The sun., 1906-02-19
HARLEM ASKS:WH0'S TO PAY?
THOUSANDS FLOCK TO SEE RUIN
WROUGHT BY FLOOD.
Onicials say the CITY Is Not Liable Tor
Heavy List Of Damages Has Big Dili
10 Pay Itself Biaster Fined S2b
--RumOrs Of Oyercharge OF Dynamite.

Saturday the dynamite that hurled tons o
rock onto Convent avenue, smashing
water mains, flooding big section OF Man
hattanville. imperilling lives and damaging
an immense amount Of property, was nne'
S25 in Harlem police court yesterday morn
ing and released. Magistrate Rreen soaked
the Italian to the limit Of the law.
Michaeli who can't speak word o
English, appeared in court with his lawyer
apparently pretty badly scared. The law
yer declared that Michaeli didn't set oil th'
blast and asked the Magistrate to discharg'
the little Italian. Policeman Barry OF thu
West l25th street station, who nabbe<
Mchaeli Immediately after the blast, CON
tradicted the lawyer fatty. He saw
Mchaeli pull the lever attached to the
! electrical cont rivance used to set OF blasts
| he said.
Magistrate Breen decided there was nc
question that Michaeli was guilty of rock.
less blasting.
Antonio c. Pucci Of sas West loeth street
the cont ract or in charge ofthe work OF level
ling the old grounds Of the Convent OF the
Sacred Heart east Of Convent avenue be-
tween 12sth and l29th streets for building
! purposes, was in court also. Pucci went
to the West 125th street station yesterday
morning and gave himself up. Magistrate
Breen, after Pucci stated he wasn't present
when the mine was fired, decided to dis
charge him.
Apparently criminal proceedings ended
! with the Ma gistrates action. as the police
will make no more arrests in the case. The
big question with Harlem people yesterday
was: Who is going to pay for the damage
caused by the flooding Of the houses and
shops? vice-Presdent Bernheimer of
Bernheimer Schwartz, whose brewery
caught the worst of the muddy deluge,
has put his claim in the hands Of his law
yers. Capt. Thompson Of the West l25th
street station has a list Of sixty or more
persons whose houses were flooded and the
list doesn't begin to cover the damage.
Water Commissioner Ellison, who spent
most of the morning yesterday viewing the
mess the escaping water made Of section
Of Manhattanville half mile square, had
this to say:
The question is one of negligence. In
no sense can the city, through the Water
Department, be charged with negligence.
1t was the carelessness OF Contractor Pucci
or his employees that caused the dana ge
Speaking unprofessionally. | should say
that the city couldn't be held liable and
that it was clearly up to the contractor"
The Commissioner said he had been ex-
pecting trouble from Pucci's blasting
operations for several weeks
Two weeks ago. said the Commissioner,
Chief Enginee. DeVarona wrote to the
owner of the property, Mr.. SOM. be-
lieve and to Contractor Pucci warning
ing the eight big mains under Convent
avenue. The letters were Acknowledged
and the contractor promised to be careful '
Commissioner Ellison said that the water
in the big reservoir in Central Park dropped
over foot during the time the broken
over Harlem.
The water service was not much af.
fected," he said None Of the mains was
for local service, and the big feeder which
supplies Harlem through l25th street was
not smashed. It was turned on shortly
after the break was located"
The Water Department had sixty men
clearing the mass of rock from the ma ns
They found that three had been smashed.
A chunk of iron piping six feet long and four
wide was knocked out of one main, a jagged
piece about the same size out OF another;
the third main was only cracked. The
five unin jured mains were put back in SER
vice Saturday night. 1t will be several
days before the Others are working. The
forty-eight inch mains are constructed in
sections, each section twelve feet long. and
it will take some time to put in new sections.
People went to Manhattanville from all
over Greater New York yesterday to see
the ruin left by the food. The mud hadn t
been cleaned from the streets that caught
the worst rush Of water and the sightseers
slipped and sloshed through an inch Of
nasty yellow mire. Along Amsterdam
Manhattan and Morningside avenues and
in the side streets householders we're rue
fully inspecting the Easements Of their
haI thrNt ,yl,
sewers, leaving ruined furniture tumbled
about in sediment Of mud.
In West l27th street along by the
Gulch drowned horse was still lying. In
the Gulch, where the water stood ten feet
deep at one time. was tumble of wreckage-
a truck buried deep in mud a small frame
house half turned over. piles OF Lumber
iammed between the houses and the bodies
of small animals that had perished.. The
Gulch dwellers were wrinSing their hands
| and wanting to know from policemen who
was going to pay for their furniture.
Convent avenue was wrecked for over a
block, Besides the section that was utterly
demolished by the downfall OF giant rocks
the escaping water had undermined the
street and made it unsafe. Bouders as big
| two blocks away from the mass of rocks.
They had been carried away by the rush OF
! water down hill. II will cost the city pretty
penny to restore the avenue.
The New lorR CITY railway power statlon
at l2sth street and Amsterdam avenue
suffered heavily. Pumping gangs were at
work all day yesterday, and at Q O'Clock
last night there was still four feet of water
in the cellar Five rotary converters and
F, a number of switchboards were damaged
| At one time there was eleven feet Of water
! in the power house cellar.
Chief Inspector Murray Of the bureau
of combustibles is making an investigation
to determine how much dynamite was used
| in the disastrous blast. He got the idee
Yesterday that the blast wasn't safeguarded
and that there was considerable Of an over.
| charge of dynamite used. ,.
The accident moved Alderman Jacobson
to draw up a resolution for introductscn n in
the Board of Aldermen. The resolution
will change the present ordinance for the
regulation of blasting. Alderman Jacob
son wants a board Of practical blasters
selected by the Fire Commissioner to issue
| certificates of fitness TO blasters. 1t IL
proposed that such certificates be issued only
| to American citizens The changes are
| advocated by the hlasters' union.
Commissioner Ellison said yesterday he
was going to make it his business to see that
Water Department officials acted quickly
in such emergencies as the one Saturday
| afternoon
NJ