Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1911-02-02
Widespread Ruin Follows Ex-
pIoSion Of Carload Of Dyna-
mite on Harbor Lighter Near
Jersey City.
PANIC FOLLOWS SHOCK
RESEMBLING EARTHQUAKE
Great Buildings in New York
City Rocked and Swayed;
Fear Crazed Inhabitants Seek
Safety in Crowded Streets.
IBy Morning Journal Special Leased Wire

IBy Morning Journal Special Leased Wirel
New York, Feb. IA cargo of dy-
Mantle in transit from a freight car
TO the hold of a lighter moored al
Pier No. T. Communipaw, v. j., ex-
ploded one minute past noon today,
$50 yards south of the Jersey City
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 missing, hundreds We're
wounded and varying reports leave
from fifteen to twenty more unac-
counted for.
Thirty Is considered to be a con-
scrvative estimate of the dead and
property damage will hardly fall be-
low $4,000.
The cause Of the explosion is va
riously attributed to the dropping of
a case of dynamite and to a boiler
explosion on the boat. The cause
probably will never be known.
The Jersey Central terminal was
wrecked; three ferry boats in the
slips were damaged, lower Manhat-
tan across the river was shaken from
street level to 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
Amityville, l.. l.. thirty-five miles dis
tant and at Long Beach, n. j., forty
five miles away
The damage IS so wiueiy scattered
that II is impossible to more than
estimate 1t, but In Manhattan alone
1t is placed at 500 900. on Ellis Is
land, from 10000 to $4,000 and in
all three quarters Of million.
The lighter receiving the dyna-
mlta--the Katherine W., owned by
James Healing of Jersey City, van
ished utterly with her crew of seven
men, including the master, Edward
Traver. Alongside was the lighter
Whistler. which was so badly shat
tered that she sank with her crew Of
two, while the Swedish steel barken-
tine Ingrid was stripped of her rig
ging and two deck hands were killed
Fragments of one mans head were
found swinging high on a tangled
piece of rope.
The Katherine w. was tied to the
outer end of the pier, and crew of
dock hands was unloading a conslgn-
ment of fifty pound boxes from two
freight cars TO the lighter when the
crash came.
Only the Whistler's flagstaff has
been found. The freight car went up
in puff of dust. On the rear deck
of the barkentine Ingrid were found
pair of iron trucks. They may be
the trucks of the dynamite car or of
one of the other cars standing near,
which also were torn to bits.
Fifty yards back stood another car
OF dynamite. The explosion ripped
the roof off and broke in the doors.
but the dynamite itself did not ex-
plode
on board the Ingrid the steel miz-
zenmast snapped off above the lower
yard. and the tangled wreckage came
'umbling about the decks. Everything
abaft was leveled flat. but the steel
plates of the hull held
For 100 feet the pier was demolish-
ed. The planking seemed to have been
ground to powder. over the broken
edges twisted the steel rails Of tracks.
a steel gondola car on the southern
most track looked like an old hat used
Tor football
All about We're strange freaks of the
explosion. One freight car had the
roof blown inward, as IL II had been
crushed by falling boulder. but the
SIDES were undamaged. The iron
sneathing OF the freight house on pier
NO to the north, was pushed inward
oh me side nearest the explosion and
outward on the further side.
IN the train shed of the terminal,
nearly the whole southern exposure of
."e glass roof collapsed, showering
we passengers with broken glass One
,ian was struck by q twenty pound
died.
an engineer In a shunting loeomo-
I'VE was blown from his cab and died
oi fractured skull.
'ug boat captain was hurled from
"'S wheel house and shed out of the
water fifteen minutes later.
inside the passenger station damage
was visible everywhere. The floors
Sere Uttered with broken glass. Win,
Tvs fronting on the inner court had
sh sucked from the frames. sashes
'u all. States We're torn from the
" The hands of the ferry house
'oeK were torn off. The southern
m' oulged like a pasteboard box left
IVY VI the rain. There were no
."shes in most OF the windows and
W. s'ass in those that had sashes.
Two ferry boats Of the Central Rail-
'oua of New Jersey. the somerville
.,,u s"a 'he Plainfield. lay in the terminal
LIS and fl third tho alaurna1 .....