The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-16 00:00:00

Frightful Explosion,

About half-past 5 on Thursday morning the people of
Truro were startled from their slumbers by the shock of an
explosion. The cause of the alarm was not lung in being
cleared up. About 8 o'clock a melancholy cavalcade arrived
in Truro, with the charred and contused body of a girl
named Emma Reynolds, about 20 years of age, who was
taken to the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, where it was stated
she had been picked up at the new powder works, Bishop's-
wood, in the parish of St. Allen, about three miles north-
east of Truro. Mr. Michell, surgeon, at once attended the
girl, and found that she was dreadfully burnt all over the
body, and had received a compound fracture of the thigh,
besides several severe contusions on different parts of the
body. She expired at 1 o'clock. It being stated that another
girl named Elizabeth Grose had been picked up dead,
crowds of people hurried off to Bishop's-wood to ascertain
the nature and extent of the accident. The works have been
recently erected by a company for the manufacture of blast-
ing powder, and have only been in operation two months.
They are situated in the centre of Bishop's-wocd, in a val-
ley through which runs the river Allen, which supplies
motive power for the machinery. The situation seems par-
ticularly marked out for works of this dangerous descrip-
tion, for the valley is completely shut in by hills, and is
distant a mile from any dwelling house. There are 11 sheds
scattered over the valley, each one completely isolated,
being in no instance nearer than 50 yards to one another.
This plan was adopted in order to insure greeter safety in
case of an explosion occumng. In fact, the greatest atten-
tion has been paid in the construction of the buildings to the
prevention of accidents, and ell the improvements which
science and experience could suggest were introduced. The
business has gradually increased since the commencement of
operations, and there arc now about a dozen hands employed,
but only in the day time, the process of manufacture being
entirely discontinued at night, so as more effectually to
avoid accidents, A man and boy are employed to watch the
premises during the night, and by the rules of the company
no other person is allowed to be on the premises. Lately
the workpeoplo had been very busy, and several young
women were employed to make cartridges, such as are used
in mines for wet blasting, Among these were Elizabeth_
Grose, aged 24, and Ellen Reynolds, already mentioned. On
Wednesday evening they were employed at the extreme end
of the works, in a building used for the purpose of the manu-
facture of moulds for the cartridges. Cartridge paper is
stowed in this shed, but no powder, and it is separated from
the other sheds by a high embankment. The only houses
a granulating
drying
h ous e,
house. w i
Theheh is
wnearlyhe re
inpo twhdeecre int centre keptof the is
the
works, andthe
powder is granulated in a wet state, and after receiving a.
partial drying by means of steam pipes introduced from the
boiler shed, about 40 or 50 yards off, it is removed to the
drying house, where alone any large quantity of powder is
stored, there being, acoording to the statement of M r Tonkin.
only from to 2 cwt. of powder in the granulating let use on
Wednesday evening. Thu orders to the women were to leave
work at twilight, but from some cause or other the two un-
fortunate girls, Grose and Reynolds, disobeyed the rule on
Wednesday night, and remained on the works, When seen
by the wetchman, he entreated them to go home, but they
said they were afraid to go through the wood. Both glide
dyed at the vilage of Idless, about a mile from the works.
It appears that same time during the night they left the
house in which they had been employed, and got into the
granulating house, where they had no business whatever,
and for which they would have received a Severe repri-
mand,
standing
on
a namedpl plank,
B h when eeay, h
from the manager, if they had not been dismissed from
tthheeircheamrpcoloael•m ent. T he watchman,
house,
alarmed by a deafening explosion, which raised hi was in
me wasfron
the ground. Ile was fortunately uninjured, and as soon as
he recovered h a presence of mind he hastened to the scene
of the disaster, whore he found the granulating house a
mere heap of ruins. The building was an oblong shed, 45ft
by 12ft, the walls being stautly built of stone, and the win-
dows made to open with the slightest pressure. The roof
was an ordinary one, because an explosion was never anti-
cipated there, but the roof of the drying-house is very lightly
constructed, so as to yield, like the windows, to a minimum
pressure. The roof was completely blown away, and several
largo trees which suirounded the house were broken and
disfigured, the limbs being wrenched eff. The walls were
levelled to the foundation, the large blocks of atone being
scattered about in all directions, but none of them appeared
to be carried any great distance. The girl Reynolds, from
what can be ascertained, was standing in the doorway at
the time of the explosion, and she was blown to a distance
of about 20 yards, where she was picked up unconscious.
A boy named Lewis Thomas, about 12 years of age, who
assists the watchman, was standing near the doorway at
the time, and had a most providential escape, being only
slightly searched about the head and face, The remains of
the poor girl Grose was not found fur some time afterwards,
when they were discovered in cid:fere:it places among the
ruins in a frightfully mutilated state. The legs and arms
were separated from the body, and the trunk itself wits cut
clear through just above the hips, and the separate portions
were found aboutrsdisx
froormeitghhetbTidditig. T
yards front each
oheg
other,
and n
ando e
anremarwlyerae also found yards
in different places, but the other arm
has not yet been found. The bone 01 one of the legs was
broken into a pulp, though, singularly enough, the skin
was not torn, and the head was crushed to pieces.