Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1902-01-28
New York Is the Scene OF 4
Terrific Explosion In i
Tunnel.
THE POWDER LET GO
Reserve supply OF High Explosives
Stored 1T Park Avenue Entrance
to Tunnel Creates Havoc.
Eight Lives Pay the Penalty For
Somebody Eeekle >, ess and sa,t
Property Loss Incurred.

New York. Jan 2S.-The reserve
supply of high explosives stored al
the Park avenue shaft OF the rapid
struction. blew up yesterday after
noon. The giant blast killed eight
persons. injured a hundred others and
seriously damaged all the property
reached by the flying debris and the
vibration of the shock. The irregu
lar square formed by the Murray Hill
hotel on The west. the Manhattan Eye
and Ear hospital, and the Grand In
ion hotel on the east and the Grand
Central railroad station on the north
was the scene of the explosion. The
buildings named sustained the great
est damage, but the area affected ex-
tended for several blocks in the four
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 compa-
ny, and a prominent citizen in the
community where he lived. He is
said to have been quite wealthy.
The sunken approach to the street
railway tunnel used by the Madison
avenue line cuts through Park avenue
and the shaft for the rapid transit
subway was run down beside it at the
intersection of East 41st street. The
street railway approach was housed
over with q superstructure used for
the operating plant of the rapid tran
sit contractors. Temporary buildings
for storage purposes were thrown up
against the superstructure at the
mouth of the shaft, and there the ex-
pIosion occurred. 1t tore great
gorge in the street. demolished the
temporary buildings and part of the
superstructure, and sent mass of
earth, splintered timber and twisted
iron high In the air. Much of it went
battering against the front of the
Murray Hill hotel. and although the
walls and main structure of that build
ing stood the shock, nearly every
room in the house was wrecked.
The Manhattan Eye and Ear hospi-
tai on the east side of the avenue
Jared nearly as badly and had to be
abandoned by the management The
Grand Union hotel lost all of it's win
dows and glass partitions. and practi-
cally every front window in the Grand
Central station was shattered. The
great clocks on its front towers were
blown from their cases. Thousands
of windows. some of them seven
blocks from the tunnel and shaft. fell
fro
broken glass and falling debris that
injured the greatest number.
General alarms brought firemen. po-
lice reserves and every available am
bulance to the district and the injured
were speedily cared for. majority
Of the injured were treated on the
spot and the white-coated ambulance
surgeons worked for an hour in the
debris strewn street. Police lines
were thrown across either end of Park
avenue and across the intersecting
streets. Several times the police
cleared the street of people in front
Of the Murray Hill hotel. Torrents Of
water from broken mains poured into
he tunnel shaft while the wreckage
was being cleared from the street
railway subway II Was iStti Sd
hat the street might cave in.
The cause of the explosion and the
quantity of explosives that blew up
Are not definitely known. Several
,auses have been advanced. One was
hat fire started near the powder
'oom and that Master Mechanic VIM.
rubbs lost his life in a desperate at
empt to quench it before il reached
he deadly fuel 1t will probably take
In Official investigation to reveal the
rue explanation Several men who
we're very close to the shaft escaped.
while others hundreds of feet away
we're knocked down and injured.
District Attorney Jerome visited the
scene and made an investigation to
guide him in the official inquiry and
possible criminal prosecution thar will
'ollow. Ira A Shaler. engineer in
,harge of the work at Park avenue
John Bracken foreman. and Martin
AcGrath. an assistant foreman. were
placed under arrest and charged with
homicide. William Barclay Parsons.
chief engineer of the rapid transit
said that Shaler was one
Of the most competent and careful en-
gineers he ever knew.
The damage may exceed $1,000. 900
The first estate on the Murray Hill
hotel placed the loss al 500. $50. but
later the hotel was abandoned as I'M
safe IL the building is condemned
the loss on il alone will approach 81.
200 600. The damage to the Grand I'm
ion was estimated at $4,000 and that
TO the Manhattan hospital at SIS. 600.
The loss at the Grand Central station
was entirely in glass, as was that Of
the loo or more other buildings at
fected by the explosion No estimate
was made of the losses sustained by
the rapid transit contractors.