DISASTER IN AMERICA

Taranaki Daily News, 1 August 1916, Page 5

DISASTER IN AMERICA

MUNITION WORKS BLOWN UP. TREMENDOUS CONFLAGRATION. EXPLOSION FELT IN FIVE STATES. Australian-New Zealand Cable Associa-tion.—-Copyright. New York, July 30. A terrific explosion at 2 o'clock on Sunday im.niiirg shook all Manhattan, Brooklyn and New ,1,-r,ey cities. It was followed by another at 2.:iU. Many streets down town were strewn with glils-S. It was believed that a train of munitions for the Allies had been blown up. Another report was that the oil station had been blown up. Tlie sky was lit by fires. At Communipaw, Jersey City, several deaths were reported and enormous damage to property. There is difficulty in obtaining information owing to the telephones and telegraphs having broken down. . The streets are crowded with thousands of panic-stricken 'people. The explosion is reported to have occurred in the works of the Munition ' National Storage Company, near Comniuuipaw. Firemen who'were fighting the Haines when the second explosion occurred were hurled in all directions, 33 being killed. OIL SHIPS ON FIRE. Oil ships lying near were set on fire, causing a tremendous conflagration. All the warehouses in the vicinity were wrecked. . It is stated that more than GOO tons cf explosives for tlie Allies were blown up. Details show that the, fire first broke out in freight ears and spread to the wharf and blew up fourteen barges loaded with high explosives. A PILLAR OF FIRE. The National Storage Works are located on Blackton Island. Seven of the company's warehouses were burned and all the plant wrecked. j There was a tremendous pillar of fire when the barges blew up. The scenes in New York and Brooklyn were unprecedented. The force of the explosion was such that hundreds of people in all parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Bronx were hurled oiit of their beds. Thousands rushed from hotels and apart: meats in their night clothes and ran screaming through the streets. Two barges drifted down the stream blazing from stem to stern. The injured who were removed from lie barges near the scene included many women and children. The damage to the National plant alone is more than a million sterling. There are eighteen dead, and the total damage is estimated at fifteen millions. DAMAGE 7,000,000 DOLLARS, The National Storage Company which was manufacturing munitions for the Allies, has been wrecked, causing sever!'" million dollars' worth of damage. Shellladen barges drifted down the bay ablaze and hit Ellis Island and exploded, causing one million dollars' worth of damage. Immigrants were hustled out of Ellis Island. The explosion was felt in five States. Two cars of shrapnel were surrounded by flames and were unapproachable. FROM 50 TO 300 DEAD. The newspapers' estimate of the dead vary from 50 to 300, and tile injured and missing number hundreds. The damage has not been estimated. ORIGIN A .MYSTERY. Kew York, July 30. It is now possible to obtain a connected narrative of the explosion, which consternation and broken communications at tlie outset precluded. Although its origin is a mystery it is believed the fire started in the National Storage building, and Epread to a carload of dynamite, which in turn sproftil to munition cars and barges. There were probably a- score of separate explosions lasting till six o'clock. After the first alarm all the police on special duty, all firemen and ambulances were called out. The police checked the panic of the crowds, but in the mad stampede through tho streets many were trodden down. Thousands who were at supper or dancing in tlie Broadway cabarets rushed into the streets shrieking with terror. Many ran into the subways and, as the result, tlie passages were jambed by people. At the first explosion, the Wool worth building, and other skyscrapers showed up against the sky, which was intermittently lit up by tlie awful glare. Pieces of shrapnel were picked up a mile away. In Wall Street, windows were wrecked, also shop windows in Herald Square, and the adjacent section of Broadway. The police endeavoured to guard jewellers' windows, but there was "much ! looting, ,(., t ,_ •■' I%■ - '*■»"*'' —; -_.r-: ' ' ' .'" I 1 IMMIGRANTS CONVEYED TO ', SAFETY. v New York, July 30.. ' ! There was great consternation on ' Ellis Island following on the shattering j;i the buildings, and the authorities , called on the ferry boats, into which the j immigrants were hustled and hurried to I Manhattan. Many were injured. I Great damage was caused by the fire, i but fortunately the district was not a ' residential one, otherwise there would have been awful loss of life. The scene of the explosion was Lehigh ' Valley terminal, one of the main points lupf which munitions were loaded for the Allies. Trains crossing Brooklyn Bridge rocked with the explosion. Windows were smashed, passengers hurled to the floor and there was an indescribable rattle and crash of glass falling from a lliou'-'i..l windows" and buildings torn down. They recall, but on an infinitely bigger scale, the bomb raids in England. The terrified people rushed into doorways and to other cover to escape the fulling glass. Many were injured and the number taken to the hospital I has not yet been computed. | Wall Street, Fulton Street and other down town streets are like a sea of broken glass. Morgan's building is without a window. The guests at the Astor and other fashionable hotels lushed into the. streets in scanty attire. Several men in the building adjoining the scene of the explosion are not accounted for. it is feared many bodies are in the debris. It is known that a number of workmen were blown to atoms. As one barge drifted the fire crept on her till it reached the sheila, when the water was lit up by a mass of fianie shootins skv.wnrd*.

FURTHER DETAILS. STATUE OF LIBERTY IS DANgEfIbV, Received July 31, 5.5 p.ig. i ■Sow York, July 80„ J / Shells fell on Ellis, Beddoes, and Gin - ernor's Islands, which form a triangle* governor's Island being a mile and 4 half away from the scene of the ex* ■ plosions. , Unopened boxes' of shrapnel fell oi < the steps of the Statue of Liberty. " There wn-s tremendous excitement tfS ' a burning barge floated towards the Statue. Adjacent shipping and fireboat crews, at-great risk, pushed the barge into midstream till she wasbunwd to the water's edge. ' The fires raged for five hours, hot are, •' now quelled. . The authorities have directed as in* quiry into the causes of the disaster. One report suggests that it was due, toj the acid used. ' ' Blackton Island is one of the largest places for the shipment of munitions fat the Allies. (Ellis L-land lies one mile to the south* west of Manhattan, and since 1892 ha* been the chief landing place for inunigiants. Governor's Island is near the south end of Manhattan, and is a forti* ■ lied island.) • . v v