Norwich bulletin., 1916-07-31

lis Island employees from the other An explosion on one of the barges dam- aged the structure housing the power plant.
 Craft Affre Grounded.
 Two other fire swept craft grounded on the southwest corner of the island which contains the contagious disease hospital. The medical staff removed the 450 immigrants on the island to the battery.
 Sailing Craft and Steamers Damaged.
 Many small craft, as. well as several good sized steamers and sailing ves- sels, were badly damaged. Crews on the big ocean liners anchored out in the harbor, or dOcked along the New Jersey water fronts declared that when the first two great explosions oC- cured 1t appeared as if their yes sels were literally picked up out of the water and then hurled back. All Within Radius of 25 Miles Awak-
 ened.
 All New York and cities within a radius of twenty-five miles were -e,ak ened by the explosions. Within an hour 5000 telephone calls went over the police wires from excited inquir- CTS. Hundreds of thousands of per- sons, many of them sCantly clad ran excitedly' through the streets while automobiles containing policemen, fire men and others, dashed madly about. Detectives were rushed to Maiden Lane. the home of the jewelry indus- try, to guard against thieves. Else where, also. where broken glass was strewn over the thoroughfares police men were hurried to safeguard thus exposed shattered windows and door ways.
 Many Windows Were Broken.
 Tn the downtown section so many ir3 7rrr g-V, possible to assign policemen to every damaged store and some of the men each had entire blocks to guard. Scarcely an office building from the Battery to F'iftieth street escaped damage. More than a score of per sons. according 10 the police were ln- iured bn Manhattan and Brooklyn by flying glass. Police Commissioner Arthur Woods summoned any police. men from their training camp at Fort WadsWOrth to aid in safeguarding the financial district.
 Thousands Fled to the Parks.
 Thousands of persons in Jersey City fled to the parks after the first ex- pIosiOns. Panic-stricken women wheeled baby carriages about. some of them praying and others screaming as they went. Not until after dawn to- day was the scene changed from one of great excitement and fear to calm and apparent sell assurance. Then f. was ~ith difficulty that the police held the crowds back from the scene of the disaster
 Fire is Still Burning.
 The fire on Black Tom Island still ragged tonight. The large railroad yards of the Lehigh Valley and the reclaimed meadow land for miles around. virtually were covered with shrapnel shells. many of which had nOt exploded. Thousands of persons who focled there from New York, Jersey City and elsewhere crowded on tops of freight cars and watched hun dreds of fremen at work amid the ruins of the vast warehouse system through a haze of smoke and cinders.
 Visitors Collect Souvenirs.
 Many of the visitors carried away shrapnel shells as souvenirs. In some cases they had dug them from the earth two or three miles away from the scene of the explosions. Tn the rail road yaFds huge Dices of steel were found which apparently had been shot through the air by the force of the explosion.