Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1911-02-04
Dynamite Cargo Blows Up at
Jersey Central Dock.
80 DEAD; HUNDREDS HURT

the Jersey water front in the middle
OF 5000. 900 people and 100000 things
happened.
Radiatng from the North river end
OF pier No. in the Jersey Central's
freight terminal In Communipaw, the
conclusion rocked Manhattan from
end TO end Jerse! trembled for many
miles back Of the marshes, Away out
IL Long Island people started up in
trembling buildings and thought It
was an earthquake Everywhere the
skyscrapers vibrated and spilled win.
dow glass into the streets.
In the immediate neighborhooG OF
the explosion the destruction was so
complete that II was next to impos-
sible to determine the number of the
killed or the precise reason car
load of dynamite ana quantity stored
In two lighters let go II is probable
that thirty men lost their lives and
that twenty-five of these were blown
to pieces near the pier end.
A Deaiening Roar.
Suddenly there came a roar that
overwhelmed all the little noises of
New York harbor. a crushing. terrify.
Ing wave of sound like all of the great
guns of all the forts letting off in
company
Then there was & sight interval OF
for something else TO happen. And
the momentary quiet was followed by
multitude of notes.-the crashing
of falling glass, the rattle and clang
of iron Orders swinging loose and
battering the sides of piers. a squeak
ing and grinding OF disturbed build.
ings settling back into place. and the
shrieks and cries of hundreds of pco-
pie who had been injured by the rain
OF missiles or who cried out in their
fear.
II was several minutes before the
stood exactly what had occurred. Ar.
ter they had climbed out of the heap.
ed up debris, their first business was
to care for the commuters, who were
running about aimlessly. with blood
running from the glass cuts on cheek
and head. and for their own men who
had been injured in the upheaval Of
glass and iron and splinters.
A Scene of Devastation.
Trainmen looked out toward the
end OF pier No. and saw that 200
feet of the solid pile set pier had
80
splintered edges OF beams projected
over black water: that a whole car
of dynamite had vanished along with
the pier end; that another car con.
tanning cases Of dynamite in sticks
had been ripped 10 pieces. splitting dy-
Mantle over the debris: that two big
lighters. the Katherine w. and the
Whistler, that had been taking on dy.
Mantle for the Dupont DE Nemours
company. were gone, and that the
ships and lighters and barges laid up
by the piers were piled with wreck.
age. and that wherever their eyes
travelled along the water front of the
terminal there was nothing but a mass
81 wreckage There was not spark
of fire anywhere.
All the way up through the terminal
from the riverside men were lying
against box cars or sitting somewhere
In the wreckage feeling out their own
injuries. Nineteen out of twenty, pos.
sibly. were bleeding from gashes in
the face or head caused by a shower
of splintered glass from far on high.
Some were bruised from being hurled
against cars or thrown head first from
their chairs In the pier offices or had
been knocked down by driven planks.
Up In the train shed and waiting
room of the glass denuded Jersey Cen.
trail depot theer was a wild scene OF
pandemonium. Imagine a steady rain
of broken glass over an acre OF ground
for perhaps half a minute, and imag.
Inc 300 people running for cover over
that acre. and you will have a faint
idea of what took place in the depot.
Doctors grabbed men and women
In punches and gave them the anti.
septic dabs and adhesive plaster
bandages. But there were scores who
were cut more deeply than others or
groaned from broken bones or lay
weak and helpless from the shock that
had come upon them so amazingly.
And so the ambulances made trip af.
ter trip, carrying folks TO the hos.
pitfalls.
Find Fragments OF Bodies.
There We're fragments OF bodies
here and there. leg and an arm high
up in the rigging OF the Norwegian
ship lngrid: dead man In the hold
of the same ship; shattered torso
among the coal piles on pier No. ..
But there were twenty-five men
squarely at the center of the explo.
sion, aud not trace OF them save
three mangled bodies were found.
Three-quarters of mile away the
captain Of the tugboat Tuohy was
blown through his pilot house and
killed. which made up the number of
dead positively known as four
There was hardly anV dOubt In tha