Christmas Greens Covered by Blood By Greater Astoria Historical Society It was 8:00 AM on the morning of December 28, 1892. The construction shaft entrance was protected by a shanty that its workforce of 60 men were about to enter. Getting the site ready for the day’s work, two men, William Johnson and Patrick Murphy, approached a small building. They were warming dynamite in a steam box, a process that takes about two hours. For six months the new rail tunnel that would link Long Island City to Manhattan was dug down 85 feet, and started its crawl towards Manhattan. Progress was slow with flooding and the advance through the bedrock, once the base a great mountain range taller than the Himalayas, was measured in inches. Although blasting broke windows and jangled the community’s nerves, progress continued. William Steinway, the driving force behind the effort, was not about to be deterred. He was a member of the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners, which was planning the city’s subway network, and owned the New York & Long Island Railroad Co., for whom the tunnel was being built. He had a team of legal, transportation and engineering experts. Steinway had every reason to be confident. It was 8:00 AM on the morning of December 28, 1892. Henry O’Brien, a father of two, was talking to his wife. Edward Hopkins, a partner in a restaurant, was getting ready for a new day’s trade. His cook, Mary Mc- Clean, age 21 and a newlywed, was in the kitchen preparing food for breakfast. Nico Loadona had just settled into his brotherin law’s barber chair expecting a shave. His sister, Mrs. Petro Ruocco, a new mom, was upstairs in their Jackson Avenue apartment busy with chores. They were just five people of some 500 who lived around a construction site in the middle of their block. In a moment, they would be dead. A good number of their neighbors injured – many more rendered homeless. The workers were about ten feet away from the building when there was a horrible swaying sensation, a blinding flash of light and then a deafening explosion. In an instant, there was a hole twelve feet wide and nine feet deep. To add to the horror, intense darkness succeeded the blinding flash as the air was filled with dust and smoke. From the midst of this pall came cries of agony and shrieks of terror. Flames began to lick the wreckage. For 600 feet in every direction ceilings fell and windows were blown to fragments. Newspapers later remarked how the holiday Christmas greens were covered by blood. As is typical of such an event, death and mayhem was woven with narrow escapes. Johnson and Murphy survived. Although a horse car chanced upon the site as the dynamite detonated, both the horse and conductors escaped unscathed - although the coach was tossed off the tracks by the explosion. Victims were buried, windows reglazed, and the construction site mothballed. Coroner Dr. Meiners started an inquest that was soon hijacked by politics as Mayor Gleason elbowed his way in. The mayor, who grilled everyone on the witness stand, tried make his case that corners were cut through payoffs from the wealthy stockholders. The disgusted coroner closed the proceedings with no final report. The construction company, bankrupted by claims, only paid pennies on the dollar. William Steinway was also a casualty. The financial Panic of 1894 made it impossible to continue raising funds. His health began to fail, undoubtedly from personal and financial strain, and in part, undoubtedly from this accident. The work was eventually completed and is now the # 7 Tunnel. As a tribute to William, it’s dubbed the ‘Steinway Tubes.’ Greater Astoria Historial Society 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor | L.I.C., NY 11106 718.278.0700 | www.astorialic.org Gallery Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2-5 PM Saturdays 12-5 PM Exhibits ~ Lectures ~ Documentaries ~ Books Walking Tours ~ Historical Research Unique & Creative Content For more information visit us on the web at www.astorialic.org This image adapted from an invitation to the Long Island City Athletics 33rd Annual Masque Ball, 1909. 32 April 2017 i LIC COURIER i www.qns.com Legends
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