New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-09-29
Four Injured
By Explosion
OF Fireworks
Two Inspectors of Bureau of
Con1hustibles, PatroIman
and Bystander Are Hurt
in Blast at Bath Beach
One Victim Near Death
Accident Occurs as OFF,
GERS Start to Destroy
Stock Seized at Festival

Two fireworks bombs, both of them
N the hands of inspectors of the Bu-
reau of Combustibles, exploded yester-
dav afternoon at Bay Eighth Street and
Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn. injuring four
persons and frightening residents of
Bath Beach, who thought at first that
the explosion was at Fort Hamilton
close by.
Those injured are James J. Butler.
of Is Lenox Road, Brooklyn, inspector
AZ the Bureau of Combustibles; William
]. Heany, of 564 st. Marks Avenue.
Brooklyn. inspector of the Bureau of
Combustibles: Patrolman Arthur Nc
Laughlin. of the Bath Beach police sta
lion. and Salvatore Seril, of 691O Six
tenth Avenue, Brooklyn.
At the Coney Island Hospital. to
which the injured were taken, it was
said that Butler probably would not
survive. His left arm was almost torn
off he was blinded in the left eye and
suffered severe burns and decorations.
Heany's injuries are severe. but are not
regarded as mortal. Mclaughlin was
burned and cut, but less severely than
either of the inspectors. Seril, who
was watching the men dispose of fire
works which he'd been seized by the
police, was painfully burned and cut,
but was able to go home after receiv-
ing medical attention.
Seized at Coney Celebration
The rest of the seized bombs,
forty-six in number, were replaced in
two packing cases and taken back to
the police station, where a patrolman
played a hose on them for hours last
night. All forty eight Of the bombs
had been placed in water Sunday night
when they were taken to the police
station and had remained there until
the men from the Bureau of Combust-
ibes called for them yesterday.
They had been prepared for use in
the celebration of an italian feast day
which took place Sunday on Neptune
Avenue, Coney Island, between West
Fifteenth and West Seventeenth
Streets. After the games and speeches,
the Italians took their fireworks to
the shore at Gravesend Bay and had
started to set them off when the re-
serves arrived from the Bath Beach
police station and interferred
alarmed by the glare and detonations
the police. Learning that no permit
had been obtained for the setting off
Of the fireworks, the police served sum-
monses upon three men who seemed
to be in charge and confiscated the
bombs
Taken from Water Pals
Two of the men upon whom sum-
monses were served were discharged
yesterday in Coney Island police court
and the third was fined SIS. After their
cases had been settled, Inspectors But
Ter and Heany called at the police sta
ton to dispose of the bombs. They
were taken from the water pals in
which they had been soaking and
placed in the patrol wagon of which
Mclaughlin is the driver.
Mclaughlin took the inspectors and
his load of explosives to the shore OF
near the Dyker Beach meadows, and
all three men began taking the bombs
from the packing cases and throwing
them into the water. The bombs floated
however, and Butler and Heany de-
cided it was not safe to leave them
afoat, for when they had drifted
ashore and dried out they might be the
cause of accidents.
They gathered up those which they
had thrown into the water and sat
down on the sand to tear the wrappers
from the bombs and throw the con-
tents into the bay. Butler was at
work on one bomb and Heany had an
other in his hand. Mclaughlin stood a
few feet away, and at little further
distance stood Seril, youth of
eighteen years, who had stopped to see
what was up.
Victims Hurled in Sand
Suddenly the bomb Butler was OPEN
ing blew up in his face He was flung