Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-02-02

oamite in transit from a freight car
to the hold OF a lighter moored at
pier No. I. Communipnw. n. j.. let go
ht just one minute past noon to-day.
$50 yards south OF the Jersey Central
terminal of the Central Railroad of
New Jersey, and in the widespread
ruin that followed seven men are
known to have been killed. seven more
are known TO be missing hundreds
were wounded and varying reports
leave from 10 to 90 more unaccounted
for. Thirty aeems to be . conserva-
tive estimate OF the dead, and prop
srty damage Will hardly fan below
f-50,O 600.
The explosion is variously attrihut-
ed TO the dropping OF case of dyna
mite and to a boiler explosion on n
boat. Just what was the direct cause
will probably never be known.
The Jersey Central terminal was
wrecked: three ferryboats in the slips
were torn and splintered; lower Man
haitian across the river was shaken
from the street level to the top of the
Singer tower; severe damage was
Zone in Brooklyn, Staten Island ami
the immigrant detention station or
Ellis island, the shock was felt on
Long island in Amityville, 35 miles
distant, and in New Jersey at Long
Branch. 40 miles distant. The dam
age is so widely scattered that IL Is
Impossible az yet to estimate 1t more
than roughly, but in Manhattan alone
II Is placed at 100000; on Ellis island
at from $4,000 to $4,000 and in all
ree-quarters of million appears ia
be a fair estimate.
LIGHTER VANISHEs UTTERLY.
The lighter receiving the dynamite, the
katharine W., owned by James Healing
Of Jersey City, vanished utterly with her
crew Of seven men. including tho master,
Edward Traver. Alongside the lighter
Whistler, owned by the American Stora ge
e. Delivery company of New York, was
SO badly shattered that she sank with
her crew Of two, while the Swedish steel
barkentine Ingrid, a biscuit toss to the
south, was stripped of her rigging and
the lives of two declhands aboard were
snuffed out. Fragments Of one mans
head were found swing high on a
tangled piece OF rope.
The Katharine w. was tied to the outer
end of the pier and dock hands were IN
loading consignment Of 0-pound boxes
from two freight cars 10 the lighter wher
the crash came. Theoretically. dynamite
will not let 40 from either shock or fire
but only from combination of both. the
detonation produced by percussion cap
A boiler explosion might have duplicated
the effect Of the percussion cap.
What followed typically illustrates thu
whimsies of dynamite. The Katharine W
simply Disappeared; not splinter of her
has been found. The Whistler diss: lived
into wreckage The freight car went up
In a pun of dust. On the rear deck OF the
barkentine Ingrid were found a pair OF
iron trucks They may be the trucks OF
the dynamite car or of one OF the Other
four cars standing near that were also
torn to bits.
Fifty yards back stood another car Of
dynamite. The explosion ripped the root
OF It, and broke in the doors but the
dynamite did not explode
STEEL. MAST SNAPPED OFF
What might have happened had tho
second car added its chained forces to
The first can hardly be guessed; the
visible terrCrs of the actually were
enough. On board the Ingrid the steel
nlzzenmast snapped Off above the lower
yard Everything above tho m2zenmast
was levelled flat. but the steel plates
Of the hull showed not even a mark
For 100 feet the pier-end itself was ut
terly demolished. The planking seemed
10 have been ground to powder Girders
planking. cross stays. all the massive
framework of pier built to uphold
locomotives and loaded trains were as
nothing. A steel gondola car on the
southernmost track looked like an Old
hat that had been used for football.
All about We're strange freaks of the
explosion. One freight car had the roof
blown inward, but the sides were un-
touched. The iron sheathing Of the
freight house on pier No 6, to the north.
was pushed inward on the side nearest
the explosion and outward on the farth-
Ell side.
In the train shed of tho terminal
nearly the whole southern portion Of the
Flass roof had collapsed, showering the
passengers with broken glass. One mar
was struck by a 20-pound fragment and
30 severely cut that he died afterwards s.
An engineer in shunting locomotive
was blown from his cab and died Of a
fractured skull. A tug boat captain
wss hurled from his wheel house and
nshed out of the water fifteen minutes
later. swimming about tho southern side
Of the demolished pier.
WINDOWS SUCKED FROM FRAMES
Inside the passenger station, there was
damage visible everywhere. The floors
were Uttered with broken glass. Win
dows had been sucked from the frames
tashes and all. States were torn from
hs roof The hands Of the ferry-h house