Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-02-02
PROPERTY DAMAGE OVER s75o,OOO
Ellis Island Suffers Along with
Manhattan from Shock.
REAL CAUSE CANNOT BE LEARNED
Lighter Vanishes Utterly with Crew
of Seven Men.
WRECKS RAILROAD TERMINAL
shock IL Felt FOrty-Five Miles Dis
tant-severe Damage Also In
Brooklyn and staten
Island.

NEW YORK. Feb IA cargo Of dyna-
mite. I'm transit from freight to the
hold OF a lighter moored at Pier No. Z,
Communipaw. N J., exploded at 12:O1 to-
day, $50 yards south Of the Jersey City
terminal OF the Central Railroad Of New
Jersey. and in the widespread ruin that
followed seven men are known to have
been killed, seven more are missing hun
dreds were wounded and varying reports
leave from fifteen to twenty more unac-
counted for.
Thirty seems 10 be a conservative esti-
mate OF the dead and property damage
will hardly fall below $4,000.
The cause OF the explosion is variously
attributed to the dropping OF case OF
dynamite and to a boiler explosion on a
boat. The direct cause probably will never
be known.
The Jersey City terminal was wrecked
three ferryboaSs in the slips were dam
aged; lower Manhattan. across the river
was shaken from street level to the top
OF the Singer tower; severe damage was
done in Brooklyn and Staten island and
TO the immigrant detention station on Ellis
island.
The shock was felt at Amityvile, L. l.,
thirty.five miles distant. and in New Jer-
sey at Long Branch, forty-five miles away
Damage over Wide Area.
The damage is so widely scattered that
it is impossible to more than roughly esti-
mate II, but in Manhattan alone it is
placed at 10000; on Ellis island, from
$4,000 to $4,000. and in all S75oOOO appears
fair estimate The lighter receiving the
dynamite, the Katherine w, owned by
James Healing OF Jersey City. vanished
utterly with its crew of seven men, In
Guiding the master. Edward Traver.
Alongside was the lighter whistler, which
was so badly shattered that II sank with
its crew of two, while the Swedish steel
barkentine Ingrid was stripped of it's rig
Eing and two deck hands aboard killed,
Fragments OF one mans head were found
swinging high on a tangled piece OF rope.
The katherine w. was tied 70 the outer
end OF the pier and crew Of dock hands
was unloading a consignment of fifty
pound boxes from two freight cars to the
lighter when the crash came.
one report was that the explosive was
consigned 20 contractors up the river for
> blasting along the Palisades; another that
It was bound for Havana
only the whlstlers flagstaff has been
= found The freight went up in a puff of
dust ON the rear deck OF the barkentine
!, Ingrid was found pair Of trucks. They
= may be the trucks Of the dynamite car or
OF one OF the other four cars standing
oonear. which were also torn to bits
tn Another Car Intact.
a. Fifty yards back stood another car OF
= ! dynamite The explosion ripped the roof
off aud broke in the doors but the dyna-
mite itself did not explode.
on board the Ingrid the steel mizzen mast
snapped off above the lower yard and the
A., 1gv,r- 49, kl,.
decks Everything abaft was leveled flat
but the steel plates of the hun held
For 100 feet the pier end was demolished.
The planking seemed TO have been ground
TO powder The few splinters left were an
adequate account of its bulky girders.
planking, cross-stays, and massive frame
! work built to uphold locomotives and
loaded trains. over the broken edges
twisted the steel rails OF the track. a
steel gondola car on the southernmost
track looked like an old hat that had been
Auscd by boys for foot ball.
All about were strange freaks of the ex-
plosion one freight had the root
blown inward. as II had been crushed by
falling boulder. but the sides were un-
damaged. The iron sheathing OF the freight
Rouse on Pier No. s, TO the north was
peshed inward on the side nearest the ex-
ptbsion and outward on the farther side.
In the train shed OF the terminal nearly
THE whole southern exposure Of the glas.
roof collapsed. showering the passenger
with broken glass. one man was struck by
a Rwenty-pound fragment and so severely
cut that he died.
Big city T. Panic-stricken.
The conclusion set off fire alarms IN
many parts Of the financial district Of
New. York and the clatter OF fire apparatu,
and the shrill shrieks OF the fire eugin,
sirens added TO the confusion Men anC
uomen swarmed out OF the buildings, som,
AZ them by the fire escape route, The fir,
men hunted in vain for blaze.
Instead they found the streets danger
o,,slv crowded and the sidewalks covere,
with broken glass.
The explosion caused as much a com
motion on the water as on the land Ney
york fire boats and police patrol boat
crossed the river to the scene and Jerse
central tug boat and other craft hurrie
20 the foot OF Henderson street wher
What was lef' Of the dynamite boat lay.
EHpIosI0n ON Dynamite BOat.
The dynamite boat Catherine c wa
unloading at the Jersey Central pier whe
the explosion took place Just what cause
IL may never be known. The boat wa
under command OF Captain J. Lamb VIII
was badly hurt.
william Nelson, employed on the boa
Vas seriously injured A number OF clerI
In the adjoining passenger station were il
lured.
Great damage at the government In
migration station on Ellis Island wa
caused BY the explosion. Windows an oy,
the island were smashed and many en-
pioyes were injured by the fragments
glass.
The explosion caused panics In several
the big downtown office buildings whiC
seemed rocked 10 their foundation
Alarmed employees and tenants Of a
structures made rushes for the elevate