Year: 1876

it Off--Timid Burg
hers.


To the Editor of the Observer:


New York, Sep. 20, 1876.


When l sent you my last letter
l was not at all sure that this


morning might not find me shoot
ing through Saturn's rings on my
way TO the North Star, or rat


tling round in "the Dipper' or


flirting with the Pleiades, or get


ting hugged by the "Great Bear"
or something equally astr, nomical.


But it turned out to be not that


kind of an explosion; and so in
stead of playing comet in the in


terstellar spaces, l find myself


safe on the same old planet and
call agog" like John Gilpin to tell


the story of the memorial mo-


ment.


The dangerous work of priming
the cartridges and connecting the
whole chain of holes by the elec-
trio wire was accomplished by
Friday night, and the flooding of
the mine commenced. Dynamite is
so very uncertain commodity
that it was not deemed safe to let
the river rush in suddenly lest
the attendant commotiOn should
upset the equilibrium of this eX
citable "brOwn sugar (which
dynamite exactly resembles) and
do untold damage So large sy-
phOn was constructed, reaching
from the rivers edge to the bot
tom of the shaft, and through this
the water was slowly admitted.
This filling with water served
the double purpose of protecting
the cartridges ill the appointed
time and then preventing them
from blowing out of the holes and
wasting large part Of their force.
This done, the enormous batteries
which were to send the lightning
flashing down into those dark
depths, were pl ced and tested,
and finally guards were set to keep
curious meddlers at a safe distance
till Sundays high tide, that mo
ment being chosen in order to
have the heaviest possible "wet
blanket thrown over the upheav
al.


Sunday dawned dull and drip
ping and the fine searching rain
fell steadily all day long. Moth
ing daunted by this discOuraging
state of things, however, specta
tors began at early 10 a. m to ar
rive on that part Of New York
shore commanding the best view
of the point, and having secured
good position settled themselves
for a long wait, supported only by
anticipations of the unknown
magnitude of the blast, and by
the possibility of premature dis
charge which they alone would
witness. AS the day wore on the
crowd thickened rapidly and the
excitement throughout the city
and suburbs rose higher and high
er. Shortly after noon the up
ward bound horse cars began to
labor under clinging loads, and
from that time till the crash. the
streets were literally alive with a
hurrying thrOng of cars, carts and
carriages, which however were but
a handfulto thearmy that splashed
through the mud or foot. The
weather prevented the attendance
of the thousands of women who
would otherwise have been pres
ent, and as nine tenths of the men
were dressed in Sunday black,
the streams of humanity that
the eastern avenues look
ed like a vast but demoralized fu-
neral procession.


Everybody who had an umbrel
la carried it that day, and the
river bank which held
some fifty thousand closely pack
ed spectators had the appearance
of an immense field of black toad
stools. Z ich umbrella was 50 ar
ranged as to shut of the view Of
some eager watcher and also to
convey little rivulets down the
backs of several neighbors; but
these slight drawbacks failed to
damp the enthusiasm Of expec-
fancy which pervaded the whole
mass and which became almost
breathless during the last half
hour. No one knew just what
he was going to see or what was
to become Of him, and the posi-
bilIty, however slight, Of having
a yawning chasm opened teneath
Them was sufficient to keep the
nerves of all strung up to tue last
degree Of tension.