The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1911-02-02
LOSS ESTIMATED Ar S750,000
LOWER MANHATTAN SHAKEN
Disaster Occurred Near Jersey Central Railroad
Termina---Station Badly Wrecked---Ship
Containing Explosive Vanished Utter
y-- Damage Done In Towns 30
Miles Away

New York, Feb. IA cargo of dy-
Mantle in transit fr5-l rreight ears to
the hold OF lisGter moorcd at pier
No. Z at ComEncnipaw, New Jersey,
let go at one minrte past noon today
l50 yards souta Of the Jersey City
teimina. OF the Central Railway of
New Jersey and in the widespread
ruins that followed seven men are
known to have been killed, seven
others are missing, hundreds were
wGuR ed. and varying reports leave
Is or 80 more unaccoGrted for
80 Estimated Dead.
Thirty seems to We a consoG8 'two
estimate Of tAe dead, AMI the preoerty
damage will hardly fall below $780,
600 The cause of the explosion is
varously attributed to the dropping
OF case of dynamite and to a boiler
explosion en- tao 53at, hut the lirect
cause viii p,flabIy never be known.
The ie.seY Cent. | terminal was
wrecked Three ferry boats in the
slips were dlragcd. Lower Manhat-
tan. across the river, was shaken
from fsjreet level to the top of the
Singer tower Severe damage was
done in Enoohlyn and Staten Island,
and to the immigrant retention sta
ton on Ellis Island. The shock was
felt at Amityville. Long Island, 35
miles distant and in New Jersey at
Long Branch, 45 miles away
The damage is so widely scattered
that it Is impossible to more than
roughly estimate it,, but in Manhattan
it is placed at 100000, on Ellis IS
land from $4,000 to $4,000, and in
all, three quarters of million ap-
pears to be a conservative estimate.
Vessel Vanished Literally.
The lighter receiving the dynamite,
Katharine W., owned by James Ehl-
ing, Of Jersey City, vanished utterly
with her crew Of seven, including the
MASTER Edward Trayer. Alongside
was the lighter Whistler which was
so badly shattered that she sank with
her crew OF tro, waile the Swedish
harkentinc Ingrtd Was atrpped af her
rigging and twO dock bands aboard
were killed. T. agmcntg of one mans
head we're found swinging high on a
tangled riece cf r"~e.
The Katharine w. was tied to the
outer end Of the pier and crew of
deck hands were unloa ing con
signment CT 56 pound boXoa to the
lighter from two freight cars when
the crash came. One rercrt was that
the explosive was consigned to con
tractors up the river for blasting
along the Palisades; another that it
was hound for Havana.
Only the whistlcr's flag staff has
been found. The freight cars went
up in a puff Of dust. On the rear end
of the ingrid were found pair of
iron trucks. They may be the trucks
OF the dynamite car, o. one of the
other four cars standing near, which
also were torn to bits.
Fifty yards hack stood another car
of dynamite, The explosion ripped
the rocf off aud broke in the doors,
but TIE Dynamite itself did not ex-
plode.
On board the Iugrid the steel miz-
zen mast sn7pped eff above the main
yard, and the tangled wre1Eage came
tumbling about the deck. Everything
abaft was leyeled fiat, but the steel
plates of the hull held.
Pier Demolished.
&Pr 100 feet the pier was demol-
isifvd. The planning seemed to have
been ground to powder. The few
splinters left We're inadequate to ac-
count for its bulky girders, planking,
cross stays, and massive frame work,
built t9 uphold locomotives and load
ed trains. Over the broken edges
were twisted the steel rails of the
track A steel gondola car on the
southernmost track looked like an
old hat that had been used by the
boys for football,