The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1910-12-22
TERRIFIC | XPlO!SION
A Motor Car Breaks the Gas Pipe

A Motor Car Breaks the Gas Pipe,
Power House Filled, Failing Ham
mer Makes Spark. Awful Explosion
Shakes Manhattan Isle from Gem
tire to circumference.
The terrific explosion Of illuu,inat-
Ing gas in the auxiliary power house
in the Grand Central Station In New
York which tore at the heart OF and
sent tremor along the entire rock
backbone of Manhattan Monday
morning, caused death Of Q persons,
two Of them women, the injury OF
1926 others and property damage es-.
t!mated tonirht at from s2.o00.000
to s3.0o0.nOO. A fire brohe ort III
the shattered ruins OF the power
house again late trnlght, brit with
great ccrrs Of police, se'r"hers ard
firemen on the scene, the b'aze. made
little readway. 1t was a weir1 scene
in and about the station rs the night
wore on. No additional bodies were
found, but in a fosrital Guth'er
Johnso,. an electrician snccrmhsd.
to terrible injuries, bringing the
death list rp to ten.
Tour wcrfnen wh' ore 'mlsslnG are
believed to have rerished. and ct the
1875 injured 90 wera ramove' to hos
rltals. OF thoee. eight my die. An
Investigation by the police. the dis
trict attorneys Office and the coro-
ner's on ce Is under way. Traffic OF
tho New York Centrol R"ilroad
ceased entirely for scme time and
was dIsor? anized for the remainder
OF the dav. brit the new stati2n it.
self. now in process OF construction,
was not 'amaged.
A passing surface cor. carrying
seven passengers. was lifted from It's
tracfs and hurled into an anton obile
rrnr'~g alongside. Fcrr Of the sew
en- PASSENGERS were killed outright,
but the charerr of the motor car
was only cut snd bruised.
For some hours it was believed
that dynamite alone corId have
wrought such instantaneous 'n' pul-
ver'7Ir~ haro" but lite in the after
noon Fire, Chief Croker said he was
convince that TIE whole explosion
was, due TO a mixture OF ar and IL
lrrln-t'ng oas used in lighting rail
read cars, touched or by an electric
spark.
= The gas has accumulated in the
arviliary power house from broken
pine sn"nDed off by a runaway pas
sen~er car.
T. The force Of the explosion ran
north and south from one TO two
miles along the Rock Ridge. that is
the bockbone Of the island. and east
ard west literally for mile. Fount
detlons were Jared. wallis shaken
out 1f "f,lumb. windows were blown
In bv the thousands. ceilings. crash
Ing down on the heads of occuDapts
and d'tte pavem ents were Uttered with
a crisp tinkling foll OF pulverized
gloss that coated the shoe soles..
/ The full amount OF the property
damage is unavsilable. but may ex7
cee7 the rorgh and conservative eei-
F., tinate OF 100000. The LOGS to the
New York Central Railroad Comrany
includes the physical doma?e done
Ito the power house. which was Ut
terly wrecked: the delay to construc-
tion work and the damage done to
the cars standing near the power
honee. The loss to sh"pkeeners an7
property owners IN the vicinity will
snread over wide RANGE OF items.
Christmas displays were blown back
ward into the shops. sucked into the
street or cut to ribbons hy fving
glass. Whole fronts cf buildings
we're left without window, like
sightless masks.
AS nearly as con be determined
this Is how the acciient occurred:
! A train load OF emntv PASSENGER
! co"ches. harled bv Al electric motor.
in charge CT Albert Seaero.te, got out
Of control OF the brakes. crashed
into n steel and concrete buffer post,
snnpnel the rnst OF. rar1med pi!e
ot 1rnhor behind the post into a two
ard one-half inch eas main conne"l-
ing with the tars. from which the
tanks CT the passenger cars are
charged at ESQ hounds pressure. By
the testimony CT the mctor,non and
that of John J. Q"!nn, bricklaver,
v.nrkirg on the main power house.
sdioin: :ng the auxiliary house. the
time of the break in he pipe is an.
nrovimoted at few minutes after
S o'clock. Two clocks. stnpned by
the Jar. fred the time Of the ey-
plosicn itself IT S.22. In the interval
the broken main had ample time to
rour high pressure gas into the lower
levels Of the auxiliary power house.
When workmen set to clearing
1 away the strewe1 lumber, It is az
sumed that one CT them dropped O.
steel tool across the third rail, there
was a fash OF electricity and the
great reservoir of accumulated gas
exploded.
| What happened then will never
be adequately told.
The roof OF the fire house, No. .,