River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-12-22
10 KILLED BY BLAST
BOILER EXPLOSION SHAKES
BUILDINGS AND DEALS IN
JURY TO SCORES.
IN NEW YORK POWER HOUSE
Several Passengers Lose Lives and
Others Are Hurt.-Many Miracui-
ousIy Escape in the Nearby
Buildings.


lost their lives, at least 125 were
injured and fully 1000 badly shaken
up in an explosion of car lighting gas
tanks and dynamite in the new six
story power station of the New York
Central railroad, under course of con-
struction. The scene is near the heart
of the city. Nine bodies have been
recovered and the bodies of four work
men are in the wreckage.
A trolley car filled with high school
students was blown from the tracks
on Lexington avenue. Four passengers
were killed and the others were in
jured The car fell off on an automo-
bile which had been hurled before it
by the force of the explosion.
Panic as Buildings Totter.
Fire Chief Croker says that in his
opinion the first explosion was that
of lighting gas and the second explo-
sion that of 100 pounds of dynamite
which lay within so feet of the gas
tank. The force Of the explosion shat
tered hundreds of windows in the big
hotels and apartment houses in the
neighborhood of the big railroad term
inal, causing alarm among the guests.
Walls, in many cases, were cracked.
A cloud of smoke hung over the scene
and bodies were scattered here and
there. The Grand Central cut, where
new track levels are being excavated,
looked as if a battle had been fought
in it.
Fire Engine House Wrecked.
The shock. which could be felt fol
many blocks, partly wrecked the fire
engine house nearby and prevented
the firemen from getting their appa
ratus into the street Monsignor,
Lapette and Hayes and Fathers O'Con
nor, McQuade, Sinnott and Byrnes, Of
ST. Patrick's cathedral hurried to the
scene and administered the last rite.
of the church to many of the injured
At the postoffice substation, Forfeit
street and Madison avenue, the explo
sion slightly injured several clerks
and scattered the mail over the floor
In the New York Nursery and Child's
hospital ceilings were partly shaken
down and the windows broken, but
none of the 300 children was badly
hurt.
The powerhouse, which is of stone
and brick, and six stories high, caught
fire after the explosions and the in
terror was practically burned out.
Just what caused the double explosion
probably may be never known.
Scores Thrown to Floor.
In the Bible teachers training
school on Lexington avenue, directly
opposite the power house, 1875 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 the
windows in the building were blown
in and the ceilings fell
The damage to the power house and
other buildings has not been estimat.
ed, but it was stated that it will likely
coed $2,000,0O0
Of the II firemen in the fire house
opposite only one was injured. A lit
tie school girl was about to enter a
candy store on Fifty-first street when
the blast came. She was picked up
bodily and carried through the plate
glass door of the store and dropped
uninjured in front of the candy coun-
ter.
District Attorney Whitman visited
the scene of the disaster and conferred
with a number of officials of the New
York Central. He said the explosion
was caused by Illuminating gas Cor
nelius Vanderbilt also made an in
vestigation.