Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-09-22

New York. Sept. 22.-Seven persons
were reported by police to have been
killed and moro than nifty others IN
jured today when q dynamite explosion
in the excavation Of tho new Seventh
avenue subway caused . cave-in and
.engulfed . surface car and numerous
pedestrians.
The accident occurred shortly before
o'clock and more than half the In
'jured were women and girls on their
way to work.
There were seventy -eight passengers
on the trolley car which dropped fif-
teen feet into tho subway excavation
WHEN the entire block on Seventh ave-
nue. bstween Twenty-fourth and
Hwenty fifth streets collapsed. Altho
the car remained upright It was partly
buried under m avalanche Of con-
crete. rails, timbers and earth and
many Of the passengers were severely
crushed.
Sinks with Great Roar.
= Persons in large Office building
near by said there was q great roar
as portions Of the pavement and side.
walk sank This was followed by cries
Of the passengers and pedestrians who
were thrown into the excavation or
Knocked down. Men and women
smashed the car windows with their
bare hands in their effort to escape,
eye witnesses said. while pedestrians
who had been thrown into the hole
struggled to avoid the failing debris.
Police reserves were called out two
fire alarms were turned in. and fifteen
ambulances with thirty surgeons were
rushed to tho scene. The hospital
corps Of large cloak and suit house.
directly opposite the cave-in. turned
out.
Water and Gas Mains Broken.
Tne cave.in DTvhe "-'eeter and gas
mains and within few minutes after
the-accident heavy flows Of gas and
water threatened the lives Of the 100
or moro persons in the excavation.
Prompt work by the city employees in
shutting of the water and gas put an
end to this danger.
Fire ladders and ropes were lowered
into the great hole and police and fire.
men began carrying out the dead and
injured, while contractors, employees
and others worked furiously clearing
away the timbers. rails and debris
that imprisoned many persons.
Moro Than Fifty Injured.
Within an hour more than fifty in
jured persons had been removed from
the cave-in. Two of these, q man
and woman. died on the way to hos
pitals, and another woman was re-
ported by surgeons, as dying. A short
tine later the rescuers reached the
worst part of the wreckage and the
first body was recovered. Later the
police and firemen reported taking Ave
dead from tho cave-in.
Rescuers found numerous sticks Of
dynamite scattered about in the sub.
way excavation and . foreman Of tho
United States Realty and Improvement
Company. contractors on this section
OF the subway, said much blasting had
been done this morning between
Twenty y-third and Twenty fifth streets
under Seventh avenue.
Props Give Way.
E. A. Little. general superintendent
for the contractors. said:
.'The disaster was due to q small ex.
plosion OF dynamite which caused a
number Of street props to give way.
The charge which caused the accident.
was q regulation dynamite charge and
the cave-in was not due to any care
.lessness. Rather It was due to tho,
crude, loose formation Of the dirt which
we Unexpectedly came across"
Mayor Mitchell drove to the scene OF
the accident carly. After an inspec-
tion Of the cave-in he said there had
been seventy-eight persons in the
wrecked car. but 30 far az he knew but
one person had been killed in the car.