The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1902-01-31
PILE OF DYNAMITE G1S@.
Eight Persons Killed and a Hun
bred Others Injured In
New York City.
LARGE BUILDINGS BADLY DAMAsED,
Killed I'm Mis- Room NJ = Hotel
Lamp Posts Knocked Down and
Many Pedestrians Cut ~ Fiyins
Glass.

New York. Jan. 2s.-Thc reserve
supply of high explosives stored at
the Park Avenue shaft of the Rapid
Transit tunnel. now in course of con
struction, blew up shortly after noon
yesterday. The giant blast killed
eight persons, injured hundred 9th
ers and seriously damaged all the
property reached by the flying debris
and the vibration of the shock.
The irregular square formed by
the Murray Hill hotel on the vest.
the Manhattan Eye and Ear hospital.
and the Grand Union hotel on the
east, and the Grand Central station
on the north, was the scene of the
explosion. The buildings named sus
tanned the greatest damage. but the
area affected extended for several
blocks in the four directions from The
center.
j. Roderick Robertson. of Nelson,
B. C.. was killed by debris hurlc
with the force of artillery into his
room at the Murray Hill hotel. lie
was general manager in Canada for
| the British Columbia Gold Fields Co..
limited, and prominent citizen Iva
the community where he lived. He
was Scotchman and leaves a widow
and four children.
The sunken approach 10 the street
railway tunnel used by the Madison
Avenue lines cuts through Park ave-
nue. and the shaft for the rapid transit
subway was run down beside il at
the intersection of East Forty-first
street. The street railway approach
was housed over with supcrstruc-
ture used for the operating plant of
the rapid transit contractors. Tenn
porary buildings for storage pur-
poses were thrown up against The
superstructure at the mouth of the
shaft. and there the explosion oc-
street, demolished the temporary
buildings, and part Of the superstruc-
ture. and sent "A mass of earth. splin-
tered timber and twisted iron high in
the air. Much of il went battering
against the front of the Murray Hill
hotel. and although the walls and
main structure of that building stood
the shock. nearly every room in the
front Of the house WAS wrecked.
The Manhattan Eye and Ear hos
pital, on the east side of the avenue.
Jared nearly as bad and had 10 be
abandoned by the management. The
Grand Union hotel lost all Of its win
dows and glass partitions. and prac-
tically every front window in the
Grand Central station was shattered
The great clocks on its front tow
ers were blown from their cases.
Thousands Of windows. some OF them
seven blocks from the tunnel shaft.
fell in fragments. Ii was the shower
1T broken glass and falling debris
that injured the greatest number.
Fortunately, the explosion oc-
Cured al the noon hour. Not more
that a hundred persons were in the
main waiting room of the Grand Gen.
trail station. Some Of these were
slightly injured by bits of glass.
Four ticket sellers were cut abyu.
their heads and arms with the aying
debris.
The clerical force in the executive
Offices of the New York. New Haven
a. Hartford railroad, which occupies
the floor above the first. in the east
ern wing of the depot, were thrown
about by the shock. Chief Dis
patcher g. II. Wilson, and his four as
sistants, who were directing the
trains of the New Haven line. having
several hundred trains to look c.t
for. were scratched with Giving
glass, but did not leave their chairs.
even when they could not see .hcsr
instruments because of the smoke.
One man, Foster. who was watching
single track strip in Connecticut.
did not even get up to look AT thu
ruins after the smoke cleared away.
The station last night presente
somewhat the appearance of a dis
mantled castle. with the big win
dows only ragged holes.
bfDuRnA HItEltU.
police reserves and every available
ambulance to the district. A ma ior-
ity of the injured were treated on the
spot, and the white-coated ambulance
surgeons worked for an hour i'm the
debris-strewn street.
Police lines were thrown across
either end of Park avenue. and across
the intersecting streets.
The cause of the explosion. and the
quantity of explosives that blew ~
are not definitely known
added 10 the Overdue List.
San Francisco. Jan. 2s.--Se,erai
vessels were added 10 the oserdu.
list at the Merchants exchange YES
terday. The French bark Oliver d.
Gibson. 40 days out from Cayenne.
bound for san Francisco. Il quoted