The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-01-28
A Hundred Others Injured
by the Blast.
THE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY is HEAVY
A Great Gulf Dug in Park Avenue,
Murray Hill and Grand Union Hotels
and Manhattan Eye and Ear Hos
pital Wrenched and Torn as by an
Earthquake. Official Investigation
May be Necessary to Determine the
Cause of the Explosion.
;ause of the Explosion.
(By the Associated Press. }

New York. Jan. 27-The reserve sup
ply of high explosives stored at the Park
avenue shaft of the Rapid Transit tunnel,
now in course of construction blew up
shortly after noon today. The giant
blast killed six persons, injured hun
dred 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 Hotel on the west, the Man
haitian Eye and Ear Hospital and the
Grand Union 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 several blocks in the four direc-
tons 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 Co
lumbia Gold Fields Company, limited.
and prominent citizen in the community
where he lived He was a Scotchman
and left widow and four children He
was said to have been quite wealthy.
The sudden approach to the street rail
way tunnel used by the Madison avenue
line cuts through Park avenue and the
shaft for the Rapid Transit sub way was
run down beside it at the intersection
of East Fortyfrst street The street
railway approach was housed over with
super structure used for the opera
tion plant of the Rapid Transit contrac-
tors. Temporary buildings for storage
purposes We're thrown up against the
Superstructure at the mouth of the shaft
and there the explosion occurred. 1t
tore a great gorge in the street, demol-
ished the temporary buildings and part
of the superstructure and sent a mass
OF earth. splntered timber and twisted
ircn high in the air. Much of it went
batterng 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 Hospital
on the east of the avenue Jared nearly
aa bad and had 20 be abandoned by the
management. The Grand Union Hotel
lost all of its windows and glass parti-
tiCns and practically every front window
in the Grand Central Station was shat
tered. The great clock on it's front
towers were blown from their cases.
Thousands of windows, some Of them
seven blocks from the tunnel shaft. fell
ia fragments. 1t was the shower Of bro
ken glass and falling debris that in
jnred the greatest number
General alarms brought firemen. police
reserves and every available ambulance
TO The district and the injured were
syccdily cared for. A majority of the
injured were treated on the spot and the
white coated ambulance surgeons worked
for IN hour in the debris strewn streets.
Pclice lines were thrown across each end
oc Park avenue and across the inter
sccting streets. Several times the police
cleared The street of people in front of
Tie Murray Hill Hotel. Torrents of wa
ter from broken mains poured into the
tunnel shaft while the wreckage was be-
ing cleared from the street railway sub
way and it was feared that the street
right cave in.
The cause of the explosion and the
quantity of explosives that blew up are
not definitely Known Several causes have
been advanced. One was that fire
started near the powder room and that
Master Mechanic, VIM. Tubbs. lost his
life in desperate attempt to quench il
before it reached the deadly fuel. An
other was that it started from spark
III oduced by a stray current OF electricity.
\ third placed the blame upon blast in
tho tunnoI Still another gave gas eX-
nlosion from electrical contact in the
trolley conduit of the street railway sub
way. 1t will probably take an official in
VI vsstigation to reveal the true explana-
ton. Several men who were very close |
TO the shaft escaped while others hun
dred5 of feet away were nocked down and |
seriously injured.
District Attorney Jerome visited the |
scene and made an investigation to |
guide him in the official inquiry and /