A porter at the Wyoming Hotel in Greenwich Village, New York City noticed a crate leaking smoke in the hotel's checkroom. Fearing fire, he threw the crate into Greenwich Street where it caught fire and exploded. The police decided it was a German salesman's stock of "Patent Blasting Oil," a new nitroglycerine compound. The porter was only slightly injured and flying glass hit around twenty people, none seriously. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
"Patent Blasting Oil," Robert West Howard ,The Great Iron Trail (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1962)
"Explosion in Greenwich-Street. Fortunate Escape of a Hotel and its Inmates," New York Times, November 6, 1865, p. 2.
"Explosion in Greenwich-Street. Fortunate Escape of a Hotel and its Inmates," New York Times, November 6, 1865, p. 2.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Crime/Disasters
