The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1911-02-09
81 KILLED In EXPLOSION
ONE STEAMER COMPLETELY DIS.
APPEARS.
Property Loss Will Reach a Million,
in New York and Jersey
City.

NNN " NJ y N N"l ~ VI ~ as"
mite in transit from a freight car to
the hold of a lighter moored at pier
No. 7, Communipaw, n. j., let go at
just n 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 - to 20 more u~naccounted
for.
Thirty-two seems 10 be a C~onserva-
tive estimate Of the dead and proper
~ damage will hardly run TO about
81, 600 900. The cause Of the explosion
probably eve will be known.
The Jersey Central terminal was
wrecked; three ferry boats in the slips
were torn and splintered; lower
Manhattan ross the river was shak-
en- from the street level 10 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
AmityTille, Long Island, 80 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 in Man
haitian alone it is placed at 100000
and on Ellis island at from $4,000 to
SIS. 900.
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 cut. Fragments OF
n mans head were found swinging
high on "A tangled piece of rope.
On board the Ingrid the steel mir
zen-mast snapped OF above the lower
yard and the tangled wreckage came
tumbling about the decks. Every
thing abaft the m~izzenmast was level
ed flat 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 IF the terminal
nearly the whole southern exposure OF
the glass roof collapsed, showering the
passengers with broken glass. One
man was struck by a 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
er. swimming about the southern side
the demolished pier.
Inside the passenger station there
was damage visible everywhere.
Streets Strewr With Glass.
The shock of the explosion caused
fire alarms to be rung in from various
parts of the downtown section and IRE
apparatus from all the nearby sta
was sent scurrying around the
in a vain search for the scene
Of the explosion, which at first was
reported to be on the low
end Of Manhattan island.
Broadway and Church streets from
street south We're literally
showered with fragments of glass,
from hundreds of windows on
Lhese thoroughfaras. The plate glass
windows in the customs house were
and there was extensive
breakage Of windows on all sides.
The. explosion caused panics in sew.
eral of the big downtown office build.
'ngs which seemed rocked 10 their
foundations by the shock. Alarmed
employees and tenants Of the struc.
made rushes for the elevators
and other exits. The quick subsid
nnce of the tremblings, however,
speedily to reassure the
multitudes and there were no
reports OF casualties due to the
napicEN conditions whinh ,,ray,iloJ