Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-14
SCARED ALL GOTHAM
Petroleum Tank ExpIodes and
Causes CONSERVATION.
THOUGHT 1T WAS QUAKE
Shock Was Felt in Manhattan and
for Miles Around.
EVEN SHOOK THE SUBSCRIBERS
IS 900 Gallons of Oil Went Up in the
Flames-Windowso of School
Shattered.
EVEN SHOOK THE SUBSCRIBERS

Special Dispatch to The Star.
NEW YORK, February 1.-THE lower
part of Manhattan Island. Brooklyn, Long
Island City, Staten Island. Jersey City and
other towns in New Jersey were shaken as
by small earthquake at 1887 o'clock this
morning by an explosion of an oil tank con-
tanning 5000 gallons of petroleum In the
Standard Oil works at Constable Hook.
Bayonne. N. ].
The explosion was so severe in the town
of Bayonne itself that the Inhabitants rush
ed from their houses in a panic. firmly be-
lieving that an earthquake had occurred.
The buildings shook and tottered. The
window panes in hundreds OF houses were
shattered. Furniture danced and pictures
fell from the walls and crockery was
broken. Pedestrians on the streets were
thrown from their feet. People rushed
wildly hither and thther in terror of an
other shock. 1t was not for hour that
the real cause Of the shock became known
to the people generally. Then an enormous
crowd rushed toward the Standard Oil
works.
Caused by Combustion.
The explosion was caused by spontaneous
thrown $50 feet in the air and fell 90 feet
north, on top Of the machine shop. All the
windows in public school No. 3 We're shat
tered, and school had to be dismissed Sew
enteen hundred panes of glass in the oil
companys boiler room were also shattered.
The tank took fire, and a great column
of flame shot in the air. The Standard
Oil Company maintains its own fire depart
ment, and 1900 men responded to fight the
blaze. Nearly all tanks were emptied, and
the fire under control before noon.
After the excitement was over 1t was found
that only three workmen had been slightly
injured.
The shock was hardly less severe In
Staten Island. across the XIII Won Kull.
People on the north shore We're thrown into
panic and rushed from their houses Build
fngs were shaken and here, similarly, win
dow panes crashed In scores. The word
earthquake was on everybody's lips.
In the lower part of Manhattan the barge
office and the Staten Island ferry house
were shaken so that the windows ratified.
Workers in the tunnel rushed up to the sur
face, thinking that an explosion had oc-
CURED somewhere out in the river.
skyscrapers Shaken.
All the skyscrapers in lower Broadway
| were shaken. Soon after the shock itself po-
| lice headquarters here was besieged with
CeiepnOne ASKING w mere was the
earthquake?' What has happened?''
| The explosion caused the twenty-story
Whitehall building at II Battery place to
shake and tremble as if in the throes OF an
earthquake The vibration was felt all
through the building, from the ground floor
| up to the top.
| On the ground floor many persons ran out
| into the streets, believing that the structure
| was about TO fall. On the upper floors
clerks seized their hats and coats and made
| for the doors. There was excitement among
| the clerks of the Merritt-Chapman Wreck
| ing Company, on the nineteenth floor. Jo-
seph j. Glatzmayer, the head clerk, said
| that the building seemed to vibrate several
! inches. On the twentieth floor the Merritt
| Chapman Wrecking Company had some
| heavy machinery, and this was shifted out
of place.
| The vibrati lasted several seconds. and
at the end of that time there came a sharp
| explosions which caused much wonder and
| speculation.