The Daily Missoulian., 1910-12-20

explosion of illuminating gas In the
auxiliary power house at the Grand
Central station which sent tremor
along the entire rock backbone of
Manhattan this morning, caused the
death of 10 persons, two of them
women, the injury of 1876 others, and
property damage estimated tonight at
from $2.OOO,0oO to $3,O00,0O0. Fire
broke out in the shattered ruins Of the
power house again late tonight, but
with corps of police, searchers and
firemen on the scene, the blaze made
little headWay before checked.
Traffic on the New York Central
railroad ceased entirely for some
hours and was disorganized for the
rest of the day, but the new station
itself. now in process Of construction,
was not damaged. The dead:
NICOLI GALUCCI. laborer.
PATRICK JORDAN, laborer.
II. B. LIVERMORE, pullman car in
spector. &s&
C. NJ MARROW. laborer.
EDITH OFFNER, stenographer.
MARY B. POPE of Boston
j. CHARLES ROBERTS, express man.
FRANK stage. watchman.
John RYAN, laborer
The injured.
The injured include laborers and
other employees Of the railroad, pedes-
trians, bystanders and others in the
vicinity Of the accident.
4 passing surface car carrying
seven passengers was lifted from its
tracks and hurled in an automobile
running alongside Four Of the seven
passengers were killed outright, but
the chauffeur Of the motor car was
only cut and bruised. Of the nearly
100 in hospitals, the following are the
most seriously injured:
Unidentified woman, fractured skull;
Michael Ryan. fractured skull and in
ternal injuries: Theresa Lolita, frac-
tured skull and shoulder; John Smith,
injuries to- the head. Francis Kelly,
policeman. burned and bruised; John
Cunningham, burned.
For some hours 1t was believed that
dynamite alone could have wrought
such instantaneous and demolishing
havoc, but late In the afternoon Fire
Chief Croker said he was convinced in
the explosion was due to q mixture of
air and illuminating gas, used IN
lighting railroad cars, touched off by
mn electric spark. The gas had accu-
mulated In the auxiliary power house
from, broken pipe snapped off by q
runaway passenger car.
crsst Force y The Explosion. :.
" f4
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 we're Jared. wallis were
shaken out Of plumb. windows wer'
blown in by the thousands. ceilings
came crashing down on the heads Q
those beneath. and the pavement
were filtered with pulverized glass.
The full amount of the propert!
damage is yet unavailable, and ma!
exceed the estimate OF $780, 900. TIL
loss to the New York Central Rail
road company includes the physica
damage done to the power house
which was completely wrecked: tn
delay to construction work and tn
damage done to cars standing nea
the power house The loss to shop
keepers and property owners In sth
vicinity will spread over wide rang
of items Christmas displays wer
blown backward into the. shops. sucke
into the street or cut to ribbons b
flying glass.
Whole fronts of buildings were lei
without window.
How i Occurred.
AS nearly as can be determined thl
is how the accident occurred: A trai
of empty passenger cars hauled by a
electric motor, in charge of Albel
Seagroatt. got out of control, crashe
into a steel and concrete buffer pos
snapped it off and rammed a pile {
lumber behind 1t intb a gas main col
meeting with the taps from which II
tanks Of the passenger cars al
charged. BY the testimony of the M.
torman and Of John J. Quinn. bricl
laver working on the main pow,
house adjoining the auxiliary hous
the time of the break in the pipe ";
about O'Clock. Two clocks stopp'
by the jar fix the time Of the expl
sion at S:22.
In the interval the broken main n;
ample time to pour high pressure g
into the lower levels of the auxilia
power house. When workmen set
clearing away the lumber. 1t Is a
sumed mat one Of them dropped
steel tool across the third rail. the
axass a flash OF electricity and =
xrest reservoir OF accumulated
sszp}oded.. ", 1. S - = 4,ss
wltat happensd then viii never
.,xaas1s known. The roof Of fire hOu