The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-21
Three Negro Longshoremen Are
 Tom to Pieces
AIMED ID DESTROY STEAMER
internal Machine Is Placed Aboard a i. Hamburg Liner Before the Vessel
 Left Hamburg and Finally
 Explodes In New York.

Philadelphia, June 2O.--(special.)-In terrific explosion, which ripped up the deck of the big Hamburg freighter Ar cadia in the Delaware river today, three colored longshoremen were instantly killed, five received injuries from which they canont recover and 25 others were hurt. Tonight it was discovered that the awful I bomb had been placed in bale of goods shipped from Hamburg with electric wires and so constructed that when long shoreman struck the bale with his hook the shock would cause the explosion. In the minds of the chief of police the coroner and all officials who are investi-
 gating the tragedy, there is no doubt that the machine, was slowed away at
 Hamburg when the freighter, one of the biggest making this port, left for Amer ica. The Hamburg-American Line has had serious trouble with the longshore- men at Hamburg. They struck week ago. A week later the company raised salaries and the men returned to work. But the company laid off 75 men, saying 1 there was not enough work to keep them employed. It is thought that in revenge some workman placed the internal ma
 chine on the ship, having an accomplice on board
 Strange Story.
 l The story of the tragedy is strange
 one, attended by many unusual features. | Captain Scharschmdt had docked his big l freighter and every preparation had been | made to unload the cargo Lucius Hub 1 bard, Coleman Henderson and William | H. Butler, the strongest and most re- l liable of the longshoremen, were assigned to go aft in the hold on the port side and take care of valuable shipments. Hour after hour they toiled away. Henderson edged his way through a maze of bags, bales and barrels to get a case which contained stuff marked for immediate de- | livery. He swung his big hook upward In an instant there was a roar, the ship swung from side to side, the galley
 smashed in as if it were made of straw, the officers quarters were wrecked and the cargo went flying through the rent and tattered deck. On the ground, amid smoke and flames, lay the bodies of three of the longshoremen. Near them lay other forms, five of them unconscious and others just able to moan in their pain The force of the explosion was terrific. The steel bulkheads that extend across
 the hold were blown away like paper, and the rvets were sheared off as if they
 had been cheese. The explosion occurred
 directly under the cooks galley and it was wrecked. The floor heaved up as if there had been an earthquake and pots and pans were hurled in every direction. The third officer of the Arcadia was | standing on the deck we'll forward fully | 150 feet from the place where the ex- | plosion occurred. He was blown ten feet and rendered unconscious
 An Awful Sight.
 | The men caught on the ship all lived l close by, and with one thought as to 1 their safety, their lives children and
 other relatives, hurried to the pier The l sight that met their gaze was awful. Men with their clothing ablaze, writhing l in agony, dashed out in the middle of the
 dock, and some one sent in an alarm of | fire.
 The firemen quickly responded know l ing that there must be some men in the lldIIle-SWept HOiu, WeHl dDOaru the snip. 1 Time and time again they were driven | back by the blaze, which soon spread to l all quarters of the ship A dozen of the 1 firemen fell victims to the dense smoke. l Edward Mooney a boss stevedore, was | the hero of the occasion, when the ex- l plosion occurred. He realized on the in
 stant that there must be men in the hold l who had been rendered unconscious by | the shock The boss stevedore sprang l into the fiery furnace to save life. On- | lockers cheered when Mooney reappeared 1 carrying an unconscious man. He car ! Bomb Is Found.
 I Captain Wells of the tugboat s. A. | Churchman swung his vessel alongside | and got aboard the burning steamer. He
 plunged into the hold and found a tin l box 51h inches long, to which the frayed 1 ends of wire were connected. He took l the bomb up to the deck, where the Ar l cadia's captain forced him to surrender 1 it, saying that it was part of the cargo, 1 and he would not let it out of his hands ! until he had consulted the German con- l sul.
 l When the coroner looked over the re- | mains of Henderson and Butler he found them mutilated as though by heavy l slugs. which obviously were contained in l the bomb Thirty other longshoremen were either struck by splinters or were 1 cut and bruised.
 | Tugs and fireboats pumped so much water into the Arcadia that she is now resting on the river bottom, With only l about ten feet of free board showing. l