Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-01-30
THE DISASTER IN new w
Six Persons Were Killed a
One Hundred Injured.
DAMAGE ONE MILLION DOLLA
Hotel and Hospital Wrecked
the Explosion.



ply of high explosives stored at W. N
Park avenue shaft of the Rapid Tran aS5S1
tunnel, now in course of Construct 4 III 4
blew up shortly after noon YESTERDAY 4S III
The giant blast killed six perso5 N
injured 100 others and seriously dar At 81
aged great deal of property reacl4 3 n n
by the flying debris and the vibratj sss9a
Oh the shock. 1SstSs.
:, no !'IeRuiu5 llire formed ny tanS1l
Manhattan Eye aud Ear Hospital atrsssl
the Grand Union Hotel on the east Al "a X
the Grand Central railroad station 5rs5Is
the north was the scene of the aka14
plosion The buildings named en- mFsi1 8
tanned the greatest damage, but h ;5fH
area affected extended for blocks mn
the four directions from the cpntp Sssss,]
some persons feeling the shock near VI IN
half mile away. Hraf5
j. Roderick Robertson of Nelso, 'Sl3E
B, g., was killed by II huge piece case2
rock hurled with the force Of artiilir t,irt I
into his room at the Murray M fa9f't.
Hotel, crushing his head. He was rcr 8dcids
eral manager iii Canada for the Britis iurY.
Columbia Gold Fields Co., Limited rnve
prominent citizen in the communicates
where he lived, and is said to haVF Et'
been wealthy. He was ScrtchTm thel5
and leaves widow and four chillre, wlaf{
There were about 500 guests il n pe6rI
front rooms of the Murray Hill Hot w&s}'
at the time of the accident. Az m nY1}f
windows of the hotel were broken mi afst
many OF the guests were injured ia tts4 n
flying bits of glass. x34is
The sunken approach to the sreA faAfk
railway tunnel used by the Madison kNH!}
avenue line cuts through Park ayrnup t4,fd
ard the shaft for the Rapid Transit 4ian
subway was run down beside il al Ma nlfjf
intersection Of East Forty first street. hi II
The street railway approach was houssd t67Ta
over with a superstructure used for lao 5tzrh
operating plant of the Rapid Transit t&tai
con trartors. 3ffr
Temporary buildings for storage nun s9ft
poses were thrown up against the SUI 4}8
erstructure at the mouth of the shalt 1at !
and there the explosion occurred II f9nl
tore a great gorge in the street DE- stab
molishcd the temporary buildings and Whel
part OF the superstrGcturc, and sent sfab
mass of earth, splintered timber and yhh
twisted iron high in the air. Much awitn
this went battcring against the fr.nt shA
OF the Murray Hill Hotel, and although hfsSs
the walls and main structure If tae il u
building stood the shock nearly every NJ h
room in the front of the house wai g III
wrecked Iis
The Manhattan Eye and Ear Hos liel
pital, on the east side of the avenue, ~ 4
fared nearly as bad and had to b yfte1
abandoned by the management TN ION
Grand Union Hotel lost all a. its win aote
dowS and glass partitions, ana prat she
tically every front window III tlc nm
Grand Central station was shattered ne
The great clocks on its front towers Ae
were blown from their cases. hai
Thousands of windows, some of them mi
seven blocks from the tunnel shalt, inn
fell in fragments. 1t was the shower hei
OF broken glass and falling debris that nQl
injured the greatest number, or
fortunately the explosion occurred }aq
AT The noon hour Not more tAan i1 fehl
persons were in the main waiting room difl
OF the Grand Central station though lpcB
in the smoking room, at the southwtstesf
corner, number of men were loung lnai
ing. Some of these were slightly hur+wael
by bits of glass. Four ticket 5eloFseelt
were injured. They stood in the path in II
way of the blast and were all cut lhuutthe
inc heads and arms with the fl!ingmar
slivers. he
The clerical force in the executive He
offices of the New York, New Haven the
Hartford railroad which occupy tpohtn,
iioors above the first, in tho oasttraa lle
wing OF the depot, were tossed lb5u,ntaas
by the shock. r, Turner, record 9f
clerk in Superintendent Shepard M MY
ounce, was thrown from his chair, and pue
his hands were badly lacerated neS
IN the room next to Turner's, Child tisnnl
DISPATCHER g. II. Wilson and his fol VIZ
assistants, who were directing Tie mo-
trains Of the New Haven line, having 81
several hundred trains to look Out toS i ~
We WI scratched with flying glass, bai nr
ga not leave their chairs, even wiM
Suey could not see their instrumcnH i LII
heeanSe Of the smoke. One man, Nh w
roster, who was watching a single "
track strip in Connecticut, did 49,
even gel up to look at the ruins after ~
the smoke cleared away. wv ~,
Inc station presents somewbat tie I'll
appearance of a dismantlcd castlcs&@ HIS
she big windows looking like ragged eeall''
holes in the wall. s21l
General alarms brought fircr,an tnt
police reserves and every availGtn t ss
ambulance to the district and the n- III viis !
3nred We're speedily cared for. 4 Ma. tua5,
jority If the wounded were treated "a MI
the spot, and the wbite-cnated ainha ~
lance surgeons worked for an hour ii W.
the debris-strewn streets. Pol;cc lines ~.
We're thrown across each and II Fall nls
avenue and across the intnrscctine Wy
streets, Several times Tia unIic, Pig
cleared the crowds from thn street in tet
front Of the Murray Hill Hotel Tor. ~
rents of water from tho i,roissn mains H.!
spurred into the funnel shaft while pH
the wreckaga was heinG rlasre,I from Ne rs,
the street railway snhwsy and n WAS NJ
feared that the street might cave in. fa|