The New York Herald Newspaper, May 8, 1876, Page 3

A HORRID PLO? The Explosion on Bergen Heights | sone ‘ Cansed by Strikers. WHOLESALE MURDER ATTEMPTED. Mow dersey Laborers Following the Methods of the Molly Meguires ENGLISH “RATTENERS” OUTDONE An Endeavor to Destroy a Tunnel and Sacrifice Sixty Lives, “] have witnessed a great deal of the horrors of war; I have seen cities and towns sbelled and sacked, but never have I witnessed such devastation as this,” was the remark of the veteran Colonel Skinner yesterday, ‘as he stood in the parlor of what was two days igo tho handsome residence of Major Harris on Palisade avenue, Jersey City Heights. Tne terriblo rendrock powd explosion of Saturday night was, without question, the ‘most remarkable on record, considering the wholesale @estruction of property and the miraculous preser- “vation of human life amid tho scenes of deso- | lation, Of the ‘vast multitude, numbering filty thousand persons, who visited the scene yesterday from Now York, Brooklyn und Jersey there was not one who did not marvel that no life was sacrificed. The fell work of the terrible destroying agent was so widespread thatthe busy reporters were puzzled in ‘what direction they would begin to mako their sketchos, Bianding on the brow of Bergen Hill over the eastern entrance of the new Delawure and Lackawanna tunnel, MOne view couldke obtamed of the dark streams of humanity that poured through the highways below from every direction, all converging to the great cenire bf curiosity, THE POwDRR vit, for that 18 all that 1s left to mark the place where stood She magazine in which was stored the explosive com- pound which has obtained the very appropriate namo or “rendroek powder,” This pit is about four feet in depth and from twenty-five to thirty fect in diameter, and is situated about sixty feet froin and almost directly over the eastern entrance of the tunnel, The explosive compound was stored in boxes, each containing 100 Pounds. According to the statement of the contractor, Mr. JoMP McAndrew, there wus never stored in the f than cight boxes mt ono time, Tho was five, The odagazine was a brick “twelve py “ten feet, and was from six root of one-quarter inch iron, The entrance was secured by an iron door, to which was attached a patiock. The Key of this lock was intrusied to Mr. Oakley, superin- ‘tendent of the tunnel, and he in turn delegated the timekeeper, one Reynolds, who is pronounced avery competent and reliable man, to draw supplies trom the Maguzine from time to time. On Saturday last Rey- Dolds drew some cartridges from the magazine avout two-o'clock in the afternoon, locked the door and handed the key back to Mr. Oakloy. At hall-past ten ‘O'clock the same evening, just as the men within tho tunnel were about to leave, having finished their labors for the week, the explosion occurred, How that explosion was caused is a question that will receive a tigid investigation, 1t is a question enveloped in SUSPICIONS CIRCUMSTANCES that support the theory of fiendizh malice. Ont of 600 men recently employed in the tunnel only fifty were at work on Saturday evening, the othera being on strike. Pho strikers, led by Edward Mannion, Gu Martin and Patrick Stanton, entered the tunnol in a body one day est week, and, meeting Mr. McAndrew, demanded an Increase ot wages, Ho'offered to advance tho wages of the men on the enlargement,” but refused to increase those of the .““puddiers.” -A controversy ensued, and McAndrew invited them toa conference outside the tunnel. To this the men agreed, and were rushing the entrance, when Stanton cried out, “Hold boys; if he doesn’t yiekt let us clear theso fellows out!’’ alluding to the men who refused to join in the strike. The workmen were thereupon driven out. McAndrews had Mannion and Stanton Saturday, in presence of a crowd of tho strikers, and bail to await the action of the Grand Jury. This result exasperated the strikers, or they turned in the diroc- tion of the tunnel, BREATHING VENGEANCE. Had the explosion been delayed a few minutes later Bel would have been ascending the bill, moving to vertain destruction. “I toll you,” said contractor McAndrew to a Hxnay feporter yesterday, “this organization of strikers isa branch of the ‘Molly Maguirea.’ They succeeded in domg a great deal of mischief in Pennsylvania and they ow propose to spread terror among the people of New Jersey, If they getan inch they will take an ell, aod should they incet with avy success they will become so tyrannical that it will be upsafe for any man hostile to their parposes to- walk tho streets, Mark my words; I can prove what I say. These men made several attempts to coerce me, and they boasted they would ‘run the tunnel,’ but I showed them every time that they had met with tho wrong man. I have built a great many railroads, and 1 never permitted any organization or set of men to dic- tate to me in what manner I should conduct my bust- ness.” ‘The reporter inquired if he entertained any suspicion that the explosion was the work of some malicious per- g0n, to which ho replied :—I don’t like to answer that, but 1 will say that I am dealing with desperate men, some of whom woald stop at nothing to gratify their malice when they are bailled.’’ Several officials of the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad visited thy scene yesterday and made ao minute examination of THE WRECKED BUILDINGS. The houses which suffered most wore those of Major Harris and Colonel W. E. Rogers, forming ona @uilding. Not a pane of glass was left in either house. The shut- ters nud sashes wore shattered to splinters, the doors wore wrenched trom their fastenings, the choice carpets wero strewn with broken. glass, cornices and plaster, which declined all further attachment to the ceiling. A brickbat had passed throagh a front bedroom window $m Major Harris’ house, crashed through two closet doors, and lodged in the back wall, Large holes in the uth ‘and plastered partitions suowed that bricks had paid Visits there. The bed in which Major Harris and his ‘wife were lying was riddicd with picees of brick and broken glass, The Major received a severe cut on the inglit cheek, ana his wife sustained several gushes oa Blass Were embedded in doors, chairs, beasteads and tven the walls, Ina rear bedroom two children were sleeping, and they hada miraculous escape. A shower of plaster fell trom the ceiling in @ heap, crushing thei hitie bodies, but Providence saved their faces and bands. Equally iiraculous was the escape of Colonel Rogers’ child, and the father himself when be recovered trom bis stupor found ne had sustained only a few sligtt scratches, Tho house of Charles J. Roe was greaily shattered, as well as the oclegant rosi- fence of Police Commiasioner Steenken. THE FREAKS OF THE sHOCK were indeed curious, One feature in common to all the shattered houses attraged general walle to a distance of tweive inches the débris to be found on every vide every mirror stood intact, in Me, Heppenfie'mer’s residence on Reservoir avenue one side of # folding window war swept across the floor while the other maintamed its position, the glass remaining unbroken. The adjoining House, owned by Mr. Taussig, was sbaken so badly that some of the windows were en- tirely demotiahed. Opposite 8 the stately and ypa- cious residence of Mr. C.F. Staples, and this was atrypped of overy pane of glassy yot the interior of tue wat lle damaged. Forty yards east- | sew iaas in the midst of arrested for conspiracy and threatening his hfe. The | vase was brought betore Police Justice Peloubet on | the evidence being conclusive the accused were held to | that night the men who continuo at work in tho tun- | her face from the flying pieces of glass. Splinters of | observation, | Bureaus, with theie mirrors, were displaced trom the | NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MAY 8, 1876—TRIPLE SHEET , and this was ~‘twistea completely from roof to cel- lar,” to use am expressive remark of James att The residence of ex-Captain of Police Robinson is fully 2000 feet distant from the scene of theexplosion, yet a stone weizning twenty poamsnoghes yh hea a few feet in front of bis resi- . “Had it struck the roof,” he remarked, ‘1t ‘would have gone eleam through.” Eight houses on the south side of Wi Street, westward from the cor- ner of Palisade were moro or less shattered. The windows were broken, the doors wrencbed and tho | ceiling displaced. Freeholder Jobn Feiler, whose | Douse Is situated at more than twice the distance of peer of the houses mentioned, sustains a loss of $120 from the breaking of glass and tlo dislodgement of | plaster. OTHER HOUSES S1ATTRRED. The mansion of Mr. C. F. Staples, which is an im- posing structure of brick and brown stone, with stables and couservatory close by, presented yesterday a strango appearance, Every window from top to bot- tom seemed only a gaping orifice without a single pane, and all about the house, in the yard, were large piics of @lass and heaps of mortar and broken cornices which had been shaken down, Every light of g'ass in the conservatory, too, was shattered. The dwelling of August Schuler suffered as bad as any. From cellar to garret the inner and outer walls are separated by 8 gaping seam, and tn places the wood- work outside bas bulged out and seems damaged almost beyond repairing. The ceiling is cracked and the roof of tho house is broken by several erevices. Here, a8 elsewhere, an almost miraculous escape ovcurred, A young mau bad just vacated a seat near a window when a shower of stoves came through the opening. John F. Pettigrew's house, to which reference was made before, was almoft riddled by the flying débris, His wile and child narrowly escaped death trom a masa of stones ang glass which covered the bed they were lying on. Pettigrew was injured, but not severcly. A mass of mortar fell upon bin while in bed, cutting his aud momentarily stunning him. All along the streets on the Heights, many blocks from the scene of the explosion, windows without panes and loosened shutters attest the violence of the shock. A cottageon Oakland avenue, one of eight similar structures, had all its windows smashed in, but the reat of the houses were uninjured. St. Bridgot’s church, in Eighth street, Jersey City, had all the windows broken and a quantity of plaster from the ceilings and walls knocked off ‘Warehouse suffered in a similar manner, not a pane of glass being left whole. A good joke went the rounds at the expense of Cap- tain Glenny, of tho Third precinct station. Ho was sittiug in the sub-station when the building was rocked with such violence that the door became com- pletely wedged into its frame. He was, consequently, unable to get out to instruct his men in the emergency. and a considerable time elapsod before assistance arrived, By the aid of three of his men he was “hewed out,” as the jokers said. A bumorous incident also — occurred Pohiman’s Park. A hop was in progress in the upper hall, and when tho exploston took place the lights in the hall were incontmontly ex- tinguished, “I was playing a game of billiards at tho time,” observed Williain Taussig, “and 5m mighty glad I wasn’t home attho time. if I had been I'd probably have a load ofthat glass trom my windows in my bead.’ In the house of Mr, Hamlin, on Reservoir avenue, ® bolt wrenched from tho hall door was found on tho = sidewalk several fect distent, while the doors re- mained so fast that they were only opened by the application of great force, William Thompson, proprictor of the “Rock Tavern,” assured a Hewaip reporter, with evident seriousness, that his house did not stand yesterday where it stood the previous day, The fissures in the walls, without and within, the broken doors and shutters and the heaps of plaster on the floor he pointed out as strong proof of his assertion. Contractor McAndrew boards in the second story of this house, and be ia suffering from injuries sustained by the shock, but they aro not of a serious character. Two half bricks entered through the window ot the room in which Mr, McAndrew was sleeping, passed through tne door opporite and foll on tho kitehe: The plaster from the ceiling aléo “Yaused some “slight wounds on Mr. McAndrow’s head. The broken glass from the windows also cut him about the head and limbs, ‘Ttfe landlady, Mrs. Thompsou, was severely dows; her arm was also bruised and hurt by tho falling of the ceiling in her room. Her husband escaped with a few cuts on the face. Tho stock of liquors in the cellar was completely destroyed, 2560 bottles of wine wero broken, four barrels of whis- key were lost by the rending of the barrels, as. also Bumeroun kegs of lager beer. The loss on stock alone in this building is set down at $700. The building suffered to the extent of about $200, It may hero be mentioned that about hall-past ten o’clock on Saturday night a party of strikers with Stanton and Mannion in their midst parsed by the Rock Tavern as thougi going to the mouth of the tunnel, Ten minutes later the explosion occurred, and as they would have to pass by the toot of the hill on which the powder house was situated, and which was but some sixty feet above them, thig fact 1s somewhat signiti- nt. Then again the circumstance that MeAndrow was living at the Rock Tavern, whieh is but a short distance from tho place where the powder was stored, ‘Vs also another fact to bo taken into consiteration, for injury to McAndrew that tho explosion way planned. The Galculations undoubtedly were that some of the scattering fragments of the fying débris would reach him and perhaps kill him, WHAT SUPERINTENDENT OAKLEY 8aY3, A Hxnatp reporter called on Mr. Oakley, Superin- tendent of the tunnel, at his residence in Waverley street. He stated that carly in the afternoon of Satur- day he gave the key of the magazino to the timekeeper i (Reynolds), and sent him to draw tho last supply of “rendrock” for the week. “You see,” he remarked, “that our gang 8 not relieved on Saturday nights as on other nights of the week, and oar men gather up tools and clean things up about ten o'clock, They were on the point of leaving the east end of the tunnel, | directly under the magazine, when tho explosion oceur- had only fifty men at work, in consequence of the strike. 1 cannot comprebend how the explosion could | occur by aceident, though it is terrible to think that any tpan could be so wicked as to undertake such an act of villany. I had the key iu my possession irom the Reynolds came from the magazine ‘on Saturday afternoon, but of course the lock could be picked. We will be able to get along with fifty men henceforth, the tunnel is nearly completed.”” JAMKS STANTON, THE NIGHT WATCIDLAN, employed by Mr. McAndrew to tuko care of the property lef. in the tunnel, stated tn answer to inquiries made of him yesterday that his duties iu no way required him to look ¢ the powder | house, He was, he said, only engaged to take charge | of the interior of the tunnel, He sometimes passed by | the powder house, but did not visit i regaleely. He \ did aot notice any suspicious parties near the building on Saturday night, ether previous to or after the explosion. At the time the shock occurred he | was in the tunnel, He felt that something unusual had | wecurred, for tho whole structure was shaken. He | waited at the mouth of the tunnel until a police officer came to the spot, when he went to inform Mr. McAn- drew of what bad oceurred. His opinion appears to be thatthe explosion was not the result of accident, but of design on the part of some of the strikers, it would be easy, said be, to set the thing going, for any one could easily knock a brick or two outof the powder house walls and run in and fire a fuse of sufficient length to allow time for escape, and the job would be dane, Ho had heard no talk amonz the men im regard to the afte before it occurred. He thought the firing had been done simply out of revenge on the part of the disaifected men, | THR POLICH THKORY. of the explosion, so far ax could be ascertained, is that the place was intentionally tired by some of the strikers, od 10 the building « cartridge, et could not have been expluced, Thompson, of the Turd precinct, of tne reserves, was on the ground yesterday pre- serving order among the tnn crowds that Visiied the scene, and alse ondeavoring lo find a elew to the perpetrator of the outrage, but so tar without re ‘ gatt as regurds the bitter, Tn feet, beyoud the sas. | picton that the strikers bad a band in the business | there tH muthing to base inquiries upon. Patrick Stan- Sergeant St. Francis’ Hospital and the Tobacco Inspection | at! cut about the neck with the flyig glass from the win- | many think that it was with a view to do some bodily | ‘ang iting. | red. Such narrow escapes are seldom recorded. We° and that one of their namber purposely | without whieh the | with the whole | | the explosion as Jersey City. The following ts a yen- to be notoriously bad characters, and thelr movements on the night of the explosion are to be investigated, BOW LOWER JERSRY CITY SUFFERED. A most singular and as yet inexplicable feature of the catastrophe was the zigzag dircetion the shock pur- sued in its work of destruction, From the “Rock Tavern” it had an unobstructed sweep across the flats il it strack the Erie workshops, and sent glass flying from the roof and windows. Across the street isa iarge brick building, owned by Patrick Crom and used aga grocery store. Here glass and sash alike in the window of the store yielded. Deitz’s grocery store, on the next corner, experienced a similar visitation, The shock was felt in Monmouth street, as far south as Fourth, where a kerosene lamp was hurled from a bureau. It then rebounded eastward, and when it reached Grove street swept along with savage fury. Mr. Totten, who owns buildings at the corner of Grove and Eleventh streets, isa sufferer to.the extent of four hundred dollars, Michael 0’Grady was so stunned, and his large grocery store adjoining the Erio Railway so shaken, that he believed the day of doom had come, Hardly a building escaped, from Pavoni avenue to the Hoboken hive on Grove strect. The lights on the Jer- sey City ferryboats wero suddenly extinguished, as well as the lights ina large number of strect lamps. Hun- dreds of stores and private dwellings were consigned to sudden darkneas, WHO 18 RESPONSIBLE? This wag, after all, the main question discussed yes- terday. The injury to property in Jersey City will amount to $350,000, Contractor McAndrew cannot bo fued successfully for these losses, inasmuch as an ordinance was passed by the Board of Aldermen author- izing the storage of certain explosive materials under fixed conditions, These conditions have not been violated, so that the city, through its legistative board, having assumed the responsibility, is tho only party liable in legal __proceed- ings, The owners of damaged proporty will hold a conference to-day to devise some measures look- | ing to relief, A meeting of the Hoboken property | owners is called tor this evening, at the Otto Cottage | Garden. Tho hoases in which Major Harris and Colonel Rogers reside belong to the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad Company, which will sustain the logs. The buildings aro to be repaired immediately. Mr. Griffith, master carpenter of the railroad, inspected the houses yesterday and decided on the improvement and repatrs Fequired, IMPRESSIONS FROM THE SHOCK. Owing to the lateness of the hour not many people wero abroad at tho timeof the explosion, but those who witnessed it speak of it as an event the memory of | which will last iora hitetime. “1 was in Chicago at the time of the fire, id Mr. Rodgers, whose house was so badly damaged, ‘and I was present during many horrible scenes thero; but never did I behold such a terrible sight) as that I witnessed last night, I had fallen asleep just bofore the explosion, and was awakened by a shower of glass, mortar and débris falling all around me. There was an awfal ram- bio and roar outside, and as I hurried to tho window, from which every pane of glass had been blown, a dark cloud of smoke rushed in, and I was barely ablo to discover through the murky air a coluwn of flamo shooting up to the sky. Perhaps it was through ex- citement, but tor somo moments 1 fancied the ground heavod. All’ about the house I heard the crash- ing of glass and furniture. Outside and In, tho darknoss Was intense, and every moment a shower of dust came rattling down upon the house, It was some time be- fore I could divine the cause of the uproar, but whon I went outand saw ruin all around I fancied that life as well as property had been very generally sacrificed.” Mr. Charles Rowe, clerk of the Board of Fri holders, was coming home with Mr. C. F. Staples, | on Saturday night, and had reached a point directly opposite the magazine when the explosion occurred. In a conversation which the writer had with Mr, Rowe, ho said, “We had reached the corner and were conversing when a strange burst of sound, unhke anything I ever before heard, rung out, and Mr. Staples, whose face was turned toward tho hill, ex- claimed, ‘My God, what can that bo?’ Now, I have been opposed to having that magazine there, For years 1 have spoken of the dangerous consequences Lkely to result from its proximity to the houses of the neighborhood, and at once the true state of tho case flashed upen sam 4 Psy ? 7 18 THR MAGAZIS I cried, and at tho samo moment a dark red flame sprung upward fully tho distance of a mile, and that terrible concussion which was heard so far away oc- curred, it seemed, in mid air, Atthesame time all the | lights along the avenue went out and a dense yolume | of black smoke rolled up the hill and spread all about, | | | Atthe first alarm Mr, Staples had hurried off to nis house and for an instant I was stupefed with tho noise and | darkness, Bat, expecting the dangerous shower of stones and miasiies, I crept under a feace and lay | there, while from all sides resounded the crash of | ginsa and the smashing of furniture. And then in tho midse of the darkness began a shower of dust and ébris, which fell all wround meand seemed to fill tho air. The smell of powder, too, was very percepti_ tible, and for a short spaco of time the glare of tho flames seomed playing uyon the edge of the smoke wreaths, and casting a strange red glow upon the sky. | As s00n as satety would allow I left my place of re- curity and hurried home. But what a sight that avo- } nuc was! People, with palo faces and dis- ordered dross, rushed from the houses or | stared in affright from tho shattered windows, and all over the piazzas and in the gardens in | front were broken shutters and fragments of glass | I reached the house only to find the rooms own with glass and mortar and the ceiling in most | of the rooms tallon down. ‘This disaster has been very | damaging to property, but, through what can only be a | miraculous intervention of Providence, not a lite has | been lost, This explosion is only an event that many people living about here have anticipated,” Mr. Staples’ story of the disaster agrees in the main | with Mr, Rowe's, Ho says that the concussion was not | felt on the ground, but seomed to take place in mid- | air, und he siates the couformation of the ground | around the magazine as the only thing that saved whole | Docks from being swept down. From the spot where the powder house s:ood the ground rises into a sucecsion of little hillocks up as far as Pait- sade avonue, and these broke tho violence of the explosion and prevented the houses aloog the strect from suffering as they might have, A curious effect of the explosion was its action upon doors and furniture in the@nterior of the houses, which were far removed from windows or other openings, and the surroundings of which remain intact, In the residence of Jovn F. Pettigrew an inner door was partially taken from its fastenings, | and twisted into a shape distorted beyond all char recognition, In the same louse a portion of the wall, | directly opposite the scene of the explosion, was shat tered as if struck by a inags of sione, In ali the houses | the walls were studded with broken bits of glass. In one cago the glass covered a portrait which bad been partially snatehed from the frame and driven toto the ceiling above it as THY, DAMAGE DONE IN HOBOKEN by the explosion is computed at from $10,000 to $20,000, Hovoken is about the same distance from the scene of eral roport of the effect of the air wave caused by the explosion:— ‘The windows on the south side of St. Mary’s Roman Catholic church were terribly shattered. The hospital | of St. Mary's adjoining and conpected with the church suflered considerably, All the jammps ia the park in front of St. Mary’s | church went out. Four hundred dollars worth of French plate ginss windows on Washington street, near First, wero smashed ‘Tho lovs 18 covered by Insurance. rF ens’ grocery store adjoining bad many of its windows driven in, In MeCloskey's house opposite portions of ceilings in the different rooms fell down, The windows of Earing’s liquor storo look as if they | hail been pelted with stones. A gathering of the members of the German Club was being beld at their club bouse, and when they heard the explosion they ran toward the wharves of the Ger- joan steamers, wtiler the belief that another dynamite explosion had occurred similar (0 that at Bremen on | the Mosel, Large plate glass windows at Haman & Siobury drag store, at the corner of Filth and Washington | strerta, were broken 10. j Seluskin’s liquor store, at Eighth and Washington | strovts, had $150 worth of plate glass broken. A great wany clocks stopped with the forco of the explosion. The street lamps were nearly all put out, also the Dailding belonging to P. T. Camberson,.. ton and Gilinirtin, the leaters of the strikers, are said | ight in the ferry house, fact im relation to tho impression it lett on the minds of the people within doors is that | tho shotk came from a force applied directly | Others ran up to the uppor floors under the Impression | with some flouting lumber or small craft had occurred, | here. | Captain of the Thirty-second precinct, ow the corner of | account: At Boverdyck’s store, No, 115 Washington street, the plate glass windows were broken. Viate glass windows were broken in many cases when adjoming windows of thin ordinary glass escaped. ‘The Sinclair House, a hotel near ferry, had @ great many windows broken, CURIO’S PHENOMENA. A fearful and unbearable stench was experienced on the meadows to the rear of Hoboken shortly after the explosion, A carriage belonging to Jacob Smidt, No. 111 Wash- ington strect, was driven from the strect in front of the stable into the stable, carrying away a handle of the door in its progress. Mr. Timothy Foley's windows, at Sixth and Willow streets, also a number in the house of Alderman McMa- hon, at Monroe and First streets, were broken in. Mra, Wirth, wife of a baker, of First street, near Grand street, was sitting in iront of her store when the explosion took place, and became so dazed with foar at terrific report and crash of gins that she fainted and remained unconscious tor several minutes, Ter- | rible havoc was raised in Beerman’s windows, opposita Mrs, Wirth’s store, In the meadows Mr, George Bar’s door was blown in and a stove in the room blown down. A kerosene lamp in the house of Mr. Jobn Sullivan, 8 butober, residing in Monroo street, was blown off the. table on to the ground. The window of the room was open when this happened. A man who was standing at the corner of First and Grand streets, looking up at the Palisades, saw the ox- Plosion while talking with a friend. He told a Herat reporter that the explosion looked like a solid sheet of Jightning, while the smoke which camo from it was of @ black color and hung compactly together, floating over toward Hoboken. In Kreselb ch's shaving saloon, at No, 160 Washing- ton street, several pouple were having their hair cut and being shuved when the’ explosion occurred. In\an instant acrash of glass was hoard, and the lights of the gagolter went out. Everybody in a scared con- dition rushed for tho door under the behef that a mine had been sprung under tho house, _ The lights of the Hoboken ferryboats went out. Mr, Gorcken, of No, 264 Bloomfield street, while walk- ing in Washington street, had a piece of glass driven into his left eyelid. Tho wound is considered a serious | one. Every store in the lower part of First street, but one, has broken windows. A guod many doora wero thrown down inthis neighborhood. Tho Hovokenites devoted no small part of yester- day to discussing the question, whe should pay for tho broken windows, the landlord or the tonant, s IN NEW YORK. The effects of the terrific shock which for a moment set-Manhattan Island in vibration were many and varied, and speculation as to the cause took a wide range. In the hotels guests ran from their roome in alarm to inquire what disaster bad occurred, and Many, fearing it was un eartuquake, mentally saw the earth opening its jaws to swallows them, Tbe force of the explosion was so great that people throughout tho entire city were at first under the impression that it bad occurred in their immediato vicinity, and. tho wildest excitement prevailed as to what it was and just where it happened. That it was close at band everyone agreed, but no one could be | found who could give any iniormation. One curious above them. Numbers roshed out of their houses fearing the roots were falling or being crushed in, and that tho plastor was crashing down from tho ceilings. ‘On the cars and ferries, iu the streets and avenues, in stores and theatres, and wherever the thunderous noise was heard, people stopped and, with startled taces, wondered for a moment what could have happened. Their busy tongues soon began to seek for information, and, a3 no explanation could be had, the wildest Tumors wero cagorly accepted for the truth, and, meet- ing with no opposition, grew wonderfully in extont and number, Iu the: theatres tho audience jumped to their feet and turned with alarmed faces toward tho doors, Some rushed toward the street, thinking the structeresworo falling in upon them, while otbers stood In fear, not knowing what to do or to expect. At Wallack’s Theatre the greatest excitement spread through the audience. It wos feared that tho boilers | used inthe Russian bath in the samo building had ex- ploded, amd that tho walls were about to fail in and bary | the », but after a moment the welcome assurance came that nothing had happened in the other part of buiiding. The effect on tho water of the East and North rivers wus peculiar, Tho air seemed to press down upon tt from the Jersey shore and push it toward the New York and Brooklyn | shores. On board the ferry boats crossing the rivers a shock followed the round as if a colhsion The tropreasion was so strong that boats were backed ‘and search made to find what had caused the jolt to | the vessels, THR DAMAGE IN THR CITY was confined to the neighborhood of the North River, within a balf a mile above and below Canal street. | sashes, and in some cases doors were violently forced open by the force of the current. No one, #0 far as heard trom, was injured on this side of tho water, ‘THE POLICK AccoUNTS, | The following somewhat conflicting accounts of the explosion were received at Police Headquarters, on Saturday night, from the different precincts:— From Thirty-ffth, at Kingsbridge:—“Tho light from explosion was in the direction of High Bridge from From Ninth, Charles street, near Hudson:—“It is supposed that explosion came from Jersey. Two sashes at No. 34 West street and soveral lights at No. 401 West street were broken.” From Fifth, Leonard street, near West Broadway :— “Explosion was in Jersey; cause unknown,” From Thirteenth, corner of Attorney and Delancey Streots:—“Exploston was in Brooklyn.” At seventeen minutes’ past twelve the correct ac- count was received from the Fifth precinct, saying:— “That was a magazine; Bergen tuanel; supposed to havo been tired by strikers.” Several of yosterday morning's returns contained aecounts of the affair, Captain Thaddeus C. Davis, 1624 street and Tenth avenue, sent the following ‘Ataquarter to eleven I’. M. this station house was shaken as if by an explosion or earthquake. ‘Tho shock rattled the doors and windows, awakeuing ail the meu fn the building and causing great conster" nation in the neighborhood. Cause not ascertained,” Captain Caffrey, of the Fifth precinct, made a very | thorough Investigation of thé eifects or the explosion in | Ho writes:—'From the effect of an ex- that quarter. plosion in Jerscy at 10:45 P. M, tho glass in the win- | dows of the following premises was demolished: —No. 4 Warren street, Nos. 47 and 49 Harrison street, No, 23D browses street, Nos, 200, 221, 250, 264, 275, 278, 2 and 293 West street, No. 466 Canal street, Nos, BOL, O49, 413, 415 and 41535 Greonwich street, No. 203 Washington street, No. 57 Hubert street, No. 5514 Beacn street, Nos, 84 and 119 Hudson street, At No. 258 West street the shock caused the celling to fall, At No, 23 Jay strect, No. 27 Harrison street and No. 1 Leonard street it threw the shutters from tho doors and windows into the street,” EFFECT IN BROOKLYN. The terrific explosion was felt with mach force m every part of tho city of Brookivn. So great was the concussion of the atmosphere attendant thereon that the lights were extinguished on board several of tho Brooklyn ferryboats. One of the Union ferry masters remarked yesterday that, 80 near did the report sound atthe South ferry, they at supposed 0 largo river steamer near by had burst her boiler, and they began to look for the wreek. For an hour the suspense prevailing upon all sides in Brooklyn was truly painful. | The police telegraph wires were set m operation | and inquiry was made at every precinct as to whether any explosion had Jaken place within the district, Of | course negative anawers Wore attainable by the police. “What could it bet’ was the query heard upon all | sues. The people in many instances rushed from heir houses into the strect as the windows rattled and the houses shook to their very foundations, Tho | dwollings along the river front appear to bave felt the | hock with more force than those farther removed from the water. On the Heights, in the fashionable mansions of the wealthy, the nerves of the occapants | wero fearfally unstrung by the sudden report, and | bowers many of the more timorous imagined that they had | eowe beard the “crack of doom.” But as noth. ing followed the grand shako up in the em Nl he ly pe | Ceives his diabolical plans and carries them juto opera- | Glass wan smashed, windows were thrown trom their | Parent that tho fyso was igmted at a moment | way of demolition or destraction the people excitedly resumed their wonted positions indoors and discussed the probabilities, By midnight it was known at the ferry houses, and consequently in many other locali- ties, that the explosion had occurred in New Jorsey and thut there had been no loss of life as far as known, The terrible force of the explosion of nitro-glycerine iu this case awoke suggestions and speculations as to the probable effect of the coming of the biast at Hell Gate inJuly next, One citizen romarked thatit would | not be safe tobe on Blackwell's Island when that event takes place. Certainly much trepidation has been engendered by the discovery of the'foreo of the | material to be used there, There was a report that the | magazine on Ellis’ Is!and had gone up. Another rumor | was that it was on Governor’s Island, and still an- other story located the trouble at the Navy Yard. EVIDENCES OF MOLLY MAGUIRISM, Whether there actually exists In Jersey City a chap- ter of that notorious organization known as the Molly | Maguires 18 not definitely known, but from the devel- | opments of Saturday night it is clearly evident that those who had to do with tho plot wete led on Dy the same motives, and proceeded to cousummate their flondish designs in precisely the same manner as the Molly Maguire of tho Peunsylvania coal flelds. Like him this band of wicked men seized upon the most devilish plot that their surrrundings afforded, and, like him, they sought to pay off a Jong catalogue ot imaginary, grievances by taking their revenge at atime when their enemies were in bed, and when all tho conditions of circumstance und place promised the most wholezale destruction ef private property and the greatest possible loss of human hie, Tho more the careful investigator strives to penetrate the mystery of the explosion the more evident does it appear to him that instead of beng the result of acci- dent it was the product of a deep and deliberate scheme, in which its projectors were par- tially baflled by the merciful providence of God, Among the many terrible things which during the last four years have taken place in the Pennsylvania coal regions, there 18 nothing so terrible as the explosion which occurred in New Jersey on Saturday it. One must not only reflect upon the actual damage that was done, but mast also take into consideration the purposes of the schemers when thoy secretly touched the slender fuse which communicated directly with the magazine, If, as all circumstances go to prove, the explosion was not accidental, but deliberately brought about, in it ts seen tho highest ground that Moily Maguireism has ever assumed, either in Cavan county, Ireland, whero it found tts birth, or in the numerous districts of the anthracite coal ficids, in which it most prosperously flourishes to-day. THR MOLLY MAGUIRE, Tho Molly Maguire 1s a man destitute of every in- stinct of honor, induatry or principle. Ho 18 ostracized from society and excommunicated from the Chureb. Hence, by virtuo of his position, bo isa vagabond. He defies tho laws of the State; he ridicules tho authority of tho priest, and, for the most part, derives his sus- tenance from the plunder despoiled from his victims, No one in daylight is more humble and honest tnan he, but no one at night is more subtic or desperate. ‘The face so open and trank in the sunshino ts concealed by tho blackest of masks at night, and the lonely triveller falls beneath his blow, at the most un- expected moment, aod under conditions such as prevent the victim of the tragedy being discovered until several days alter the perpetration ofthe crime, The Molly Maguiro never plans but to exceute, never engages in any scheme that he does not curry out to its most desperate end, He applies the torch whero.it will bring About tho greatest destruction of property, and be ignites the fuso where it will summarily end the greatest number of human lives. He not only murders, but he crucifies. Having once stricken down his enemy and robbed hita of all his personal ellects, he does not hesitate to atrip bim of his cloth- fg and nail his bands to a rough wooden rail, as our Saviour’s hands wero wailed to the cross, Tho writer in & single trip through the coal regions of Pennsytvania, within the brief period of twenty-four houra, was foreed to confront the victiins of five murders and tour erucifixions, The malignity of the Molly Maguire seems to be inspired, and hence he seldom commits a murder or a crucifixion that he does not cut a deep cross either upon the breast or forehead of the man he fas slain: ‘The Molly Maguire is cunning and ceatiou, Ho never operates, save when the enormity of his crimes flods some palliation from the straitened circum- stunces with which be is surrounded; that\is, he con- tion when there is a genoral strike among the laborers, when the sympathy of the majority ts with those desti- tute of employment, and when their work, uo matter how heinous, is absolutely certain to eliclt some degree | of public sympathy, ‘The parties who, evidently, wero | the direct cause of the explosion of Saturday night, oven if they aro not known as Molly Magutres, laid their plans, and endeavored to accomplish their purpose, in & manner which entitles them to the r MIGHEST CHAPTER IN THR ORDER. It is only owing to tho interference of Providence | that no lives were lost and that the destruction of | property was a great deal less than the conspirators | designed that it should be. It i# cloarly ap- | when the blowing up of the magazine would, under or- divary circumstances, have killed at least sixty nen. Never was Molly Muguireism so well displayed as on Jersey Heights on Saturday night, ‘This may be justly | regarded a3 the most desperate scheme that has ever been conceived in this country, and had it not been fur the Providence of God, its execution would no doubt have been attended by tho most disastrous couse- quences, THE AGENT THAT EXPLODED, A Weratp reporter called upon Mr, Alfred Rix, the Attorney of the Atlantic Giant Powdor Company, to ascertain something regarding the nature of the | powerful agent which exploded with such terrific force at the Bergen tunnel on Saturday night, Mr. Rix gaid:—“We never sold the contractor of the Bergen tunuel an ounce of giant powder, and they had none to.use, The firm I represent and another in San Francisco are the only ones in America that mako | dynamite, as’it is called in Europe, or giant powder, as | we naine it here, | “What was the nature of the explosive used, then?” | “Tt was either valean powder of rend rock powder, or both; I think they u#e both.” “Are these powders similar to aynamite ?”” “They are somewhat similar; they are ignited in tho | game way ay dynamite,” “flow are those powders exploded ?”” “By the explosion of a percussion cap within a charge or cartridge of the powder. Each cap is coated inside with as mach fulminate of mereary as iy con- tained in twenty ordinary percussion caps. A fuse is atinched to the cap and ignited when it 1s desired to ex- plode the charge, The explosion is not caused by fire, however. Tons of the powder can be set on fire and will burn without exploding, while the explosion of one charge by the capped fuse will set off others, even @ few fect away, with which they aro totally uncon. nected.’” “Will an ordinary concussionexplode those blasting powders?” ' “Not such as are properly made, Thero aro some | sorts, however, that are exceedingly dangerous to | handie, When the nitro-glycerine is mixea with a poor | absorbent, from which, in course of time, i leaks, | | } | | i] there is great danger attending its use. Fire will set off nitro-glycerine at times; friction, or a sudden collision with any hard substance, will also cause it to explode.” BLASTING POWDERS, The ebiet ingredient of ail the biasting powders made | is nitro-glycerine. This was first discovered in 1847, but was vever applied for explosive purposes until | 1863, In that year Alfred Nobel, a Swedish engineer, discovered that the expiosion of a powerful percussion cap within a charge of pitro-glycerme woald cause it to explode. This led to the use of nitro-giycerine for Diasting, but a great many fatal explosions followed the | innovation, both here and in Europe. It was tound to | bo a fearfully dangerous avent, ‘and its transportation and use would bave had to be discontinued altogether | buttor tho discovery by Nobel im 1867 of dynamite. This is simply the mixture of seventy. | five per cent of nitro-giycerine with twenty live per cent of & porous earth, producing a powder | Nko corn meal in udainp state, The mixing process | 1x6, | does not rob the nitroglycerine of any of its explosive | force, but merely renders its use and transportation eater. In this form fire will not explode {t in a loose state, If confined closely, as in a capped iroa pipe, however, and then set on fire, it will explode, Its ex- plosion, however large or small the mass, 1 instanta- If a cartridge is placed om top of a dat rock and exploded it will force its wiy downward through the rock. It cannot be used in @ gun in consequences of this peculiarity, for the smallest charge that could possibly be used would shatter the gun te pieces. The writer saw a quantity of giant powder set on fire ou & sheet of paper, and it burned like saltpetre paper, without the leastexplosion. It can also be struck with ahammer repeatedly without exploding. During the progress of a suit against its manufacturers some time ago the following tests were sworn to have been made :— Dynamite was poured on a red hot iron plate anda hot poker was thrust into it without explosion, A box of the powder was thrown {rom au elevation on pro- Jecttng rocks untilthe box was broken and no ex- plogion occurred. Boxes of it have been struck re- peatedly with sledge hammers, and weights have been thrown upon boxes without causing an explosion, During combustion dynamite produces carbonic acid, oxide of carbon, hypo-nitrous acid and water, A curious fact m connection with the explosion of hitro-glycerine is that it will actually reduco the body of aman who may be in the vicinity of an explosion into its component chemical gases, Jeaving DO trace of the victim, At the Bremerhaven explosion, which, by the way, was not an explosion of dynainite, but of lithofracteur, several persous disappeared totally and no portion of their bodies bas ever beon discovered, ‘This lithofracteur ts a highly explosive mixture, being made of nitre-glycerino compounded with a nitrated fibre resembling gun cotton, THE SCIENCE OF THE MATTER. Apropos of the Bergen Tunnel explosion, it may be proper here to say a word or two generally of that class of explosions effected by common gunpowder and the vulean powder stored on the crest of the Jersey City Heights, An explosion arises simply trom the sudden and rapid expansion of the gases contained im thg explosive compound. The report attending an ex- plosion arises from the sudden displacement of the ait and an equally sudden reoceupation of the space pre- Vivasly filled by it, An idea of the explosive power of the vulean powder which on Saturday night startled a half dozen. cities out of their propriety and set the glaziers rejoicing, will be best arrived at by a come parison between it and ordinary gunpowder, EXPERIMENTS, ‘The experiments of Hutton ann Count Rumford far nish the most refiable data upon this matter. Com mon gunpowner, when exploded, possesees enormous torce by reason of its sudden conversion into gases, The volume of these gases, even supposing thom at the time of the explosion to bo at freezing point, is about 450 times that of the powder used. Butin the highly heated condition attending their production these guses attain a volume of from 4,000 to 6,000 times that of tho powder. Hutton has calculated that these pases expand with a velocity of 10,000 feet per second, and with a pressure of 1,000 atmos- Spheres; that isto say, every square inch of the re- sisting body wonld be exposed to a pressure of 14,560 pounds, or six and a half tons... The great force of gun- powder as an oxplosive has been tested by Count Rum- ford, in a serios of interesting experiments, In one of these he loaded & mortar with ono-tweatieth of an ounce of gunpowder, closed up every apertre, and placed a cannon to rest upon the charge witn we ressure of 8,082 pounds, On being fired, the mortar burst with a loud explosion, raising the caunon, In another exporiment he filled a cylindrical space with twenty-oight grains of powder, which exactly fitted it, Upon exploding, is Durst a bar of iron capable of resisting a strain of 200 tons. WHAT THE POWDER COULD HAVE DONE, Theso two experiments sufficiently show the explo~ sive force of ordinary gunpowder. Now, it in calcus luted that the lithofracteur, or rend-rock powder, possesses from eight to fiftoen times the explosive force of gunpowder, Consequently, {f used in the expert ments of Count Rumford, one-twenticth of an ounce placed in the mortar would have raised a weight of 64,618 pounds, If used similarly, in the second expert ment, twenty-eight grains of it would have burst a bar capablo of resisting a strain of 1,600 tons, or 3,604,000 pounds. Assuming this as a basis of calculation for the explosion of Saturday last, and conceding the fact that only 500 pounds of the powder were stored on Bergen Hill, that amount would, if fired in « close chamber, have raised the prodigious weight of 1,242,960,000 pounds, Some idea may hence bo formed of the power for destruction of such a mass of rend rook powder; and the inhabitants of Hoboken, Brook- lyn and New York have reason to be thanktul thatis was loosely stored. The general concussion at con- siderable distances from the theatre of the explosion, and the breakage of glass in the front and rear of build- ings, #9 easy of explanation, The audden ais blast caused by the displacement of the atmosphere and =the quasi-instantaneous rash of the air to fill the vaccum created, ox. plain the concussion. By tne former, windows facing tke scene of an explosion are shattered; by the latter thoso in tho rear suffer, The majority of people are but | little acquainted with the terrific power of an air blast More than one village inthe Alps has been destroyed by the air blast from the hightning-like crash of an ava- lanche into the plain as effectually as if swept away with cannon, Sometimes the course of an avalunche can be traced down tho side of a forest along which it has thundered from the prostrate forms of glant firs, untouched by the avalanche, but razed by the air blast as close as if sawed off level with the ground. The comparatively small amount of heavy damege done is a matter for thank/uluess when one remembers tho Wilmington, Del., explosion of May, 1854, or that of Brescia, in 1767, when the lightning exploded 207,600 pounds of powaer in that city, destroying one sixth of it and killing 8,000 people, Tho Borgen H:ll explosion bas set many people talk- ing about the Hell Gate blast, which is soon to take place. The Hearn bad occasion a short time ago ta | advert to this subject, and tor the sake of thore fearful of the consequences of the Hell Gate blasting opera- tion it is as well that what was then said should vo here repeated, General Newton says there is not the slightest reason for fear, even on the part of those | living on the river banks nearest the mine, The idea that the explosive charge will be fired in balk isan erroneous one, There are about $,000 small charges, not one of which will be larger than can be contained in a borimg of three inches diameter, tapering off gradually to two inches and a half, The difference be tween the popular notion and tho real fact is precively | the difference between the effect produced by the firing done during a battle and that which would be brought about by the simultaneous explosion of all the powder used in said battle if tired at once ina closed chamber; 80 peoplo have not the slightest cause for fear, OBITUARY. REV, WILLIAM DB, SPRAGUE, D. D. Rey. William Buel Sprague, D. D., a well known American clergyman and author, died at his residence in Flushing, I. 1, yest0rday, Sunday, 7th of May. He was bora im Andover, Conn., 10 1/9). Me was graduated at Yale College in 181, and for nearly a year thereafter was a private tulor in the family of Major Lawrence Lewis, a nephew of General Wasbington, who resided on a part of the original Mount Vernon plantation, Dr. Sprague afterward studied, for three years, at the Theological Seminary at Princeton College, N. J., id, in Angust, 1819 was ordained ae ad the 'Prosbyterian, church at West Ragin tel ASH, &8 a colleague of the Rev. hn Lathrop, 1, le continued here ten sud tn 1829 was installed of the Séeond Pres! where he contmmacd unt the ministry and settied Sprague was an aathor of mam must noted of which ure the “Lett which, being issued anonymously, puolisbed in England and then republ ¢ ia America won English work. Besides his book Works the de- cvased contributed to many periodicals pul 140 occasrcnst sermons and addresses. a clergy man and auihor he was one of the oldest aud most widely known of oar American clergymen. JOUN A. BEARING, John A. Searing, exmember of Congress from the First district of New York, died on the 6th inst, ag his residence in Mineota, i. 1. Me was in the sixty. | second year of bis age, having been bor in Queen's county, in this State, on the 14th of May, in the yeag 1814. His father died when the boy was quite young. Ho was educated in the public schools of New York and eared for by hts grand parents, He was brought ap ag a farmer. Me, Searing held mony Vg Flay ead election as a membor ot York be ae This event took pince hepty ads nf was pgs es ly chosen a@ representative te the Thirty-0n Sagres aid, served 00 the Com mittees on Rsvoretionssy Pensious and Accounts, = _ THE CHINESE QUESTION. : Sax Faanctyco, Cal, May 7, 1876 ‘Philip A. Roach bas been appointed » Teproxent ah shy, Cae Sanne 8 NITY, et bugeno