THE JERSEY EXPLOSION

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 14 September 1916, Page 5

THE JERSEY EXPLOSION

DAMAGE MORE THAN £I,OOO; 000 NEW YORK CITY SHAKEN A terrific explosion of munitions ready for shipne*: accurred at .e:sey cit/ about two o'clock in the morning of Sunday, Juy to wakening e»e:*y body from sleep within a radius of 25 miles and causing damage of more than five million dollars. The smashing of glass all over New York and the jarring of the (great skyscraper buildings was a test of solidity to which they could not have been subjected by anything else short of an earthquake or shell bombardment. Many lawsuits of an involved nature have been instituted for damages, but the results are doubtful. The cause of the explosion is put down to deliberate destruction by a barge in tow -which moored alongside a pier on Saturday night strictly against orders, and close to where the munitions for the Allies were on deck awaiting exportation. A second explosion half an hour later was almost as great. A number of lives were lost, and the smoke rose from the ruins like that of a battlefield, causing a yellow- haze in the sky for a distance .of 500 to 600 miles to the north-east, which was the direction of the wind, during all the ensuing day.