The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-04
HREEKILLEDNp.R.R. TUNNEL.
A DOZEN ALSO INJURED NBY A
DYNAMITE EXPLOSION. !

Match Used 20 Light Candles Preparatory
to Hast Sets IRE 20 Wrapper se
suck Of Dynsmite-Explssisn Fellows
C~ufcluy-The Tunnel 10 Undamaged.
Three men were killed, one man so badly
injured that be cannot live and eleven others
hurt when . box containing forty pounds
Of dynamite In sticks exploded in Tube
Of the Pennsylvania Gu mel running frcua
Thrty-fourth street this city. to Long IslsndS
City shortly after 2 o'clock las I night.
The explosion occurred 30 feet out from
Long Island City in the large shaft opposite
the Long Island Railroad station Tia
d~stonation was not. heard on the street or
even at the foot Of the shaft, and the accS-
dent became known when several OF thu
less seriously injured staggered out through
the heading and CAV the alarm.
The dead are Stanley Schmidt. Is yeark'
old, Oakland street, GreenpointI John
Stedwin, 80, l24th street and First avenues
John woregos, p, address not known.
These men were rock drillers. Richard
Bonner, a driller living at hath street and
First avenue, is the most seriously injured.
He is in St. Johns Hospital suffering from
q fractured skull and internal injuries.
William German, the foreman Of the dyns-
hitting gang, was taken to the hospital.
He is As years old and lives at $50 Wendover
avenue, The Bronx. He Was injured In
ternalIy. Tony Niveneto, address un-
known, was taken to the hospital suffering
from Commissions and decorations OF the
thighs and leg. Michael Schmidt OF 2
North Seventh street, Williamsburg. Is In
the hospital with Commissions and lacers-
tons of the body and a severe scalp wound.
The others injured are James Gotten,
John Jordan, Patrick Hassey, Charles
jenkins, Charles Spillane, John Stadick,
Daniel Ezan and Charles Buchner. They
we're all more or less bruised. They we're
attended by the physicians maintained
by the contractors. Pierson 4 Son, in .
temporary hospital ct the top OF the shaft.
The drilling gan went to work at .
o'clock yesterday afternoon. They had
made several borings and were working
seventy feet from b heading or shield
that had been placed at a distance OF 200
feet out from the foot OF the shaft. AZ
7 o'clock Foreman German came down to
place the dynamite. He had done much
of the blasting for the New York subway
and is considered 40 expert In this line.
II Is a rule with the contractors and their
men that all electric lights shall be dis
connected when the dynamite 10 TO be set
of. This was lone last night. All Of the
globes we're unsorewed and carried back
to the entrance OF the section where the
shield separates it from the remainder Of
the tunnel. The men then worked by
candle light.
The box Of dynamite was carried 10 tbs
edge Of the wall Of rock where the drilling
had been done and was opened. Timothy
Lynch, the foreman of the rock drillers.
who escaped with only a few slight bruises.
saws that be saw a small sheet OF flame
on the bottom OF the tube near the boring.
and thinks that one of the dynamiting gang
dropped a match that he had used in light
ing a candle into the opened dynamite boS.
The explosive was in sticks and they
hal been more or less stirred around In the
box. These sticks are covered with heavy
creased paper and at the end Of each stick
is a ~detonator. Lynch is sure that rhs
fame he Saw was that coming from the
burning Of the creased wrapper NJ ono Of
the dynamite sticks.
lynch cried ont:
For Gods sake, men. run for your lives.'
The men did, and headed by lynch thera
was a stampede for the door IN the shtnii.
4 terrific report soon followed and all ut
the men were thrown from their feet and
landed in a heap toward the shore END.
Lynch and the other teas seriously %inlufet
are unable TO explain Just what happeuei
after the report, but they think that tho
Hrst stick seen burning exploded and started
the others going in one big blast.
! The tube was filed with smoke aud dirt.
Lynch was the first - rehCh tha shield
and open the trap door. This let in some
fresh air and allowed the smoke - "lear
40 that the work of rescle gould ba begun.
/ The men were taken out as quickly ~
possible. The three dead msH were found
very near the boring and evidentlr had not
heard LynCh'S warning. IN" doctors said
. that their deaths were Instantaneous.
In a statement made after the accident
and after he had gone into the lube and
made a thorough examination, Supt .Japp,
in charge OF the work on the tubes, said
that the explosion had in no wise injured
the tube. lie said that the fact that the
dynamite sticks we're scattered in the box
and the space Of seventy feet Of tubing
gave the force Of the explosion room TO
spend itself. This saved the tunnel from
I being damaged. Supt. Japp said that had
the sticks of dynamite been packed tight
that none Of the men at work in the section
would have likely escaped alive.
No arrests were made, as the police de-
| cided that the only one technically TO blame
was Foreman German of the dynamitinx
gang and that he was too seriously lniursa
at the hospital to he even questioned lasA
night.