The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1911-02-03
EXPLOSION WILL
Be INVESTIGATED
Separate Inquiries Will Be
Carried on in New York
ARRESTS TO BE MADE
That the Finger of Suspicion Al
ready Points Toward Ger
tain Persons

| New York, February 2.-Agents of thu
Dupont de Nemours Power company, thu
prosecutor of Hudson county. N. j., ano
| inspectors of the bureau of explosives Of
| the ordnance bureau of the war depart
ment, started separate Investigations to-
day into the frightful explosion Of dyna-
mite at the Communipaw piers of the
| Central Railroad of New Jersey.
| No arrests had been made tonight, mt
cause for the explosion had been fixed
and no additional bodies were found. The
| list of dead and missing still stands al
about SO, and the property damage ranges
close to 100000
1--WE have gone far enough now said
Vice President w. c. Roster of the Jer-
sey Central. ito be certain that neither
we nor the authorities will ever know
lust what caused the explosion. We dc
know that the railroad cannot be held
responsible. AS common carriers the law
requires us TO accept explosives at the
published rates and under the supervision
and regulations of the ordnance bureau
of the war department, with which We
complied Once we had delivered car
at the terminal and the consignee had
come with his way bill to take posses
sion and had broken the seal of the car,
as had been done In this case, 1t was out
of our control and our responsibility mad
ceased"
On the other hand, the authorities point
out that the state statute regulating ex-
plosives refers specifically to its manu-
facture and storage and II a freight car
Is adiudged to be a place of storage the
onners Of the car are amenable under
the law. Although no arrests were made
TODAY Prosecutor Caravan said the ringer
of suspicion already pointed toward GER
tain persons"
No License to Handle Dynamite
James Healing. owner of the destroyed
lighter Katharine W., admitted that ne
had no license TO carry explosives, and
added that all the city authorities knew
it. too. When he first went into the ousl-
ness of transporting explosives TOUR years
ago he said he had inquired about IL
cense and never could find that one was
required. -Four of my men," he said,
.o1,aIifed handlers of explosives, had to
take out licenses, and they did, from the
United states bureau of combustibles. l
never knew and nobody else handing Elk
nlosives in this harbor ever knew mat
anv other license was fequireo. Inc
whistler and two other powder boats
operated by the Dupont people had no.
licenses, either. ...;.x,ors
The board OIL pOllSC eO'iA--
of Jersey City and a coroner jury
of six will hold a hearing Wednes-
dav next to consider all evidence then
in hand. Thus far the task or gain
ering it has proved peculiarly bal-
eins because every one in touch with
the core of the facts has been oloWn
to bits.
A resolution providing for an inves-
tiration was introduced at a meeting
miner of COM
merce today by Jacob II. SchlH' Inc
resolution calls also upon the commit
tee on harbor and shipping to submit TO
the chamber suggestions for regula-
lions to prevent r. repetition OF the
exnlosion. 1t was referred to the COM
mittee.
Revised List of Dead
A revised list of the dead, so far as
known, made public today IN Jersey
City, is as follows:
John Armstrong of Jersey CITY, cap
tain of the powder boat whistler.
Robert Barbour. New York city, rail-
road passenger.
Robert Bennett, New York city, cap
tain of tug John Twohy.
James Lundrigan, captain of powder
boat Katherine w.
Charles McNeill engineer of switch
engine in New Jersey Central yards.
dore.
Michael Moro. stevedore.
oscar Stolpe, mate of Katherine w.
ONLY five bodies have been recovered
up to this noon and the names of only
nine men missing were known. More
than a score of laborers, names I'M
known, who were on the and of the
pier when the explosion took place, are
unaccounted for.
Immediately following the impact of
air driven away from 'the point of the
explosion yesterday the Paragraph ut
the local weather bureau moved its
pen point upward exactly eighty-one
hundredths of an inch. Calculated by
Forecaster Scarf. this meant. that an
extra atmospheric pressure had been
caused by seven-tenths of one pound
to the square inch on all subjects to
which it was exposed. Upon surface
of glass measuring 10 by IL feet the
extra pressure was zoos pounds.
For the leading companies insuring
plate glass the total loss is estimated at
$4,000.