Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1910-12-20
Ten Lose Lives Hundred In
jured in Explosion of Gas in
New Grand Central Railway
Terminal.
PROPERTY LOSS CLOSE
TO MILLION DOLLARS
Four Missing Believed to Be
Dead Under Debris, Shock
Throws Heart of Great City
Into Panic.
IBy MORNING JournaI speeIaI Leased wlreI

IBy Morning Journal Special Leased Wire
New York, Dec. 19,-The terrific
explosion of Illuminating gas in the
auxiliary power house at the Grand
Central station which sent a tremoI
along the entire rock backbone OF
Manhattan this morning, caused the
death of ten persons, two of them
women, the injury of 125 others, and
property damage estimated tonight
from $2,000,000 to $3,000.000. Fire
broke out in the shattered ruins OF
the power house again late tonight,
but with a corps of police, searchers
and foremen on the scene, the blaze
made little headway bcIore being
checked
No additional bodies were found,
but in a hospital Guthier Johnston,
an electrician, succumbed to terrible
injuries received in the explosion,
bringing the death list up to ten.
-Four workmen, who are missing.
are believed to have perished and of
1876 injured, ninety eight were remov-
ed TO hospitals. or those eight may
die. An investigation by the police
is under way.
Traffic on the New York Central
railroad ceased entirely for some
rast of tha dav but the new station
itsolf now in process of construction,
vas NOT damaged.
The injured include laborers and
other employes OF the railroad, pedes-
trians hvstanders and others in the
vicinity of the accident
A passing surface car carrying sew
on passengers was lifted from it's
tracks and hurled in an automobile
running alongside Four of the sew
en- passengers were killed outright,
but the chauffeur of the motor car
was only slightly bruisd.
For some hours it was believed
dynamite alone could have wrought
such instantaneous and demolishing
havoc. but late in the afternoon Fire
Chief Croker said he was convinced
the explosion was due to a mixture
of air and Illuminating gas. used in
lighting railroad cars. touched off by
an electric spark. The gas had ac-
cumulated in the auxiliary power
house from a broken pipe snapped off
by runaway passenger car.
The force of the explosion ran
north and south from one to two miles
along the rocky ridge that is the
backbone of the island. and east and
west laterally for a mile.
Foundations were Jared, walls
We're shaken out of plumb, windows
were blown in by the thousands cell
ings came crashing down on the heads
of those beneath, and the pavements
we're Uttered with pulverized glass.
The full amount of the property
damage is vet unavailable and may
exceed the rough and conservative es-
timate Of $500 600. The loss to the
New York Central railroad company
includes the physical damage done to
the mower house. which was COM
pleteiv wrecked: the delay to con-
struction work ana the damage done
to cars standing near the power house.
The lose 10 shop keepers and prop
ertv owners in the vicinity will spread
over n wide range of items. Christ
mas DISPLAYS were blown backward in
10 tI,a hons sucked into the street,
or cnt IL rihbons by flying glass.
Whole fronts of buildings were
left without window.
As nearly as can be determined this |
is how the accident occurred:
train Of empty passenger cars |
hauled nv an electric motor, in |
charge of Albert Seagroatt, got out |
of control crashed into a steel and |
concrete bnffer most snapped it off, |
ana ranned a nile of lumber behind |
il into GAS main connecting with |
the tans from which the tanks of the |
passenger cars are charged
Bv ths Testimony of Motorman Sea-
groatt and of John ]. Quinn. a brick
la4er uyorl,ing on the main power (
49, ...-ilio,,,t bousa |