. .,
Marie Adele. The ,6at was, occupied by Mr..
and Mrs. FRANCIS IiI 81 rosey' sr'' and their son
When tho blast was fred Mrs: Posey WAS
anSH ne hor HdSsurhtsrs @ hand and tryins 10 peer
out to see 'he effect OF the explosion. Her
body was found crushed under huge, InGgod
Beside her lay her six year-old daughter Ma.
rle Adele. also dead. bruised from mead to feet
Y oven on the ni lar side Of the room lay her son
Reginald. aged years. unconscious. under a
pound. os fs HSs uuds ,Rs
rock ana would have been crushed like an egg
not Ne by
tuIed. and hesides. his leg was broken. He
VIII ptE,Gefroy fo.sS als srobor son arad ve.rs wa.
partially buried under a mass Of bricks and
publish. He was painfully bruised about the
IN In the Kitchen on the first floor lay another
MSAdams was 10 ~ the room room " when b 4 entered;
reason escaped instant death. she was most
severely injured When found she lay in a
Her skull was fractured, her spine injured. and
her body and limbs covered with bruises. She
tn on the third floor was another scene Of
strewn with bits Of rock and broken furniture.
Same. Tnsy were Blinded By the dust dust for
rstea .s Tss ~ sne area @ S q ooss aacrs
CHUNK Of rock, weighing hunLredso Of pounds:
able TO sSS te5 the dust Mar" called
Not much. came tho reply. and reaching
out her hand Mary sshspsShs ,h Sst1 her sisters and
body and limbs but not seriously hurt.
In the Hat Opposite the PossyE on the second
floor. eight-year old Houston McGse was max
Ing candy over the Kitchen fire. stone
badly. but McGee crawled out OF the wreckaGe
The injured we're taken to the Harlem Hos
pital
blast had caused, the contractors 1nmped Into Into
sfS%s sisHs se Ia sf %: tsst
the police reached the scene. The laborers
led IN MI directions. The police found
the placo and lock cd them up: The pris-
or4!c of49o East liSih street. Sinso Angelo. aged
45 years. OF lI2th street and tls4saRt aNe{Pns {,c
street. Emino Ferro. n.ed "a years, Of 415
East II l3th street, and Gioyani hanno. aged Is
years. OF I'm street and East River
Pietro. Altieri. the contractor was arrested
last night. He said that no had ordered his
foreman not to do any blssting after II o'eoek.
Then he had G gone away. and was iqst IT, return.
Building Inspector M T. Byrnes arrived