The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1902-01-31

supply of High Explosives Lets Go
Causing Great Damage.


New York, Jan. 29.-The reserve sup
ply of high explosives stored at the
Park avenue shaft of the Rapid Tran
sit tunnel, now in course of construc-
ton. blew up shortly after oon yes
terday. The giant blast killed six per-
sons. injured a hundred others 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 no.
tel on the west, the Manhattan y and
hospital and the Grand Union no.
tel on the east. and the Grand Central
railroad station on the north, was the
scene of the explosion. The buildings
named sustained the greatest damage
but the area affected extended for sew
eral blocks in the fou directions from
the center. j Roderick Robertson of
Nelson, b. c., was killed by debris
hurled with the
Force of Artillery
into his room at the Murray Hill hotel.
He was general manager in Canada
for the British Columbia Gold Fields
ihAhtSb oLio a
citizen in the community where he
lived. The sunken approach to the
street railway tunnel used by the Mad
ison avenue line cuts through Park
avenue and the shaft for the rapid
transit subway was run down beside
1t at the intersection of East Forty
first street. The street railway ap-
proach was houSed over with a super
structure used for the operating plant
of the rapid transit contractors. Tenn
porary buildings for storage purposes
were thrown VI against the superstruc-
ture at the mouth of the shaft, and
there the explosion occurred. 1t tore a
great gorge in the street, demolished
the temporary buildings and part OF
the su~perstructure, and sent a mass OF
earth, splintered timber and twisted
ron
High in the Air.
Much of 1t went battering against
the front of Murray Hill hotel, and al
though the walls and main structure of
hat building stood the shock. nearly
every room in the front Of the house
was wrecked. The Manhattan y and
a hospital, o. the west side of the
e n Jared nearly as bad, and had
to be abandoned by the management.
The Grand Union hotel lost all of its
windows and glass partitions and prac-
tically every front window In the
Grand Central station was shattered.
The great clocks on its front towers
were blown from their cases. Thou
sands of windows, some of them seven
blocks from the tunnel shaft, fell In
fragments. 1t was the shower of
broken glass and falling debris that in
jured the greatest number. General
alarms brought firenen, police reserves
and every available ambulance to the
district and the injured were
Speedily Cared For.
A majority of the injured were treat
ed on the spot and the white-coated
ambulance surgeons worked for an
hour in the debris-strewn streets. The
cause of the explosion and the quantity
of explosives that blew up are not
definitely known. 1t will probably take
an official investigation to reveal the
true explanation.
District Attorney Jerome visited the
scene and made an investigation to
guide him in the official inquiry and
possible criminal prosecution hat will
follow.
Ira A. Shaler, engineer in charge OF
the work at Park avenue; John Brack-
en-, a foreman, and Martin McGra.h,
an assistant foreman, were placed un-
der arrest and charged with homicide.
The damage may exceed 81, 600, 900.