Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-02-09
BLAST KILLS SCORE;
HUNDREDS HURT
New York City in Panic AS Dyna-
mite Expiodes.
WALL STREET is FRIGHTENED
Railroad Terminus and Pier on Water
Front Wrecked-Country for
Radius of 40 Miles Trem-
bes From Shock.

New York - Thirty-fve tons Of
dynamite, in transit for shipment
from pier No. Z, in the Communipaw
terminal Of the Central Railroad of
New Jersey, exploded and anywhere
from thirty to fifty men are believed
to have been killed outright and
hundred persons, some of whom at the
time Of the explosion were FIVE miles
removed from Jersey City, were seri-
ously injured. Falling bricks and
splintered glass windows aided in add
ing the names of a thousand more
persons to the list of injured The
damage is estimated at $500, 900.
At the same time the terrific force
of the blowup reached through the
underlying strata of rock not only in
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Richmond and
the Bronx, but far away points in
Long Island and Connecticut, rock
ing skyscrapers, smashing glass, tear
ing away window frames and sending,
panic stricken, tens of thousands Of
men and women into the streets, fear
full that an earthquake or some other
vast natural turmoil was upon them.
As in all upheaVals Of tremendous
force, persons nearby escaped death;
buildings close at hand were not in
/ jured; persons far away were killed;
structures at great distances were al
most torn apart For instance, North
port, 40 miles down Long Island, trem-
bled with the shock. Bayonne, only
mile or two distant, did not know
| anything had happened until it read
the evening newspapers.
Wall street for a time suspended
business through fright and anxiety.
New York's fire engines and ambu-
Iances changed violently up and down
/ the streets searching for the scene of
whatever had happened-nobody for a
! long time knew. There was semi
! panic for nearly an hour in this city
! until it became known that the cause
| of the great roar, the swaying Of
| buildings and the tinkle of breaking
/ glass that cut and bruised scores was
| a good mile away.
What happened, briefly, was this:
| Two cars of dynamite, containing 25
| tons each, from the Dupont Powder
! company works In Wilmington, Del,
had arrived on the tracks at the end
/ of pier number 7 almost adjoining
! the big Central station at Communi-
| paw. the explosive being consigned to
| Palisades, on the Hudson, for use in
! blasting out rock.
Two lighters, the Katherine W. and
! the Whistler, had drawn up to the
| pier end to receive cargoes Of the
| dangerous stuff. They were to have
| been towed up the river once 1t was
| slowed aboard. On the former was
! Captain John Healy and eight men, on
/ the latter four men.
There were at least "a men within
actual handling distance of the dyna-
mite
| Next there was an awful roar, a
| great cloud of haze and dust, trem.
| bic of earth and structures above the
earth within a radius of SO miles
square, an immense wave from the
river that splashed high above every
thing nearby (even scattering mud
upon the collars of persons on the
| New York side of the river), and Their
a vision of death, manning anG
| wreckage.