Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1911 — THIRTY KILLED IN LARGE EXPLOSION [ARTICLE]

THIRTY KILLED IN LARGE EXPLOSION

Warrants Issued For Railroad Officials Held Negligent VICTIMS BLOWN TO ATOMS Bearch for Dead Continues, Although Bodies Are Found in Bmall Bits and Identification of Remains Are Made impossible.

New York, Feb. 3. —Warrants have been issued in Jersey City for the arrest of seven officers and employes of te Central railroad of New Jersey and the Du Pont Powder company and for James Healing, owner of the Katherine W., one of the two lighters which was destroyed in Wednesday’s explosion. The men against whom the warrants were issued are A. Hamilton, general freight agent of the Jersey Central; J. M. Morris, freight agent at Communipaw; Louis F. Galidetta, dockmaster at pier 7; Charles Ridder, checker at pier 7; Frederick Peters, manager of the Du Pont company; Captain B. St. John, superintendent of transportation of the Du Pont company, and James Healing, owner of the Katherine W. There are two warrants against each of the eight men, one for manslaughter and the other for violation of the city ordinance regarding permits for the handling of combustibles Those responsible for the prosecution say criminal negligence will also be Involved,

New York, Feb. 3. —With five separate investigations under way, there was every indication of determined official intention to get to the bottom of the causes of the disastrous explosion of dynamite on the Jersey City water front which cost many lives, caused the injury of hundreds of persons and material damage estimated at approximately $1,000,000. A fifth and important party to the investigation, it developed, was the United States government. The federal inquiry was in charge of H. P. Conreye. special agent of the bureau of explosives, under the jurisdiction of the war department. Coroner James M. Houghton set the beginning of his formal inquest for next Tuesday and the police summoned witnesses to appear next Wednesday night at police headquarters, while Prosecutor Garven said it would probably take him several days to cover all the ground necessary to his inquiry. No more bodies were recovered, although fragments unidentifiable were found near pier No. 7. There was more reason than ever, however, for believing that perhaps thirty workmen and sailors were killed. James Healing, who owned the Catherine W., said that all of that boat’s crew had been lost as well as the Whistlers’ which, with the twelve Polacks employed in handling dynamite, brings the number up to twenty-five. There Is some evidence that half a dozen Pollacks who were rot at work on the dynamite job, but were at the end of the pier to see their friends at the lunch hour were blown to pieces. The railroad did not attempt to use divers because, as Vice President Besler suggested, what would be the use. All of the men who were killed were blown to bits and no more has been found of any man who was actually at the center of the explosion than portions of a body. Only eight victims of the explosion are in the Jersey City hospitals. The most seriously injured of these are John A. Deppon and Charles McNeal. the engineer of the lighter Emperor. It was the largest explosion of dynamite ever known, 50,000 pounds going up in a single detonation. Fifty thousand more failed to explode. The cars which contained it were twisted and torn and the boxes were strewn on every side, but the dynamite, thick with the dust and debris of the explosion, was unharmed and intact in its paper coverings.