New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-12-14
LAID TO PARKS MEN.
Continued from first page

was discharged Neither watchmen nor po-
licemen at either place man or men
about the buildings. The seemingly impene-
trable mystery surrounding the two explo-
sions is In keeping with other occurrences which
might have been fraught with serious con-
sequences, occurrences savoring of the ro-
mances of Balzac and Dumas. As in those
novels Of Balzac relating the mysterious means
whereby band of men, all powerful beyond
the reach of any arm OF the law. and a law
unto themselves rid the earth of those who
stood in their path. in the construction of
the Acker, Merrall & Condit building bricks
have fallen from dizzy heights. just grazing
the heads OF members of the Housesmiths'
Union loyal to the employers: ropes have been
cut on which mems lives depended: unseen
hands. like those in The Three Musketeers."
have removed the plug from the street gas
main. and chance only has prevented an ex-
plosion which might have blown all the work
men and the building itself to atoms
For time members of Parl1s's union worked
on this building with members of the new
Housesmiths' Union.
The first explosion took place at Fifty-sixth-st
and Broadway. where the white stone building
to be known as the Broadway Tabernacle is
going up about half an hour after midnight
Michael Lang, OF No. 3O8 West One-hundred-
and-fourteenth-st. the watchman, was just
going into his shanty on the Broadway side of
the building with armful of wood with which
to make fire. when he heard an explosion, ap-
parently in Fifty-sixth-st. TITS a boiler gone
up in the hotel" he said to himself as he hurried
out To his surprise he met a crowd running
westward from Seventh ave. to meet him, all
asking where the explosion was. He smelled
smoke. like powder smoke, in the street the
Fifty~sixth ST side of the church.
In moment the street was full of people
Two policemen, including Policeman Mackreu. of
the West Forty seventh-st. station, arrived on
the rum By common consent the church build
ing regarded as the scene of the explosion,
because the labor troubles 1t had been the
talk Of the neighborhood.
In a short time the architect of the building
Mr.. Barney. reached the scene. and. with the
Waterman and the two policemen. made a trip
through the building with a lantern. to see If
any damage had been done. They found moth
ing, and though detectives of the West Forty
seventh-st station made daylight examinations
they reported that they could find no sign Of an
explosion.
Lang declared that he had been awake and
about the place during the night and had seen
nobody. One man. who said that he had been
standing in Seventh ave-. declared that he heard
two separate explosions.
That the explosion at the church was not an
accident was indicated by the second explosion.
at 4:45 o'clock. at the Acker. Neral & Condit
building. This was severe enough to awaken
people in Forty-seventh-st.
Alexander Campariuo OF No. 344 East One
hundred-and-tenth-st the day watchnan, was
seated in small shed used for the storage of
tools. on the ground floor Of the building, the
steel framework of which only is standing.
His lantern. lighted. hung a peg near the
door,
az 4ha-a ~,
lifted the floor OF the shanty and threw him
off his chair. The glass chimney OF the lantern
vas smashed and the light blown out. Fright
ened out OF his wits, he ran as quickly he
coud along the planks to the street.
The Hotel Gardiner adjoins the new structure
on the east. Acker, Merran & Condit's barns
and buildings are on the other side. Mrs. Nc
Gee. proprietor of the hotel, and most Of her
guests not only awakened, but nearly
thrown out of their beds by the explosion A
young woman who occupies room in the
Forty -second-st. adjunct of the hotel saw the
bright light accompanying the explosion.
Three windows in the hotel were broken by
the conclusion. The damaged engine stood on
platform of thick planking ABOUT twenty feet
away from the watchmans shanty.
PIECE OF A FUSE FOUND.
Policeman Kelly and the Waterman at the
Acker. Merran & Condit building found a piece
of fuse which is supposed to have been at
tached to a bomb that caused the explosion
One end of the fuse had been burned.
There were no fragments Of bomb. or even |
scattered debris to show that the explosion took
place there, and only the reddening Of the
metal. as by hot fire. indicated anything of
the kind. The force of the explosion seemed |
to have been restricted almost entirely to this |
one spot. No damage done TO the wooden |
Lace Thao fT,O foot
apparently little in comparison, to the steel
few inches to one side. There was only one sign
of flying debris a radiating fracture Of the
glass in the steam guage on the smokestack
above.
EXCITEMENT IN PRIVATE HOUSES.
The explosion caused great excitement in the
private houses and hotels along the street. and
at the Hotel Cadillac it said that the guests
had been awakened by it. There was gather
ing of people from the streets near by and the
police hurried to the scene.
The contractors on the Broadway Tabernacle |
Building are c. A Cowen O. Co.
1t stated that at both places men from
the New-York Housesmiths Union No 1. had
been employed for some time. and that House
smiths and Bridgemen's Union, Local No 2,
had been trying to interfere with their work
The police made no secret of their opinion that
the explosions at the Tabernacle and at the
Forty-third-st. building had been the work of
the same person in both cases. Captain Handy
Of the West Forty-seVenth-st. station, with De-
tectives Tunney and Duckshre went to both
places in the afternoon, accompanied by In
Spector Murray of the Fire Department They
went through the Tabernacle Building from TOP
10 bottom, but found nothing to indicate that
an explosion had taken place there. They were
Inclined to believe that the explosion took place
outside the building.
The first explosion was set off while the