New-York tribune., 1910-01-22
EXPLOSION KILLS Is
PREuAT'URE BLAST IN
ASHOkAN TUNNEL.
Fiue Terribly Injured-Fust
SERIOUS accident Connected
1cith 4queduct York.

Fishkill Landing, n. Y, Jan 21.-Fif
teen men, three of them Americans,
We're killed late this afternoon by a pre-
mature explosion Of nitroglycerine in a
tunnel which is to form part of the great
aqueduct which will carry water from
the Ashokan dam in the Catskills to New
York City. Five We're terribly mutilated
but We're SO near the mouth of the tun-
hel that they were rescued alive The
other fifteen were found beneath tons Of
rock and debris. literally hammered by
the force of the explosion into an indis-
tinguishable mass. The bodies were re-
moved and placed in an improvised
1norgue near the scene of the disaster
while the injured were rushed TO a hos
pital camp maintained by the contrac-
tors
The cause of the explosion had not
been ascertained tonight but it is be-
heved that one OF the workmen. carry
ing torch. slipped and fell, igniting a
fuse and setting off series OF charges
of nitroglycerine, which had been placed
preparatory to an exodus from the
tunnel
The squad of twenty men vino were in
volved in the accident, having drilled the
holes and placed the explosive were
trooping from the excavation, fifteen
those who were killed-in the rear. and
five, all Of whom were foreigners in the
lead. As the five neared the mouth of
the tunnel there was a terrific roar, the
countryside shook for quarter of mile
around and the five foreigners were hurled
senseless TO the ground near the opening
Inside death was instantaneous to the
fifteen.
LABORERS RUSH TO SCENE
The contracting firm. R. K Everett &
Co, employs one hundred and fifty men
in ALL and the prems ture explosion in
dicated Immediately that there had been
a disaster. A hundred laborers rushed TO
the tunnels mouth, and. after dragging
forth the injured. set to work clearing
away the rock and earth to get at the
dead
As the nttroglycerire had been pur-
posely set to shatter rock. it did not
damage the tunnels interior more than
the contractors had planned. and after
two hours work the bodies were reached.
The scene was such as TO preclude the
possibility of Identification except by a
rollcaI of the FIRMS employees, and the
list Of dead had not been announced to-
night There were exactly twenty men
in the squad, however; the five wounded
are accounted for, and although The
tangled mass of humanity was so grew
some as to make the counting of bodies
almost impossible. it Is certain that the
number OF dead Will not exceed fifteen.
Besides the three Americans there were
among the victims Italians, Hungartaps
and negroes.
FIRST SERIOUS ACCIDENT.
The scene of the accident was near
the top of a small mountain, mile and
a half southeast of Cold Spring. Putnam
County, a town of fifteen hundred in
habitants, eight miles south of this
place In digging the aqueduct solid
rock was encountered on the mountain,
and il was found necessary to bore a
tunnel nine hundred feet in length. Five
hundred feet of the tunnel had been
completed and the nitroglycerine had
been set in the rear, ready for explosion
after the men had left It's premature
explosion marks the first serious acc;-
dent on any work connected with the
aqueduct.
The tunnel where the explosion took
place is seventeen feet wide and thirteen
feet high the regulation Ashokam Dam
size Mr.. Everett, the contractor, says
ne stood about hundred yards from the
mouth when the awful crash was heard.
He believes the five men who escaped
instant death must have been making
their exit and were near the mouth when
the explosion occurred. The aqueduct
police from the SeIsomvilIe station at
once assumed charge. They directed the
work of rescue and notified the Coroner
of Putnam County. Drs. Holland and
Thompson were hustled to the scene, and
they administered TO the five survivors
Distracted fellow workmen wept and
shreked as they prosecuted the work of
rescue. Many villagers rushed from
Cold Spring and in a drenching rain
storm the workmen removed fragments
of bodies across the camp to the impro-
Vised morgue
MORGAN GIFT TO HARTFORD.