Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1916-07-31

the island. Included among them ar.
a few women and children whose
homes were or harges.
Every window in the pedestal of the
statue of Liberty On Bedloe's isl; nd
opposite Black Tom was broken md
the main door made of iron and
weighing almost ION. was blown off
it's inges The statue itself. however,
was not damaged except from the
rain of shrarnel which despatched j..
Although The plant which furnished
mower f1r Bedloe's island was shaken
and partly put out ~ commission, the
famous light CT liberty burned
steadily throughout the hours Of con-
fusion. flaming high ABOVE the pail Of
| smoke.
Early reports of damage to he
buildings on Ellis Island were exag-
gerated according to Captain A. Is.
| Flv. supervising engineer of federal
| buildings in New York. Cartft" -
/ said the loss could not exceed $4,000.
| Most of the damage at the immi-
| grafton station. was cai-seu 'DN
! force Of the explosion which wrecked
walls ana buildings and shattei ed
windows and doorways. Two barfeS,
| ihlaze and laden with shrapnel shol's
| mad ,lrif,ad to the island from the
{
/ fire boat and tug played streams o.
water on them from one side and
/ Ellis Island employees from the other.
, An explosion on one of the barge.'
/ damaged the structure housing the
power plant
/ Two other sirc-swcpt craft grour d.
ed on the southwest corner OF the
| island which contains the contagious
diseases hospital. The medical staff
removed the 45n immigrants on the
island to The Battery.
Many small craft as well as many
good sized steamers and sailing yes
sells, were badly damaged. Crews on
| the big ocean liners anchored out in
| the harbor or locked along the New
| Jersey and New York water fronts,
declared that when the first two great
! explosions occurred II appeared as II
their vessels were literally picked ~
out Of the water and then hurled back
All New York and cities within a
| radius OF % miles were awakened by
the explosions. Within an hour six
| thousand telephone calls went over the
police wires from excited inquirers
Hundreds Of thousands of persons
many of them scantily clad. ran eX-
citedly through the streets, while au-
tomobiles, containing policemen. IRE
! men and others, dashed along De
tectives were rushed 10 Maiden Lane
the home of the jewelry industry, &c
guard against thieves.
| In the downtown section countless
windows were broken. Scarcely an Of
flee building from the Battery to Eff
tieth street escaped damage More
/ than a score of persons. according t
the police. were injured in Manhattan
and BROOKLYN from flying glass.
a of / Jersey
| fled to the parks after the first eXplo-
| sion. Panic stricken women wheeled
baby carriages about. some of then
. | praying and others screaming No
I until after dawn was the scene changed
| from intense excitement to calmness
Then it was with difficulty that th'
police held the crowds back from th'
scene of disaster.
The fire on Back Tom island is still
raging tonight. The large railroad
yards of the Lehigh Valley, and tn
reclaimed meadow land for miles ant
miles around virtually were covered
: with great piles of wreckage ant
: countless shrapnel shells, many o
! which had rot exploded. Thousands o
: persons who flocked there from New
York, Jersey City and elsewhere
, watched hundreds of firemen at worl
, in the ruins of the vast warehous
system. sea8t
Many of the visitors carried ava,
shrapnel shells as souvenirs. In som
i instances they had dug them from tn
earth two or three miles away iron
q the scene of the explosion.
c. w Leyden. chief of the Lehigl
Valley railroad police. was killed Will
aiding an engine crew in attempting t.
, save a number of freight cars iron
: the fire. A quantity of dynamite eX
ploded near where he was standing
, / it was said, and sew his body 4
atoms. The members of the car crev
, escaped with decorations and burns.
The Lehigh Valley ,a:iroad tonigh
/, sent a telegram to the bureau of safe
. ty of the interstate commerce commits
sion inviting cooperation in the in
vestigaton as to tho cause of the ex
T plosions and fire.
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