New-York tribune., 1910-12-21

Continued from first page.
for to-day, and would continue the in
vestigation.
ut is clearly the duty of the District
Attorney to see to it, he said, that q
thorough and searching investigation be
conducted, to the end that there should
be no uncertainty as to the criminal La
bility of any person or persons AS yet
there is no evidence in my possession
which justifles the making of an arrest
or the preferrlng of any criminal charge
of any kind. ] expect to engage the
service of the best experts obtaina ble-
men who are generally recognized as
| authority on the use and nature of ex-
plosives, if possibie-to determine just
how the explosion took place.
''Of course, if explosives were improp-
erly stored or illegally kept on the prem
ises there Is violation of the criminal
law, and if evidence of this is developed
it is the District Attorneys duty to bring
it to the attention of the grand jury.
| shall spare no effort in the endeavor TO
satisfactorily determine these questions"
Assistant District Attorney Larelle
continued the examination of witnesses
at the East 51st street police station
yesterday. He and Coroner Holtzhausen
went to the Flower Hospital yesterday
afternoon TO get statement from An
drew Harris, a car cleaner who had his
leg broken and suffered severe con
tusions a S result of the explosion. Har-
ris is in q serious condition, and his tes-
tin1ony was wanted in connection with
that of Whitall, the foreman, who had
charge Of the gas tanks in the yards and
had told the District Attorney that Har-
ris was the first man to tell him anything
was wrong with the pipes
Shutting Off Gas When Crash Cams.
Harris made the following statement
to Assistant District Attorney Layelle:
'I was on Track 10, between 18th and
4sth streets, casing cars" he said,
when ] heard q kissing sound, and.
looking around, I saw steam coming out
Of the yard about opposite 5Oth street. l
cried out 10 an Italian and asked him
why SO much steam was esca ping. He
a block off (n1eaning that bumper had
been knocked over.
I'm about five or ten minutes A foreman
Of the M. U cars (Which are the steel
gas cars told me that I had better go
and tell my foreman that something
was wrong with the stea mpipes at 5Oth
street I went at once to 47th street,
On, he T
met Patrick Gable coming toward me.
He asked me what the trouble was. Just
then Whtan, the foreman. came up and
sent Cable back TO shut off the steam
pipes leading TO Yard ,. Then Whitall
and / went up the track toward 50th
street.
Il was on Track 10 and was going to
turn off the gas that was running from
the tank cars into the stationary tanks
AT 47th street These cars come in every
morning from Port Morris. had reached
the first car, about opposite 18th street,
and had shut one valve when the ex-
pIosion came. IT threw me down near
the third rail. and I hardly remember
what happened until | was picked up.
No Deaths: Twenty in Hospitals
No deaths were added to the list of ten
victims of the explosion yesterday
gang of men worked during the fore
moon clearing out the debris, all that is
left of the sub-station powerhouse, at
;Oth street and Lexington avenue, With
on, 6nding sny more bodies No one has
been allowed to touch the wrecked car
and the broken pipes or alter the condi-
tion of things In that immediate vicinity.
The work of excavating was stopped
in the afternoon to allow photographers
empioved by the various officials investi-
eating the accident to take pictures at
this point.
Representatives of the New York Cen
.raI company said yesterday that they
believed all the men who had been work
ing i'm the yards were accounted for and
no more bodies would be found. There
were some laborers there. il was said,
however, that might be hard TO trace.
The work of clearing away the wreck
age will be continued to-day until it is
made certain that 10 one else was buried
under the tons of bricks and iron.
Twenty of those injured in the ex-
plosion are still in the hospitals. Michael
RYAN. a third rail man, Of No 3I2 East
9th street. and Collins Wheeler. rail-
road engineer of No. 21J EasS 1850
street. were in a critical condition yester-
dav. and their recovery was doubted by
the physicians at Bellevue Hospital.
RYAN has q fractured skull and internal
Injuries. Wheeler has lacerated wounds
Of the scalp and face and a ruptured eye.
Five in Serious Condition.
The condition of three women and two
men was considered very serious yester-
day. These are Mrs. Theresa Lothman.
of No $50 East 42d street, whose skull
was fractured, and Yetta Abrahamson,
Of No. 1851 Third avenue. with similar