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Show BLftSTED BY DYNAMITE, Little Mary NewtojiTonchies the Elec . - trie Button, and the Back of Flood. Kock Is Sent Sky High. . ' ' Fifty Thousand People Witness ,the . . Tremendous Explosion of 280,000 0 ; V... Pounds of Dynamite. ;i The Water Piled Up 200 Feet High - Accompanied With a Sonnd of Dis- . ' '- tant Thunder. ' . ' ' ' Flood; Bock Blown to Atoms. . New Yobk,' Ootober 1011:13 a. m. The '230,000 pounds of. dynamite' under Flood Rock, Hell Gate, has just been exploded. TtxeBS662jha plainly felt at tha-lowerJend of Manhattan Island. , - . . ." . v vIn order to protect life and property at the Flood Rock explosion to-day, the most careful care-ful and adequate police arrangements had been perfected. A- force of 450 policemen, in addition to the harbor police, was detailed de-tailed near to the scene of action, 3C3 of whom were located, on the East River front. BlackwelTs Island contained 1CD men. while 50 were on duty at Ward's Island. All the buildings on the north end of Blackwell's Island was cleared of the inmates, including the almshouse Work-house and the lunatio asylum, who were massed on lawns at a safe distance from the explosion, and carefully guarded. In the penitentiary all the doors were thrown open and the prisoners conducted con-ducted to the halls of the prison, surrounded surround-ed by the police, while a large force was stationed among the convicts to prevent escape es-cape or riot, and to' 'give aid in case it was found necessary to reach the building. - All points on the shorejf rom which Flood rock could be seen were densely packed with people. The police were kept busy in keeping keep-ing the crowd outside the danger lme. Ropes, had been stretched across the 'river above and . below the place of the explosion, and launches from the navy yard patroled the river to see that no vessels attempted to pass through. " -; The bell in the tower of St. Ann's school building struck the hour of eleven and.'. 50,C00 PEOPLE WAITED EXPECTANTLY FOB THE . . . EXPLOSION, Which was advertised to be on hand at that hour, but at that moment there was still a number of people on Flood Rock. A few moments later, however, a tug took them Off, and 'then the spectators braced themselves them-selves for the exDeoted shock. Ladies and gentlemen in carriages stood upon cushions and leveled their opera glasses towards the island. A hushed expectancy fell upon the vast crowd, who seemed almost afraid to " breathe for fear the act would disturb their view of the explosion, should it occur at that moment. The river in the vicinity of Flood rock and Hallet's Point was now clear of vessels, and, at a respectful distance, however, scores of excursion steamers, their decks black with people, yachts, tugs, and even a Sound liner waited for the pressing of the electrio button. but-ton. At precisely 11:18 o'clock the earth trembled, and the bosom of the river was pierced with a mighty upheaval of rocks and timbers. ' ; UP, UP, WENT THE GLTTTEBtUG MASSES OP ' . . . WATEB, ; - . ... Until it seemed as if they would never stop. At a. height of -CJ feet, tha uplifted, waters paused and fell baok into the river. At this moment when the air for hundredaof feet in eaoh direction was filled with the white masses of sparkling water, the spectacle was giand beyond expression. Mary Newton, the 11-year-old daughter of General Newton, who as chief engineer, has conducted the operations at Hell Gate since the start, touched the button that set free the electrio current that exploded the submarine sub-marine mines and shattered the mountain of rock, lifting it out of the bottom of the sea and CBUSHINO IT INTO A MILLION FBAGMENTS. It was little Mary Newton who, when a mere baby,touched off the first Hell Gate explosion, ex-plosion, a few feet from the point where she stood to-day. The shock of the collapse was felt only slightly on the Astoria shore, and the noi3e resembled far distant subterranean subter-ranean thunder. Where Flood Took had lifted its strong back, a mass of broken wreck was seen on top of it. The big derrick that had been left to its fate turned over on its side and broke. A huge tank that had been left at the north end of the island still stood in its place, tilted over a little as it had settled when let down with the angry waters from its serial flight. Immediately Im-mediately after the explosion a fire broke out in the wreck and burned lustily amid the seething waters. FOUB INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS . Were taken byr officers , of the corps of engineers en-gineers from the firing point at Astoria. As far as it is possible to judge from the position posi-tion and appearance of the wreck, the explosion ex-plosion has been an entire success, though for the present the vioinity of the blasted rock will be even more dangerous than heretofore, here-tofore, until the.wreck.has been removed. The shock was felt to a slight extent in the city. It was distinctly felt in the' City Hall building, the structure trembling for the space of a few seconds. At the County Court House the shock was also distinctly felt in the upper part of the building; the floors shook and the windows trembled when the explosion occurred. ' r. |