The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-28
SIX PEOPLE ARE KILLED AND
A HUNDRED INJURED BY AN
EXPLOSION
BLASTING MATERIAL WENT OFF
Murray Hill Hotel, Grand Central
Railroad Station and an Hospital
Almost Totally Wrecked by
Conclusion.
GREAT GORGE TORN IN STREET

| NEW YORK, Jan. 27.-The reserve sup
| ply of high explosives stored at the Park
| avenue shaft of the rapid transit tunnel!
! row in course of construction, blew UP
! shortly after noon today. The giant blast
killed six persons, 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 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 extend
| ed for several blocks in the four direc-
| tons from the center.
The Killed-Adams, Cyrus, cigar man
at the Murray Hill hotel; Carr, James,
| thirty-two years, waiter, employed at
the Murray Hill hotel; Hne, L., twenty
| eight, Of Ansonia, Conn; Robertson, j.
! Roderick, of Nelson, Is. c., a guest at
! the Murray Hill hotel; Thompson, r. H.,
assistant engineer tall outside reports
! seem to agree as to his death, but his
| body. is not reported by the police or by
| the hospita!s); Tubbs, Thomas, master
mechanic for Contractor Ira A Shaler.
! The list of injured is an exceedingly
| long one, but most of those in it have
/ only cuts caused by flying glass.
| ]. 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 man.
! ager in Canada for the British Columbia
| Gold Fields company, limited, and a
! prominent citizen in the community where
| he lived. He was a Scotchman, and leaves
! a widow and four children.
Big Blast Created Havoc.
! Temporary buildings for storage pur-
! poses were thrown up against the super
| structure 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 SUI
| perstructure and sent a mass Of earth
| splintered 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 trent OF
/ the house was wrecked.
The Manhattan Eye and Ear hospital
| Jared nearly as bad, and had to be aban-
| doned by the management. The Grand
| Union hotel lost all of it's windows and
| glass partitions, and practically every
| front window in the Grand Central sta
| ton was shattered. The great clocks on
| it's front towers were blown from their
| cases. Thousands 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.
Station Looks Like Ruin.
| Fortunately the explosion occurred at
| the noon hour. Not more than 100 per-
sons were in the main waiting room of
| the Grand Central station, though In
| the smoking room at the southwest
| corner a number of men were lounging.
| Some of these were slightly injured by
| bits of glass Four ticket sellers We're
| injured. They were all cut about the
heads and arms with the flying slivers
| The clerical force In the executive Of
| fee of the New York, New Haven &
| Hartford railroad, which occupies the
| floors above the first in the eastern wing
| Of the depot, were thrown about by the
| shock. A. t. Turner, a record clerk in
| Supt Shepard's Office, was thrown from
his chair and his hands were bay
/ lacerated.
In the next room to Turner's, Chief
Dispatcher g. H. Wilson and his four
assistants, who were directing the trains