Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-08-01
New Jersey Officials Move
Against Traffic Men Held
Responsible for Storage
of Explosives.
MORE VICTIMS OF DISASTER
Four Dead and Many Missing
as Cleanup Comes After
Great Fire.
MORE DETAILS OF AFFAIR

iNN" ! YIN JAiy W. ''>' 49,
under arrest today on warrants
charging them with manslaughter in
indirectly causing the death Of one of
the victims of the terrific explosion
of ammunition OH Black Tom pier
yesterday morning. Estimates of the
casualties early today placed the num-
Der of dead at three. with three 9TH
ers mortally injured, thirty-five suf-
fering irvm less serious injuries and
eleven to twenty missing. Estimates
of the property loss range from $25,-
100000 to $45,000,000. .....
Many persons who were on board
barges moored at the burned piers
are missing and it is feared that they
have perished. In some quarters it
was believed the total number OF dead
would reach twelve. .-
Traffic Officers Held.
Those under arrest were Albert M.
Dickman, agent of the Lehigh Valley
railroad. stationed at Black Tom pier.
and Alexander Davidson, superinten-
dent of the warehouses of the Ma
tional Storage company. thirteen of
which were destroyed by the fire
which followed the explosions. A
warrant was issued for the arrest Of
Theodore B. Johnson, president Of a
lightering company, one of whose
barges, loaded with ammunition, is
said to have been moored at the pier.
Dickman and Davidson were ar
raigned, charged with manslaughter,
and held in $4,000 bail for examination
on Friday. .-.
Frank Hague, commissioner OF pub.
lie safety of Jersey City, charged that
the blame for the explosion lay with
either the Lehigh Valley Railroad
company, the storage company or the
lighterage company, and that some OF
them had violated the laws Of New
Jersey, the Jersey City ordinances and
the rules OF the Interstate Commerce
commission by permitting 6arges
loaded with explosives to remain
moored at the piers over night. These
barges were being used to transport
the ammunition to steamers lying i'll
Gravesend bay.
,~ Several Investigations.
Several investigations were COM
menced today to discover the origin
of the fire which caused the explosion
which destroyed $5000,000 worth OF
ammunition, eighty-hve freight cars,
set blazing ammunition barges adrift
tobombard the Statue OF Liberty and
the Ellis Island immigration station
with shells and shrapnel and shattered
100000 worth OF windows in this
city. One OF the investigations is
conducted by Colonel Beveridge w.
Dunn, chief inspector of the bureau
of explosives of the American Rail
way association and the Interstate
Commerce commission. He 10 aided
by thirty inspectors. The county
prosecutor and city employees in Jer-
sey City are making Investigations
also. 1t is understood that agents
Of the Department of Justice are max
ing inquiries to learn whether the ex-
plosion was OF incendiary origin,
Fire Started on Barge.
Conflicting reports as to the cause
Of the fire are still circulated. Lehigh
Valley officials assert that an inter-
loping barge loaded with ammunition
was moored at their pier in defiance
of their orders, and that the first ex-
plosion took place on board that ves-
sci. The commissioner OF public
safety says that four ammunition
barges were atAor near the piers, and
that all of them were destroyed. Ii
is feared their crews persisted.
The big pier just west Of the Statue
of Liberty is today mass OF smoking
ruins with the debris piled hundreds
OF feet high in places, and with the
fire still burning. .s..'..
immigration Station Damaged.
The work of repairing the damage
to the buildings on Bedloe's and Ellis
Islands and in New York and Jer-
sey City, began today. The irnmigra-
ton STATIC. at Ellis Island had the
appearance of war swept village,
with every window shattered, the
roof of the hospital caved in, the
main door blown away and the dining
and executive rooms wrecked, while
the island was strewn with bits OF
shrapnel, broken glasc and three inch
shells, thrown ashore from drifting
barges, which had bombarded the is
land as they burned. The damage
was estimated at $4,000.
The buildings on Bedloe's Island,
with doors blown in and windows
shattered, showed the marks of an