Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-18
STOP BLASTS
ON PALISADE.
Residents in New York State
Claim Their Houses Are DAM
ages by Explosions.


NEW YORK, Jan. 1S:-An action
that may have an important bearing
on the fight to prevent the blasting
away of the Palisades was begun
yesterday before Justice Keogh in
New Rochelle. The suit is one
brought by Mrs. Clinton S. Arnold,
of Ossining, against the Rockland
Lake Trap Rock Company, commonly
referred TO as the Odell-Foss Quarry
Company.
1t is charged by Mrs. Arnold that,
owing to the heavy blasts set off by
the quarrymen directly across the
Hudson from her house and little
over two miles in direct line, her
house is severely shaken, the walls
cracked and other damage caused.
At the trial yesterday her evidence to
this effect was supported by that of
her husband, who is an architect and
builder; Rev. ]. A. MeWilliam, pastor
of the First Presbyterian church of
Ossining, and other residents of the
village.
Want $4 900 Damages.
The suit is one to recover $4,000
damages, and in the event of it prov
ing successful, it is likely to be fol-
lowed by numerous other actions by
other residents along the Hudson riv-
er who have been annoyed and have
suffered damage as the result of the
method of blasting followed by the
Hook Mountain quarrymen.
1t is expected that expert testimony
by scientific geologists will be intro
duced during the trial to prove that
the ledge of rock which is being
blasted on the west side of the Hud-
son passes under the river and crops
out on the east side, and that as a re-
suit of this geological formation, the
heavy blasts set off at Hook Noun
tain are the direct cause of the shak-
ing of houses and the cracking of
walls in Ossining and other places
along the river front. 1t will also be
pointed out, probably, that the meth
cd of blasting followed at Hook
Mountain is that known as 'mudcap"
blasting, by which heavy charges of
dynamite are set off directly on top
of the rock which is to be blasted,
covered only by mud cap, and that
this method, though cheaper and
easier from the quarryman's view
point, is more dangerous. and injur-
ious to the general public.
According to the testimony, the
blasts have become an established
feature of life in Ossining, and the
residents, having occupied the atti-
tude of the traditional worm for the
past half dozen years, have at last
turned. In the event of the success
of the Arnold suit, it is possible that
the way may be opened to abate the
present method of blasting, on the
ground that it is public nuisance.
Wide Area Shaken.
All Westchester county and part of
Connecticut, as we'll as every section
of the Hudson river valley, are shak-
en- by the operations carried on at
Hook Mountain. Evidence of shaken
houses, rattling dishes, swaying brio
a-brac, and cracked walls and ceilings
was presented from half dozen
widely separated towns. Ossining,
naturally had the largest and most
specific story of troubles to tell Dr.
Irvine, the physician to Sing Sing
prison, told how the prison was
Jared by the blasts across the river.
DR.. Amos c. Squire, an Ossining phys
ician and Westchester coroner,
testified that patients in his home for
had complained to him
of the Hook Mountain blasts. Mr..
and Mrs. George w. Seaman related
how the ceiling of one room of their
house had fallen three times immed |
lately following the noon explosion
across the river, smashing dishes, |
tables and chairs in its descent. Maj |
or w. B. Holbrook, of the Holbrook |
School at Briarcliff Manor, |
testified that it was sometimes neces-
sary to suspend recitations while the
blasting was in progress, although |
the school is some four or five miles
from the scene of the quarrying oper-
ations. Others who gave testimony |
to the manifold earthquakes which
are daily incidents of life in West
chester county We're Mr.. John Hoag,
q White Plains lawyer; William B.
Morgan, of Tarrytown, Horace u. /
Cumming and George Sniffen, OF Os-
sining, and Gilbert Kleinfelder,
Connecticut farmer living near Ridge
field.
The trial will be continued next
Tuesday