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

the National Storage company on Bla
merchandise valued at between $1,000
ing into the clouds, were reflected ag
OFFICE buildings, which only few m
foundations by an earthquake. Mile
strewn with broken glass and shatte
Early reports of heavy loss of life
were impossible of notification and the
authorities asserted the number of
deaths probably would be small. 1t
was said that owing to the extent OF
the wreckage it might be several days
before the exact figures could be OBJ
tanned.
The cause of the disaster had not
been determined tonight Officials Of
the National Storage company and the
Lehigh Valley railroad, which also suf
fered heavily through loss of property,
declared, however, that reports to them
showed at first started shortly after
o'clock this morning on a barge be-
| longing to an Independent towing com
! pany that had been moored alongside
dock used by the railroad company to
I transfer ammunition shipments from
! trains to vessels in the harbor.
/ The barge. 1t was said, was there
! without authority of either the rail-
road or the storage company. The Of
/ ficials refused to disclose the name
| of the Independent towing company
/ saying they were investigating Ito as
certain whether the barge purposely
/ had been set on fire as the result of a
plot"
Warrants charging manslaughtei
were issued late tonight for the arrcs,
of Albert NJ Dickman. a guard at the
| Black Tom island docks for the LehiSl
Valley railroad company; Theodore J
Johnson. head OF the johnson Lighter
age and Towing company. and AleXan-
/ der Davidson. superintendent of the
National Storage Company. They were
accused Of having illegally permitted
explosives to be stored where human
life was endangered
Johnson's company had been en-
! gagged. it was said, in Tightening mum
tions from the docks to ships in thu
! harbor.
A statement issued late today by
the Lehigh Valley Railroad company
after a conference between heads %
all departments here, said:
Thirteen brick storage warehouse!
.uut Of the twenty four operated by tn,
National Storage company and 81,
houses owned by the storage company
and leased to the Lehigh Valley, were
destroyed. Several others Of the bricl
warehouses were badly damaged anC
&
Lehigh Valley grain elevators. In ad
dition, as far as is known. eighty five
loaded cars We're destroyed.
According to the evidence obtained
by officials of the railroad company
the fire started at :05 O'Clock thi
morning in a barge belonging to al
independent towing company which hal
been moored alongside the railroat
company's dock expressly against or
ders.
M T. Henley, night general yard
master for the New York division o
the Lehigh Valley railroad, was on tn
pier when the fire started He SAT-
the explosion, which occurred at o.
was in the barge where the fir
started.
Mr.. Henley's first thought was t
{ remove the loaded cars on the pier froT
/ the danger zone. He said that when h
. reached the end of the pier the barg
= was burning fiercely all over and tn
fire was beginning to communicate it
self to some of the cars nearest tn
barge.
Two long cuts of cars were success
fully removed from the danger zone be
fore the rapidly spreading fire en-
quilted the balance.
1T has not as yet been definitely de
Will be. Some 40, 600 tons of raw suga
valued at approximately SO, 400, 900
known to be lost Ii is believed tha
the other contents Of the warehouse
destroyed will greatly increase thi
amount There were no explosive
stored in the warehouses. Two Of tn
cars destroyed were loaded with shrap
mel which would not have been
source of danger but for outside fir
Two other cars destroyed were loade
principally with salt and pork.
The scene of the explosion and fir
is in no way adjacent to the main pas
senger and freight terminals of the LIE
high Valley railroad either at Me-
York or Jersey City and the misha
will not interfere with the operati {
business"
Edmund L. Mackenzie. president G
the National Storage company. de
elared tonight that the plant of hi
concern was valued at $1,000. 90
while the contents of the warehouse
probably were worth 10000 600 On
of the warehouses which remain
intact he said is filled with chen
! icals. BESIDES tho great quantity {
raw sugar burned there were "a, 0C
bales of tobacco. much mating frol
China and Japan and other merchar
the railroad Mr.. Mackenzie said. wa
partly covered by insurance.
AS far as ! have been able to az
certain. after 2 personal investiga
ion" said Mr.. Mackenzie. there al
paronflv has not been q great loss {
life. This undoubtedly was due to IL
fact that few persons live in the in
mediate vicinity Of our plant. The
were. of course q number of priva
watchmen and firemen or the grour
at TIE time, but all of these excel
two have been accounted for"
The body of an unidentified your
man was recovered from the Wat'
off the Lehigh pier A child in Jel
sey City. according to tho police, die
from shock after tire first explosion
Many men told thrilling stories
having been blown hundreds Of fe'
over land and water
Most of the sixty or more injure
taken to Jersey City hospitals wei
struck by shrapne. falling glass
DEBRIS. Nearly all We're in the raj
road yards or ON craft moored nei