The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-12-19
DYNAMITE AND
GAS EXPLOSION
KILLS THIRTEEN
Fifty Injured and New York
Central Power House Was
Destroyed
TR0LLY CAR LIFTED ANO.
DROPPED ON AUTOMOBILE
Hundreds Of Windows in Hotels Shat.
tered, Guests Alarmed, and Rail.
road Service Interrupted Shock
Felt For Blocks.

AvaV CcEVlCo NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Felt For Blocks.
New York. Dec. 19.-Thirteen per-
sons lost their lives, fifty were in
jured and thousand people were
badly shaken up in an explosion of
the car lighting gas tanks and dyna-
mite in the new six story power sta
tion Of the New York Central railroad
under course Of construction at
Fiftieth street and Lexington avenue
today. Nine bodies have been recov-
cred and the bodies of workmen are
believed to be In the wreckage.
Trolley car filled with high school
students was blown from the tracks
on Lexington avenue. Four pas
sengers were killed and the others
were injured. Fire Chief Crooker
says that in his opinion the first ex-
plosion was that Of lighting gas and
the second explosion that Of hun
dred weight Of dynamite which lay
within fifty feet Of the gas tank.
The force Of the explosion shat
tered hundreds Of windows in hotels
and apartments in the neighborhood Of
the big railroad terminal, causing
alarm among the guests. The dyna-
mite blast picked up the northbound
trolley car, lifted in the air and sent
1t crashing down upon an automobile
which was passing along the other
side OF the street. Four Of the pas
sengers were killed and everyone in
the car was injured. Railroad SER
vice was temporarily interrupted.
The new substation power house,
where the explosion occurred is at
F1ftteth street and Lexington avenue,
which Is half dozen blocks north Of
the Grand Central station. The fol-
lowing u aspartial list OF the dead: y. 2 2
e. B. LIvERMORE, New York Cen
trail inspector of Pullman cars.
MARY B. POPE.
G. McMARROW.
PATRICK JORDAN. track foreman.
THOMAS STAGG, watchman at
power house.
JOHN RYAN, clerk.
WILLIAM POETSCHKE, Corona,
L. I.
EDITH oFFNER. stenographer.
CHARLES ROBERTS, clerk in
Adams Express company.
The shock, which could be felt for
many blocks, partly wrecked a fire
engine house nearby and prevented
the firemen from getting their appa-
ratus into the street. Monsignors
Lappette and Hayes and Fathers
O'Connor, McQuade. Sinnott and
Byrnes of st. Patrick's cathedral, hur-
ried to the scene and administered
the last rites Of the church to many
of the injured.
At the postoffice substation at For
tieth street and Madison avenue, the
explosion slightly injured several
clerks and scattered mail over the
floor. In the New York nursery and
child's hospital. ceilings were partly
shaken down and windows broken out
but fortunately none of the 300 chill
dren there were badly hurt.
Power House Loss.
The power house, which is built of
stone and brick, and six stories high.
caught fire after the explosion and the
interior was practically burned out.
Just what caused the double explosion
IL.
Fortunately for thousands of COM
muters on the New York Central lines
the force Of the dynamite blasts was
directed in an, opposite direction from
the railroad tracks. Otherwise the
loaded incoming trains might have
been wrecked.
Officials of the railroad learned that
there were many workmen in the
building at the time of the explosion
and that very few of them had been
accounted for. In the bible teachers
training school on Lexington avenue
directly opposite the power house 125
men and women. who were on their
way to breakfast were thrown to the
floor by the blast. Many of the men
and women were injured and several
of them were taken to hospitals. All
windows in the building were blown
in and the ceiling fell. The damage
to the power house and other build
ings has not been estimated but it was
stated that 1t will likely exceed $780,
nm - -