The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1916-08-16
LIBERTY LIGHT PREVAILS
AMID RAIN OF SHRAPNEL
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOST
WHEN EXPLOSIVES BURST
ON NEW YORK WHARF.

The torch of Liberty burned
brightly all through the scenes of
wild confusion which prevailed in
New York and its environs when the
earth-shaking explosions of NUM-
tions for the allied powers in Europe
stirred from their rest the residents
of the metropolitan district. The
naturally nervous disposition of the
people in that section, heightened by
stories of plots and intensified by the
opinion that the great city of the ma
ton is vulnerable point of attack
found expression in scenes of con-
fusion.
1t was blow-up Of a storage ware
house on Black Tom peninsula, off
the Jersey City shore, which caused
several violent deaths and loss of
several million dollars worth of
property and sent the people of Man
haitian scurrying from their homes
in the dead of a hot summer night
to roam the streets in fright until
they learned with the dawn's early
light the cause of the trouble.
Over against the shore of the is
land where cars were crammed with
death-dealing implements floated a
mysterious barge, the identity of
whose owners was not revealed. In
this barge started the fire which COM
municated with the buildings of the
National Storage Company, in which
vast supplies were stored. Thirteen
brick storage buildings owned by this
concern and six piers owned by the
same company and leased by the Lee
high railroad company were destroy
ed by the terrific explosions.
Shrapnel Rained All Round.
Shoe; after shock made the earth
tremble. Scarcely a building from
the Battery to Fiftieth street but
suffered loss from broken glass. Ev-
cry city and town and hamlet in a
25-mile radius felt the shock. Away
up the line in Binghampton they felt
the Jar of the explosions as of earth
quake shocks. Big ocean liners at
their piers seemed to be lifted out
of the water and then dropped back
And raining around all were the
deadly shrapnel that kept up their
intermittent fire, as they do in the
war-strewn fields of Europe.
An official statement of the Lehigh
railroad company has it that the in
dependent barge which moored along
side of Black Tom island did so ex-
pressly against orders. The fire start
ed at :05 in the morning. "The
explosions, which occurred at 2 :O8 a.
M, was in the barge where the fire
started" reads the official report OF
the Lehigh from a statement made
by an officer of the company who
was on the pier at Black Tom PENN
sula through the catastrophe.
Only the dimest idea prevailed,
even hours after the disaster, as to
the number of lives that were sacri-
feed. Full reports could not be made
until the rolls had been called and
the men checked up.
1t is amazing, however, that the
loss of life was not greater. Shrap-
mel shells were dropped promiscuous-
ly about, three, four or five miles
from the center of the volcanic erup-
ton. Visitors to the scene hours al
forwards dug up fragments OF shells
and huge pieces of steel which had
been hurled miles and buried IN the
earth. These could not have failed
to cause death had the explosions oc-
Cured in daylight and had the re-
gions been peopled.
Tons of Supplies Destroyed.
In addition to tie loss of munitions
exploded and to the damage caused
by their explosion there was heavy
loss from destruction of supplies sup
posed to be destined for the susie
nance of the allies in Europe. The
official report of the Lehigh railroad
company has it that 10000 tons OF
raw sugar, valued at $2,4OO,O0O,
were lost. ''There were no explo-
sives stored III the warehouses and
in only two of the cars destroyed.
These were loaded with shrapnel,
which would not have been a
source of danger except for outside
fire. The other cars destroyed were
loaded principally with salt and
The cars referred to were those
which stood on tracks near the ware
house. In all 35 loaded cars were
consumed in the explosion and tlre.