The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-06-28
BLOWS UP Ills OWN HOME
John zeller, Of Ridgewood, N. Y, Dies
From Explosion.
Piles OF Dynamite Found In His Back
YaEd Marital Troubles :,
the Cause. ~

New York City.-With three big
sticks of dynamite John Zeller, a we'll
driver of 2s0 Cooper Avenue, Ridge
wood, blew up his house with his fam
lily and himself in it. Zeller is dead
and his son was placed in st. Mary's
Hospital. Mrs. Zeller, who was the
chief object of her husbands hatred
and for whose destruction the explo-
sion was perpetrated. escaped unhurt.
Domestic trouble was the cause OF the
tragedy.
For a long time Zeller had been
threatening to blow his wife, himself
and everything around to atoms.
Zeller's backyard was a veritable
storehouse for dynamite. A hole in
the ground twelve feet in diameter.
formerly a cesspool. vas found to be
full of the explosive. There was
enough. the police say, to blow>up the
entire town of Ridgewood. Zeller was
an expert in the use of high explosives.
Fhe house, a two-story frame dwell
ing. was completely wrecked.
Houses for several blocks around
were shaken BY the explosion. Their
window panes were shattered and the
inhabitants of the village thought an
earthquake was at hand.
Two weeks ago Zeller was arrested
on his wife's charge of attacking her.
Arraigned in the Flushing Police
Court, he was held for Special Sessions
under $500 bail. The bond not being
Forthcoming, Zeller vas taken to the
Queens County Jail in Long Island
City and locked up. How he got away
to come home was a mystery.
However that may be, he walked
into his house about 4 o'clock and de-
'clared that he was going to blow up
the whole place. AS he stood around
some time without putting his threat
into effect, though, Mrs. Zeller did not
regard his talk seriously.
Zeller's kitchen was used for kitchen,
Office and dining room. There was q
big range in the real of the room.
Zeller had a desk beside 1t, and next
to the desk was a big iron safe. There
was q dining table in the room. To-
ward the front Of the house were a
parlor and two bedrooms. The kitchen
adjoined a little rear hall, from which
a door led to the yard.
On the second floor Of the house lived
William Connolly, with his wife and
her mother, Anna Quinn. Mrs. Quinn
was alone on the top floor when the
explosion occurred. Connolly, a grave
digger, was busy at the cemetery,
which is just across Cooper Avenue.
After some talk Zeller said: "It's all
up with US now, and we'll all go up to-
gether."
A minute later there was a terrific
explosion. John Zeller, Jr., who is
twenty-five years old, was blown
through the door leading into the hall
and crashed into the second door that
opens out into the yard. Mrs. Zeller
was blown through a window, but was
not badly hurt. She found herself in
the yard after the shock. .
Zeller's lifeless body was under the
wreckage. One of his arms was blowui
off. He probably died instantly. Over:
his body was piled the wreckage Of:
furniture, wall ornaments, the range,
and the table. :
The partitions between the rooms on,
the ground floor were blown entirely,
out. The top of the range went through
one partition, and landed in the front
room. .
A board from the dining-room table
was found Embedded in the dead mans
side. and the rest was out in the yard.
He had a glass eye, and it was found
several feet from the bag.
The kitchen closet was filled with
crockery. This was blown up through
the ceiling and landed in Mrs. Con-
nelly's rooms above.
Mrs. Quinn, the mother-in-law OF
Connolly, was thrown against the wall.
but she was not hurt. The Connelly'S
apartment was wrecked nearly as com
pletely as the one below. Chairs were
blown through the ceilings OF the up
per floor. After the explosion there
was not a piece of plaster four inches
square anywhere in the house.
The explosion aroused the police
there, and the captain sent out every
available man in reach Of his call.
Lewis Engel, a patrolman, took charge
of the wrecked house.
Mrs. Heller was more concerned. as
she frankly admitted, over the validity.
of her fire insurance policy than over
the death of her husband. He had
treated her badly always, she said. and
she was glad he had made a good job
of it,"
The explosion caused a great deal Of
excitement in Ridgewood, which Is in
Queens just over the Brooklyn line.
The police notified the Bureau OF
Combustibles and officers Of that de-
partment took charge Of the explosives.
Zeller's body vas taken to StenSer's
Morgue. John Zeller, Jr., was taken
to the hospital.