The national Republican., 1862-04-24
A Ar.rr,sts see,a:.t . = q. ws.n..s,on

TefftBN Aecs0ent II the wAsntn8ton
Atssnal-rour Men severely Isjarsd.
On Tuesday, n little amer I O'Clock, quite a
serious accident occurred at the Washington
Arsenal, In consequence ofthe ignition Of son .
powder, which, but for The very wise preoau.
tions which had been taken To prevent such
disasters, might have resulted in IN extensive
Owing to the vast amount Of work which has
| necessarily been thrown upon that instit tution,
In consequence Of the war, BY which all the
buildings and apparatus have been burdened TO
| to their utmost capacity, and even beyond
their capacity in some instances, the efficient
| superintendent, Col. q. d. Ramsay, has been
| obliged to resort to every expediency to In
| crease the capacity Of the arsenal, and to pre-
vent accidents. -.
10 furtherance Of these objects, n few days
since, eight men engaged In the manufacture OF
fuse, we're removed from a large building In
consequence Of the crowded state OF the place,
tn small brick building. about nfteen feet
Al the time the accident occurred, these eight
men were engaged In driving paper fuses for
hollow prCjectiles, process not considered
specially dangerous, though great caution Is
previously prepared I witt wits a composItion, @ con CON
sisting Of meal powder, nitro, 30; u compost
ton not explosive in Its character, because
designed to burn slowly. The. tube is place
inside Of an iron case, and the composition is
down with steel rod driven by wooden NAL
LEI, each man not having only about handful
Of the composition near him at the time, and
whom this accident occurred there WAS not more
than four pounds Of this combustible material
In the room.
Not long after one O'Clock, while these men
were engaged In this business, the powder Of
| one Of the men suddenly ignited, and he being
very much frightened. attempted to throw the
| burning material from him, while ut the same
time It igni,ed all the powder In the room.
There WAS no explosion, but rapid burning "i
all the com5ustihle matter In the room. The
men raised An alarm, and for while there was
the Arsenal rushed to the scene Of danger, some
fearing the more important and dangerous es.
txblishments might be exploded. Tho little
Ibuilding WAS soon opened, and the men, most
Of whom were so confused by the accident "A
to be almost par,Lyzed were taken out. One
poor boy, John Adams, was In the farthest cor.
ner Of the room, and when taken out, WAS com.
potoy enveoped in flames. His face and hands
were dreadfully burned, and in stripping the
clothes of the skin Of his arms came off with
them. Yet, with these fearful scars he bravely
walked to the hospital, \ considerable distance
OF.
| The bell Of the Arsenal was rung on the first
alarm, and the men rallied with u will; the hre
apparatus were promptly brought out. and we
learn that the flames were extinguished mainly
| through the prompt and vigorous efforts of the
men Of Company =, Tweniy.seventh Psnnsyl.
vania volunteers, who are doing duty At this
II
s.ter few minutes after It's occurrence. The
skillful manner In which the hose and apparatus
were handled proved that the men have not
forgotten their duties M Philadelphia fremen.
Four men, Of the eight who we're In tho
| room, we're quite severely burned. Their
names are John Stokes. Michael Desmond, Oil
yer Bailey, John Adams, and James Downs.
Adams Is about fifteen years Of age, and Is tho
most severely injured, though it is believed hc
will recover.
We saw him and two others OF the sufferers
at the hospital, where they are having the best
| of attention. The mother of young Adams
was at his side apparently In deep distress, at
the sufferings of her son, who bore his aflliC.
ton with the patience and fortitude Of u hero.
The principal injury to all the injured men
| seemed TO have been caused more by inhala.
tion OF the su,phurous flame than BY actual
burning. II is-6elieved that all the parties will
recover without any serious disfguration OF
the features.
II 10 not known precisely what was the imme
msnts there is the LIABILITY to suoh accidents
whatever may be the preoaution used, and 1,
Is matter Of great surprise that such An acct
dent rs this, or more serious one, has not 90
ourred here before this, when we consider the
vast amount Of ammunition which has been
crowded through this establishment within the
past few months. We cannot forboar uniting
our testimony with others to the efficiency Of
Col. Ramsay. We know that We but reflect
the sentiments Of all who are acquainted will
/ this Arsenal when we say that more ener
getic, and yet careful and CoRsiderate, mar
could not be found to superintend this i'm
portant work In this crisis.