TRAMCAR BLOWN UP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8162, 9 November 1904, Page 2

TRAMCAR BLOWN UP.

TERRIBLE DYNAMITE DISASTER. Meirose, .a Boston, U.S.A., suburban town, was the scene of a terrific dynamite explosion on September 21, which caused the death of nine persons and injured forty others. The disaster was caused through an electric tramway-car running into a box ooataining 501 bof dynamite, which had dropped from a parcels delimf "waggon. The driver of the waggon discovered the loss of the bos a few minutes after it dropped, and he ran back to pick it up. It was lying on the tramway line, and, j seeing a car approaching, he waved his j arms and shouted a warning, butxthe motorman failed, to notice him. The wheels of the car struck the box, and the dynamite exploded with awful effect. The oar was oompletely demolished,, the front part being blown to splinters, the side* were torn out, and the roof tumbled in, pinning down the dead and injured and making the work of rescue very difficult. . x The car was crowded at the time, and hardly any of the passengers' escaped injury. Those killed were terribly mangled, and it was not until next morning that they were all identified. Among the killed were Air Edward Haynes, a merchant, and his wife and child. Most of the passengers were business men returning to their suburban homes. A huge hole was torn in the middle of the street, and the windows of neighbouring buildings were shattered, two houses being completely wrecked. , The noise of the explosion brought thousands -to the scene, and intense excitement prevailed. The work of rescue was greatly hampered by the crowds of frantic men. and women who feared their friends and relatives were on the car.' ;