The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-22
Trolley Gar, Crowded With Passengers Thrown Into Excavation As Whole Block Caves in Following Terrific Explosion.
Men and Women, Trapped in Gar, Fight For Lives Gas and Water Mains Bursting Add to Horror Investigations Begun.

0uESI1ng AQQ Go doTTOf
 Investigations Begun.
 New York, Sept. 22-six per- sons were killed and betweeni |85 and 100 others injured to-i day when a dynamite blast in a partially constructed section of the 7th avenue subway causedi 1an entire block of pavement to- cave in, engulfing a crowded surface car, a truck and many pedestrians.
 Most of the men at work ins the excavation were caught iny the falling debris.
 { Seventy eight persons, most of them women and girls, on their way to business, were on the surface car which dropped into the excavation and was partially buried with concrete, rails, heavy timbers, dirt and rocks. The dead:
 Louis Krugman, 22. years old, a passenger on the car; an tin Identified workman, about 60 years old, a passenger; four laborers.
 Investigations are Begun
 Mayor Mitchell and other city ofi- ctals reached the scene early and made Inspections Several investtga- tions were begun. The mayor said the investigations have not progress ed far enoHgh to indicate whether criminal negligence was responsible for the accident or whether arrests would be made.
 The accident happened a. few min utes before o'clock. Thousands of persons were on their way to busi- ness in the crowded workshop dis tricts
 There were 78 passengers on the trolley car which dropped Is feet into the subway excavation when the en- tire block on t7th avenue, between 24th and 25th streets collapsed. Al though the car remained upright, it was partially buried under an a.val- ancte Of concrete, rails, timbers and earth and many of the passengers were severely crushed.
 Persons who were in a large office building close to where the car went down said there was Q great roar as the pavement and portions of the sidewalks sank. This was followed a, moment later by the cries of the partially entofnbed passengers and of pedestrians who were either thrown into the excavation or knocked down.
 Men and women smashed the car windows with their bare hands in an effort to escape, eye-witn nesses said,; nadPSfTi7nS ha6r7 thrown into the hole struggled to- avoid the falling debris and regain the street level Police reserves were called out, two fire alarms were turn ed in, and IS ambn.ances with thir- ty surgeons were rushed to the scene The hospital corps of large cloak and suit house directly opposite the cave-in, turned out.
 The cave-in broke water and gas mains and within a few minutes after the accident heavy flows of gas and water threatened the lives of the per sons in the excavation. Prompt work by city employees in shutting off the flow of water and gas put an end to this danger.
 Fire ladders and ropes were low cred into the great hole and poI5ch and firemen began carrying out tho dead and injured, while contra ctors' employees and otheFs worked furiously clearing away the timber, rails and debris that imprisoned many persons.
 Within an hour more than fifty in jured persons had been removed from the caue-in. Two of these, a man and a woman, died on the way to hospitals. A short time later the rescuers reached the worst part of the wreckage and the first dead body was recovered.
 Rescuers found numerous sticks of dynamite scattered about in the sub way excavation and a foreman for the United States, Realty 6 Improvement Company, contractors on this section of the subway, says much blasting had been done this morning between 2Srd and 25th streets under 7th avenue.
 E. A. Little, general superintendent for the contra ctors, said:
 ."The disaster was due to a small ez- pIosion of dynamite, which caused the snoring in this section to give way The charge which actually caused the accident was a regulation dynamite charge and the cave-in was not due to any carelessness on the part of our employees. Rather. it was due to the crude, loose formation of the dirt which we unexpectedly came across ''
 The dynamite blast which resulted in the cave-i -inx was set off almost di- rectly under Seventh avenue and 25th street, according to Chief Engineer Jones, of the construction company. He told the fire commissioner that the
 tcontinued on Paas. s.S