Explosion
After midnight, a series of small fires were discovered on the pier. Some guards fled, fearing an explosion. Others attempted to fight the fires and eventually called the Jersey City Fire Department.
At 2:08 a.m. (6:08 GMT), the first and largest of the explosions took place. Fragments from the explosion traveled long distances, some lodging in the Statue of Liberty and some in the clock tower of The Jersey Journal building in Journal Square, over a mile away, stopping the clock at 2:12 a.m. The explosion was the equivalent of an earthquake measuring between 5.0 and 5.5 on the Richter scale and was felt as far away as Philadelphia. Windows broke as far as 25 miles (40 km) away, including thousands in lower Manhattan. Some window panes in Times Square were completely shattered. The outer wall of Jersey City's City Hall was cracked and the Brooklyn Bridge was shaken. People as far away as Maryland were awakened by what they thought was an earthquake.
Property damage from the attack was estimated at $20 million (US$ 427 million in 2012). The damage to the Statue of Liberty was estimated to be $100,000 (US$ 2,136,000 in 2012) and included the skirt and the torch.
Immigrants being processed at Ellis Island had to be evacuated to lower Manhattan. Reports vary, but as many as seven people may have been killed, including:
- a Jersey City policeman
- a Lehigh Valley Railroad Chief Of Police
- a ten week old infant
- the barge captain
Injuries numbered in the hundreds. Smaller explosions continued to occur for hours after the initial blast.
Read more about this topic: Black Tom Explosion
Famous quotes containing the word explosion:
“Frau Stöhr ... began to talk about how fascinating it was to cough.... Sneezing was much the same thing. You kept on wanting to sneeze until you simply couldn’t stand it any longer; you looked as if you were tipsy; you drew a couple of breaths, then out it came, and you forgot everything else in the bliss of the sensation. Sometimes the explosion repeated itself two or three times. That was the sort of pleasure life gave you free of charge.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“Moderation has never yet engineered an explosion ....”
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)