New-York tribune., 1909-04-01
EXPLOSION LIN H0BUKENN EN-
TI4DUCT PIER BLOWN UP.
Fec Persons Hurt, Damage Small,
Shock Widely Felt.

An explosion believed TO have been caused by
dynam or nitro -glycerine set OF by union labor
sympathizers seriously damaged the steel vtaduct
under construction which is TO connect Hoooken
with the heights OF Jersey City and West Hoooken
shortly after O'Clock yesterday morning IL ex-
pIoslon was heard for twenty miles. windows were
broken and plaster shaken from walls and cell
ings of houses twenty blocks from the viaduct-
while scores of persons were injured by flying
pieces of glass. concrete and iron.
The explosive apparently placed against the
concrete base Of of the steel piers supporting
the v.aduct at Hoboken The base was shattered,
pieces of being hurled many hundred yards
in all directions. The steel work OF the pier was
partially wrenched from It's fastenings and badly
twisted. while steel rivets and fragments of plates
were torn from the structure, within a radius OF
twenty feet of the explosion.
A three story frame house at No. 355 14th street.
Hoboken. standing only a few feet from the
shattered pier. wrecked. A shower of bricks
and fragments OF glass ratified down from the
chimneys windows. while only few patches
of plaster were left clinging here and there to
the walls and ceilings. Scrap iron and pieces Of
concrete ridded the building but only one person
Of the half-score who occupied the bedrooms,
Mrs Rosa Young. injured Her left knee
was struck by a missile and she was slightly hurt
Walter Pilgrim who sleeping in a wooden
bed in a front on the first floor Of the house.
was tossed onto the floor. FLYING fragments pene-
trated the walls and windows, splintertng the bed
but leaving its occupant unhurt. Henry Freese
who lives block away. at No. 14o4 Clinton street
was thrown out of bed and badly cut about the
face and body by broken glass. He was removed
to the ID station house and there treated
by a surgeon
W. F. Coffey. the inspector Of the viaduct for
Union County said that threatening letters had
been received by the sub-contractor in charge OF
the concrete work. but the officials OF the Nc
Clintic- Marshall Construction Company. Of Pitts
burg and No. q Park Row. the concern that 1s
building the viaduct. denied this.
General Manager Simmons, in charge Of the
work for the construction company. said that
bridge which his company constructing for the
Iehigh Valley Railroad over the New York Central
tracks at East Buffalo had been blown up some
time ago and that since time the construction
company had employed non-union labor. Mr. Sim
mons denied knowledge OF any threatening letters
received by his company. He said he believed the
damage 10 the viaduct could be repaired at trtfing
cost From opinions expressed by other engineers
connected with the work IT Is thought that the
viaduct can be repaired al cost Of about Sloeo
The damage to surrounding property will amount
many times that sum.
It admitted that extra force OF watchnen
and special policemen had been employed the
viaduct for several weeks.
The damaged structure when completed, Will
consist of a Y-shaped viaduct sloping upward from
Hoboken and branching Jersey City Heights
and West Hoboken. II will be about ive-eighths
Of a mile long and its estimated cost IS SN0.0O
A similar outrage perpetrated in Boston on
Saturday night when attempt was made to
dynamite the new Grand Opera House in Hunting
ton avenue II was suspected that the crime was
an outgrovth of a strike which occurred among
the laborers several weeks ago