In the spring of 1909, a stone quarry near South Bethlehem, New York, was being prepared for a blast so powerful it was expected to tear 40,000 tons of rock from the earth.
For six weeks, men had drilled deep into the quarry face, boring thirteen holes into the stone. More than 8,000 pounds of dynamite were to be packed into those openings, enough to shake the hillside and feed the growing demand for crushed stone used in road building.
But before the great blast could be safely set, something went terribly wrong.
A percussion cap discharged too soon, and, in an instant, 1,000 pounds of dynamite exploded.
The quarry eruption hurled rock, machinery, and human bodies through the air. Houses nearby trembled. Windows shattered. And when the smoke and dust cleared, at least twenty men were dead, their remains scattered across the hill in one of the most horrifying industrial disasters ever reported in the Albany region.
Twenty Men Are Blown to Atoms
ALBANY, N.Y. — At least 20 men were killed by a premature blast of dynamite in a stone quarry operated by the Callanan Road Improvement Co., near South Bethlehem, 11 miles southwest of Albany.
The dead: John Hoyt Callanan, vice president and general manager of the company; Charles D. Callahan, a brother of the manager; Leroy McMillan, assistant superintendent; John Hendrickson, steam driller; Fred Snyder, master mechanic; William Baumes, fireman; Fred Zappert, agent of the National Power Co., New York; 12 Italian workmen.
Bodies Badly Mutilated
One thousand pounds of dynamite exploded, and the bodies of the victims were hurled hundreds of feet by the concussion and so badly mutilated as to be almost beyond recognition.
As darkness was falling, a wagon drew up to the engine house loaded with bodies that had been picked up on the quarry hill. A crowd of grief-stricken relatives gathered around, eager to identify the dead, only to turn away at the sickening sight.
Italians with shovels found here and there portions of bodies and brought their gruesome loads in boxes to the engine house.
Premature Discharge of Cap
The Callanan Road Improvement Co. furnishes crushed stone for road building. The preparations for a day’s blast had been going on for six weeks. Thirteen holes, 75 feet deep, had been drilled at points about 20 feet back of the face of the big quarry, and the explosion of the dynamite with which they were to be loaded was expected to displace 40,000 tons of rock. Over 8,000 pounds of dynamite were to have been used.
The workmen had placed 500-pound charges in six of the holes and were working on the seventh hole when a percussion cap was prematurely discharged.
A terrific explosion followed which hurled many tons of rock into the air and scattered the bodies of the victims in all directions.
The officers were standing nearby at the time, directing the work. Houses in the vicinity were shaken and windows shattered by the concussion.
Source: The Gazette. Cleveland, Ohio. May 15, 1909.
