The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1904-09-27
KILLED IN TROLLEY CRASH |
Half a Score Dead and MANY More
Injured by Explosion.
DYNAMITE CAUSES DISASTER

Car Runs Into Box OF High Explosive in
Boston which Had Dropped From a
Truck Onto the Track Conclusion Felt
at Great Distance : Crowd Of Three
Thousand Gathers at Spot.
Boston, Mass BY the explosion of
fifty pound box Of dynamite under
a crowded trolley car in Melrose, a
suburb Of this city, six persons were
killed outright-among them woman
and her child three others received
fatal injuries from which they died in
the hospital and seventeen more were
severely hurt. The front part of The
car was blown to pieces and a huge
hole torn in the ground. Men stand
ing 100 feet away were knocked off
their feet by the force of the explosion
and windows were shattered for blocks
around.
The conductor of the car was Har-
ward student named Blanchard.
For more than two hours the history
Of the explosion was complete mys-
terry and popular fears in the neighbor-
hood approached panic, as the belief
grew that deliberate outrage had
been perpetrated. Late in the evening,
however, the police announced they
had made an arrest 1t was learned
fiftypound box of dynamite had fall
en- from an express wagon which had
passed along the street just ahead of
the car. Roy Fenton, the driver, had
not discovered his loss till he had gone
several blocks, and though ne retraced
his way as fast as he could the expl0-
sion occurred before he could reach the
spot and give warning of the danger.
He was within hundred yards of the
car when it struck the box, but was so
Mortified at the havoc wrought that he
followed his first instinct and fled
from the scene of the disaster of
which he had been the indirect cause.
The ear had left its terminal in Bos-
ton at 8 o'clock, and most of the pas
sengers were workingmen returning
to their homes in Melrose.
The collision occurred at Main and
Wyoming streets. Fortunately this
was near the end Of the cars run, for
while every seat was occupied when
the start was made from Boston, it is
known that many passengers had
alighted in Maiden and other residen-
tial districts through which it passed.
The crash of the explosion carried
news of the disaster all over Melrose,
and in an incredibly short space Of time
a crowd of fully 5000 persons had
gathered round the spot and swarmed
in from the adjoining streets All the
doctors in Melrose were called upon
to meet the emergency, and messen-
gers were dispatched to summon help
from Maiden and Medford. and even
from Boston The sight was appalling.
Men standing fifty feet away had been
injured by broken glass and flying tim
bers, and some of the dead and dying
had been hurled nearly as far. The
ground around was strewn with arms
and legs and other parts of human
bodies, and the crowd grew hysterical
as the police set about their grewsome
task Of collecting the dead.
One of the passengers of the car said
that it seemed as if the car was lifted
bodily in the air and came down with
a laundering crash, smashing to pieces
The paving stones beneath the car
We're ground into powder by the force
of the explosion and the car rails
curled up. The faces of all the passen-
gers We're blackened as If by powder
and the clothes of many were torn into
shreds. Several persons were pinned
beneath the rear trucks of the car and
1t took twenty-five or thirty men to
lift up the great portions and pull them
out. The front portion of the car was
shattered and blown in every direc-
ton, while the fender and front plat
from were hurled distance of fifty
feet.
i-s.