New Britain herald., 1916-07-31
MUNITIONS BLOW-UP
 ROCKS NEW YORK
Continued From First Page).

! showed the marks of an eight hour | bombardment of shrapnel, iron bolts
 and spikes, pieces of steel and chain.
 The roof of an iron warehouse was l ripped off and the walls are full of | holes, while the homes of the army l officers are stripped of their chimneys | and walls and plaster. The loss there 1 is estimated at $100,0O0. The statue 1 Of Liberty virtually is undamaged, but the doors to- the pedestal are blown in.
 Stories told by those who narrowly 1 escaped death verge on the miracu | lous. One man says he was blown off l a lighter into the bay and swam to Bedloe's Island, but had to swim | back again to the Jersey shore when the flaming barges bombarded the island. The aid seemed to be full of flame and I thought the end of the world had come" said another sur vivor. A third man was blown fifty fee from the top of a freight car and landed near a building which fell upon him
 Police Chief Killed.
 The Jersey City police today added to the list of dead Cornelius J. Ley den, chief of the Lehigh Valley rail- road police, who has been missing since the explosion occurred.
 At least $1u00O,OO0 probably s15,- OOO,O ,OOO damage was caused by the de- struction of thirteen of the eighteen warehouses of the National Storage company in Jersey City, Edmund L. Mackenzie stated today. This loss is amply covered by insurance.
 Tt would be mere guess work to estimate the damage now,' MT. Mac Kenzie said, but it was at least ten million dollars, very likely much more"
 The dAmag ged goods included thirty thousand tons of raw sugar, valued at between S3,O00,000 and s4,OOO,OOO, and tWenty-four thousands bales of tobacco.
 On consignments of munitions and other supplies going to France, loss will fall on insurance companies, ow- ing to the fact that policies issued to the French government cover ship ments from the beginning of the trip until delivery. English shipments are insured only 'in water side' in New York, while in the case of shipments to Russia policies are written both ways.
 
 While federal and county prosecu- tors and the interstate commerce 1 were conducting investi- 1 gations to determine the cause of and 1 fix the responsibility for the great l ammunition explosion with it's toll of death, injury and destruction, Mayor Mark Pagan of Jersey City an- 1ounced that he would demand a
  disaster. He said that such an in- was imperative in order o enact more stringent laws for the transportation and storage of high ex- olosives than are provided in the present regulations of the interstate commission. The mayor asserted that the state of New Jer- 5ey, although it had stringent laws governing the transportation of eX- | olosives within the state, was at the | mercy of the federal laws, to which l he Jersey authorities have been l obliged to conform in order to per | nit interstate commerce. The inter- | state commerce regulations, he said, | allowed the transportation and stor- l age of high explosives in quantities | far too large.
 "The responsibility for the explo- 5ion," said the mayor, lis entirely up 1 to the interstate commerce commits 1 sion whose regulations permit stor- age and transportation of huge | quantities of high explosives. There ! seems to be no redress in the mat | ter. The only solution of the prob 1 lem that I can see now is to appeal to congress. I have already request ed three New Jersey congressman to take steps to bring about such an It seems unnatural that such a catastrophe could occur in a civilized community
 Under the New Jersey law, Alfred M. Dickman, agent of the Lehigh Valley railroad stationed at Black Tom pier, where the explosion oc- cured, and Alexander Davidson. su- perintendent of the warehouses of the National Warehouse Storage com pany, mostly destroyed, were brought into court in Jersey City under ar rest today and held in S5,000 bail un- til Friday. They were charged with "permitting Johnson Lighter No. 24 loaded with high explosives to tie up at Black Tom pier.'
 Hartford Insurance Losses.
 Hartford J1lly 31-J ,oSSeS of the