Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-02-01
DYNAMITE BOAT
DEALS DEATH At
JERSEY CITY PIER
CONTINUED from First page.>

years old, cook on the tughoat Will
lam McAllisterd. The tugboat was
lying in its slip next TO tina occupied
by the exploding dynamite boat. Ford
was painfully but not fatally injured.
The Catherine C. belonged to the NC
Alllster towing line, and was about to
leave her pier, winch adJoins the pas
senger station of the Central Railroad
of New Jersey. when the explosion &C.
CURED. The boat was under the COM
mand of Captain j. Lamb, who was
badly scaided and is in a critical con-
dition. William Nelson, of Brooklyn,
employed on the boat, also was seri-
ously injured. A number of clerks in
the adjoining passenger station were
injured.
Great damage at the government inn
migration station on Ellis Island was
caused by the explosion. Windows all
over the island were smashed to bits,
and many employees were injured by
the fragments of flying glass.
The force of the explosion blew out
glass windows and doors on a large
number of buildings from Cortlandt
street down to the Battery. Show
windows were scattered and passing
pedestrians covered with broken glass.
Goods on exhibit in the windows were
scattered over the streets, and the shop
people rushed out to gather up their
stock from beneath the feet of the
curious crowds that gathered quickly,
ignorant of the cause of the explosion
and making inquiries Of those inside.
The whole front of Henderson's seed
house /. Cortiandt street was blown
out, and many window-panes IN the
Hudson Terminal building were shat
tered. There was much excitement in
the tall Singer building. Some people
who were in the tower at the time say
they felt n p~erceptible sway. There
were no window-panes broken in the
tower, but several windows in the main
building were blown in. After the shock
of the explosion there was Il rush for
the elevators in the Singer building.
and for a time the cars were taxed t.
their capacity,
A large plate-glass window in the
Cafe Savarin was blown In and several
diners sitting near the front of the cafe
narrowly escaped injury.
Police reserves were quickly stationed
In front of many of the big buildings
to preserve order and warn pedestrians
about broken glass.
The full force of the explosion was
felt at the immigrant landing station
on Ellis Island.
It was learned later that the Gather
inc c did not belong to McAllister
Brothers, nor was she In their control.
They had a tug, the William McAllister,
lying on the other side of the pier, and
the cook of this tug. Harry Ford. was
49,. ,.S1 4a1-., - - Ma va.Ir hos
pital,
witnesses See Flash.
People who witnessed the explosion
from the windows of office buildings
fronting on the harbor say they saw
an mmense black cloud shoot upward
to q great height, estimated at severa
hundred feet. This cloud reached its
height before the crash of the explosion
was heard by them.
It was most fortunate that no immi-
grants were being handled at Ellis
Island. Three immense holes were torn
in the hall where the immigrants are
inspected. Each was at least thirty by
fifteen feet, and had the hall been
crowded, as IT so often is, there I'M
doubtedly would have been heavy loss
Of life from falling material.
The shock of the explosion caused
fre-alarms to be rung in from various
parts of the downtown section, and fire
apparatus from all the nearby stations
was sent scurrying around the district
In a vain search for the scene of the
explosion, which was commonly re-
ported at first to be on the lower end
of Manhattan Island. Broadway and
Church street from Fulton street couth
were literally showered with fragments
Of glass broken from hundreds of win.
dows on these thoroughfares. The
plate-glass windows In the customs
house were shattered, and there Nts
extensive breakage of window-lights on
all sides. Many pedestrians were hurt
by falling glass.
Dynamite ExpIodes.
Further reports of the scene of the
explosion placed II In the vicinity of
the Jersey Central piers at Communi-
paw. According to these reports the
shock was caused by the explosion of
q large quantity of powder or dynamite
on one of the Jersey Central piers at
this point, or on a boat close to the
railroad docks there.
Feared Earthquake.
The explosion caused panics 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 ana
other exits. The quick subsistence of
the t%rembllngs, however. seemed speed
lily to reassure the alarmed multitudes,
and there were no early reports of
casualties due to the panlcky conditions
which prevailed.
The report persisted that the ex-
plosion occurred on a powder boat off
C~ommunipaw. The harbor police heard
this report and dispatched a boat to
the scene. Shortly afterwards an am
bulance call was sent in from pier IL,
North river. On the arrival of the
ambulance at the pier three men, who
had arrived in an injured condition on
a tug, were placed in the ambulance
and taken TO the Hudson Street Hos
pital.
Later it was definitely ascertained
that the explosion occurred on one Of
the Jersey Central railway docks at
the south end of Jersey City. 1t was
at piers five and six in what is known
as Communipaw. Pier six was practi-
cally demolished.
The confusion was so great that tela-
phone and telegraph operators all left