GREAT DISASTER

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 29, 3 August 1926, Page 8

GREAT DISASTER

NEW JERSEY.EXPLOSION ARSENAL DEPOTS BLOWN UP THOUSANDS DEIVEN FBOM HOME. ' (By Telegraph.) (Special to "The Evenino Post.") •AUCKLAND, This Day. Vivid details are given by the "Star's" San Francisco correspondent regarding the destruction lar' month of the United States navy ammunition depot at Lake Denmark, of. which cabled reports were published here on 12th and 13th July. Ho states that over 3000 people were rendered homeless. The disaster occurred on the night of 10th July, and was started by lightning striking one depot, the explosion of which was followed by a series of others. There were men at work in and about the depots, and their bodies were blown to fragments, so that it was impossible to ascertain the exact number .of victims. , ' Towns thirty miles away felt the shock, and their inhabitants rushed outside. The catastrophe happened in the dead of night. Blast followed blast as one magazine- after another blew up and" the fire spread, for an hour from the time the naval depot powder magazine was struck by lightning. Great stores of almost every sort of high explosive and shells were stored in two army and navy arsenals. Scores of houses within three miles were torn from their foundations, automobiles were hurled off the highway, and the sky was darkened with barrages of debris and smoke. All the roads to the reservation were closed, and guards prevented anyone approaching the danger zone. AMERICA'S TASTE OF WAR. It was the nearest taste America has had to anything resembling the Great War. The lightning struck one of the ■five magazines, each of which contained 2000 pounds of powder, and immediately after the first explosion, Captain Dowling, the commandant, ordered out his men to fight the fire which followed. Five minutes later they were eaugfit in. a second terrific explosion. Captain Dowling, who was badly injured, gave the following account of the catastrophe: «'I was in my quarters when the fire alarm rang. Someone had seen- a wisp „of smoke curling from the roof of one of the magazines. I jumped into ian automobile and drove directly to the magazine from which the smoke was • issuing; '•The magazine was filled with T.N.T. depth- bombs. A CHAIN EFFECT. "When I was within, two or three hundred feet of it, there came a terrific explosion, which hurled me out of my car. The exploding T.N.T. set fire to another magazine, which set fire to one containing smokeless powder. When this exploded it set off some highexplosive shells, and when, these began to let go it meant the demolishing •of practically every building in the reservation. There was nothing we could do to fight the fire. We could only run before it." SWEPT BY FIRE. The Marine Barracks near the concrete munitions house was swept by the fire, and of 130 men who were inside the barracks only thirty were accounted for two hours after the explosions. All the available ambulances within a radius of twenty-five miles were rushed to the scene, and like so many ambulances from the battlefield in France, they rolled back to the hospitals and temporary morgues, filled with dead and wounded.' When the fire apparatus arrived from the surrounding towns the fire-fighters were helpless, as they could not safely get the apparatus within a mile of the scene. Sixteen-inch high-explosive shells blew up and showered their fragments about. Major Bamsey, of the United States army, was seriously injured by shell fragments as he helped to lead his men from the army barracks. His home, half a mile away, was blown to bits,, and practically every building within a radius of three miles was damaged. ESTIMATE OF THE DAMAGE. The damage to the naval arsenal and the adjoining Piceatinny arsenal, on the army reservation, was subsequent-, ly estimated by the army and navy officers td''exceed 100,000,000 dollars. The stores of ammunition at the naval depot were valued at 87,000,000 dollars. In addition, there was heavy damage to the buildings. The refugees from the surrounding towns and villages were cared for by the Bed Cross, Salvation Army, 'and other relief organisations. "LIKE THE WESTERN FRONT." • The explosions continued for twentyfour hours. After the initial explosion desultory discharges of ammunition supplies scattered the smouldering debris of the 200 demolished buildings within the reservation limits. A change of wind had removed temporarily the danger which throughout the night threatened the adjacent army arsenal at Piceatinny. . Two hundred marines were posted to guard the devastated area, and navy pickets' had to be requisitioned to keep away the throngs of curious people, who might have been injured in some belated explosion. Brigadier-General Crum said: "Well, boys, you'll find it. just like the Western front." ' ,