BLOWN TO PIECES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 241, 10 September 1932, Page 7

BLOWN TO PIECES

WOODEN FERRY STEAMER

DISASTER IN NEW YORK

MANY WORKMEN KILLED

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received September 10, 8.40 a.m. NEW YORK, Sept. 9.

The wooden ferry Observation, 92 feet long, carrying 200 ironworkers from Bronx to their jobs on New Rikers Island penitentiary in East River (the strait between Long Island Sound and New York Harbour) was blown to pieces by a boiler explosion this morning. Thirty-seven bodies have been recovered. Fifty are missing, and practically all the remainder are injured. The steamer was on the second trip and about 25 feet from the pier when there was a terrific roar. The ferry disappeared in a dense cloud of smoke from which were catapulted bodies and fragments of wood and iron. When the smoke cleared there was nothing left of the boat but the debris floating, on the oily water. Police, coastguard and commercial boats rushed up to the scene, saving the injured and transporting the dead to shore. Priests came to the ferry house, kneeling among the rows of those taken from the water, administering the last rites to the dying. All the witnesses of the explosion were taken to the police station, among them being Alexander Forsythe, the captain and owner of the Observation. “The boilers exploded,” ho repeated over and over again. That was the only explanation he had to offer. Later reports state that the body of one workman was tossed 50 feet into the air and landed on the roof ol a building near the waterfront. Another body was hurled a similar distance to another building. Three hours after the explosion the police said that an investigation indicated that there were 165 men on-the boat with the number known to be dead 37. Alexander Forsythe, the captain and owner, who was under detention in the hospital, died of his injuries.