The evening world., 1908-02-10
HURLED MANY
FEET BY BLAST.
BUT STILL LIVES
James MCGOWAN Is Blown
Out of the Pennsylvania
Tunnel.
RIGHT ARM TORN OFF.
Suffers From Numerous
Wounds, but Declares He
Will Best the Coroner.
RIGHT ARM TORN OFF.

After undergoing INJURIES that would
have knocked the breath of life out OF
an ordinary man instantly. James Nc
Gowan. a big double-tis;ed Irishman
Is at Roosevelt Hospital terribly
manned and mangled. but with a
chance to pull through.
MCGOWAN has been employed for
several months as blaster for the
New York Construction Company in
the excavation f,r the new Pennsy!-
van!a terminals. I, is a job that calls
for an expert hand and n high dlsre-
gard for danger II is the duty OF the
blaster to decide on the proper places
for blasts 10 plant the dynamite cart
ridges and to set them off. Very often
a cartridge fails to go of. and 1t stays
in its Granny in the rocks. tny pack
age # conc centra ted, bottled-up power.
waiting for Chance TO explode it.
Pick Explooes Dynamite.
This was what happened to-day Nc
Gowan was placing blasts near the
mouth of the tunnel which opened into
the terminal site. He had reached
point under Eighth avenue and Thirty.
third street 1t is the theory that the
point of his pick, exploring crannies in
the schist that underlies this island,
struck one OF those forgotten dynamite
cartridges.
All OF the three or four hundred
hands at work in the tunnel heard the
crash. and some Of them saw the spur
of flame from the side of the bore ana
saw MCGOWAN spinning in the air As
he was hurled seventytive feet out o.
the mouth of tn tunnel. over a heap OF
oh. tered rock and down fifteen feet
,,non a pile of boulders and schist frag
ments.
The first man to reach his was Chester
Noah. of No. 1872 Eighth avenue. Noah
didn't believe that the thing which had
been MCGOWAN could be alive. The right
arm was blown entirely off below the
elbow-the wrist and hand were picked
UP later an even 100 yards away-the
right leg had two compound fractures,
Che .ght ear was torn off. the face was
unrecognizable and the body was
mass of bruises. From the waist up the
garments had been burned off the trunk
and limbs.
AS Noah bent over the sight In
horror the wreck spoke.
"Get a Doctor" He Said.
I'm alive yet" came the faint ghost
OF McGowan's big voice. Don't sit
there. man. like a n!nny-get me n |
doctor"
surgeon Swami came with the am
.ance from Roosevelt Hospital. He
SID down into the hole and looked a,
McGowan.
\ ou don't mean to tell me that mans
alive he said. What you want is
the Coroner
Not yet" whispered MCGOWAN. mo, |
yet, Doc Give me a chance and ru |
bate the both of you-sawbones and
ooroners alike"
He lived while they were hoistinp
oiih OUT OF the excavation. He lived |
to get to the hospita and he livei |
70 tel MS story to the detectives that
came from the West Thlrty-seventh
street station after he was of the
operating table. Furthermore. the hos
pital people say that II clean grit and
q splendid physique can do the trick
MCGOWAN will get we'll He is forty
years old. and unmarried. He has been
lodging at No ll9 East Forty-fourth
street. His fellow workmen called him
Handsome Jimmy"
A Second ExpIoiosn.
An hour later in the northern end of
The excavation, about I0U Yards from tho
scene of McGowan's undoing, another
blast exploded prematurely. A shower
OF rock fell on Maurice Quinlan a
gang boss as he stood on a pinnacle
of earth. He dropped backward fifty
feet into a deep cut, with a fractured
skull and broken nose. lie died on
the way to Roosevelt Hospital.
lie was httY years old and a married
man with a family The company either
did not know his home address or re.
fused TO tell it