Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1911-02-03
MANY KILLED
BY EXPLOSION
IN NEW YORK
DYNAMITE BLOWS UP ON LIGHT
Err WHICH DISAPPEARS WITH
ITS ENTIRE CREW..
SEVERAL OTHER BOATS WRECKEE
Jersey Central Terminal in Ruins
Piers Torn to Splinters-Over 800
Persons Injured by Shock and
Glass.

New York, Feb. "A cargo Of dyna-
mite in transit from a freight car to
the hold of g lighter moored at pier
No. Z, CommunipaW, n. j., let go at
just one minute past noon, and in
the widespread ruin that followed sew
en- men are known to have been killed.
seven more are missing. hundreds
were wounded and varying reports
leave from Is to 20 more unaccOunted
for.
Thirty-tW0 seems to be a conserva-
tive estimate Of the dead and proper
ty damage will hardly fall below
$3.50, COG The cause Of The explosion
probably never will be known.
The Jersey Central terminal was
wrecked; three ferry boats in the slips
were torn and splintered; lower
Manhattan across the river was shak-
en- from the 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
Amityville, Long Island, 50 miles dis
tant, and in New Jersey at Long
Branch, As miles away.
The damage is so widely scattered
that it is impossible as yet to more
than roughly estimate it, but i'll Man
haitian alone it is placed at 100000
and on Ellis island at from $4,000 to
$4,000. In all, three quarters of
million appears to be fair estimate.
Lighter Vanishes.
The lighter receiving the dynamite,
the Katherine W., owned by James
Healing of Jersey City, vanished utter
ly with her crew of seven men, includ-
ing the master, Edward Traver. Along
side was the lighter Whistler, which
was so shattered that she sank with
her crew of two, while the Swedish
steel barkentine Ingrid was stripped
of her rigging and the lives of two
deck hands snuffed out Fragments of
one mans head were found swinging
high on tangled piece of rope.
On board the Ingrid the steel miz-
zen-mast snapped off above the lower
yard and the tangled wreckage came
tumbling about the decks. Every
thing abaft the mizzenmast was levell-
ed fiat but the steel plates of the hull
held stoutly.
For 100 feet the pier end itself was
demolished. Over the broken edges
twisted the steel rails of track. A
steel gondola car on the southernmost
track looked like an old hat that had
been used by boys for football All
about were strange freaks of the ex-
plosion.
In the train shed of the terminal
nearly the whole southern exposure of
the glass roof collapsed, showering the
passengers with broken glass. One
man was struck by 20-pound frag-
ment and so severely cut that he died.
An engineer in a shunting locomotive
was blown from his cab and died of
a fractured skull. A tug boat captain
was hurled from his wheel house and
fished out of the water IS minutes lat
err, swimming about the southern side
of the demolished pier.
Inside the passenger station there
was damage visible everywhere.
Streets Strewn With Glass.
The shock of the explosion caused
fire alarms to be rung in from various
parts of the downtown section and fire
apparatus from all the nearby sta
tons was sent scurrying around the
district in vain search for the scene
of the explosion, which at first was
commonly reported to be on the low
err end of Manhattan island.
Broadway and Church streets from
Fulton street south We're literally
showered with fragments of glass,
broken from hundreds of windows on
these thoroughfares. The plate glass
windows in the customs house were
shattered and there was extensive
breakage of windows on all sides
The explosion caused pan1cs in sew
eral of the big downtown office build
ings which seemed rocked to their
foundations by the shock. Alarmed
employees and tenants Of the struc-
lures made rushes for the elevators
and other exits. The quick subsid-
ence of the tremblings, however,
seemed speedily to reassure the
alarmed multitudes and there were no
early reports of casualties due to the
panicky conditions which prevailed.