The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-11-18
The Terrible Disaster at Jackson,
Mississippi

The Grenada (Miss.) appeal of the 9Th
inst. contains the FOLLOWING announce
ment BY telegraph;
tJAcksoN, November 4--Shortly aftar
three o'clock this alternoon Tue buldiag
in this G ~ used as cartridge mahufac-
tory, having large an1ount'of powder
stored in IL, was blown up, causing a
fearful concussion and great loss of life.
OF its Occupants-hoys, girls, aud young
lladies-not one is known TO have escape
ed. In the existing confusion and ex-
eitemehtait is nimpOssible 20 learn the
number certainly lost. 1t is not less
than thirty, and may far overreach that
number. The cause OF the explosion is
yet unknown. ai'.la lAa'is't
The AgptaI thas commepis on The dis.
asier: 1simrr Sac .~1m ioIel H.
1.-THE explosion. Of the Government ar
senal at jackson, Miss. announced in our.
telegraphic column, is another Of those
oecurrehcesincidentt to war, and of which
we have been called upon to make sew
eral announcements since the commence
ment Of the present contest Our only
additional information is such as we have
been able TO CLEAN from passengers who
arrived this morning, and who having left
shortly after the occurrences Of the acct
dent, could give but little. ,-st
! The building occupied was a large
ItWo-stOry brick, formerly used as a city
sch0ol-house. The upper story was used
! for the construction Of ammunition for
small arms, the work in which was per-
| formed by young ladies and boys and
girls. The lower story was devoted to
the preparation of shell, etc. One gem
tleman informs us that the report was
that the accident originated in the latter
| department, and was caused by picking
shell. The walls of the building were
entirely demolished, and the wood work
instantly set in blaze, and so intense
was the heat and the danger from the
continual explosion of the shells in the
building as the fire reached them, that it
was impossible, up TO the time the train
left, 10 render any assistance 10 the I'M
fortunates surviving the explosion, if
there were any. For the same reason the
exact loss could not be ascertained, but
the scattering remains of Some thirty that
were blown to a distance had been col
leeted. ,ria-. 1863. -
The explosion was distinctly heard at
Canton. In the city it's effects were Wis
ible in every direction. Shattered win
dows several'squares distant attested its
destroying force At one time il was
thought frame building a short distance
from the scene, in which a large amount
of powder was stored, would be fred by
the heat Of the exploding shells, bnt up
to our latest advices it had escaped. The
lamentations of those who had relatives
and friends engaged in the building are
represented to have been heartrending
and continued up to the departure of the
train. Not one was known to have es-
capped from the building, yet an anxious
hope was peryading the entire commune
ity, thousands of whom were interested,
that some one was uniDiurcd and conse-
quently a friend saved. o.
The Memphis Bulletin of the OH says :
From a gentleman of this city, who
was in that place on business at the time,
| we learn that the explosion was not in
the powder magazine, where several
thousand pounds of powder were lying
but in the cartridge mandatory, which
is very near the magazine, II was among
the powder taken into the mandatory
to be made up. The immediate cause of
the catastrophe can never be known.
Girls were kept at work making cart
ridges, in the same way they formerly
did at the corner of Third and Monroe
streets in this city. From sixty TO one
hundred girls were usually employed; it
would seem by the telegram that the full
set OF hands were not at work on the
day Of the explosion. After the explo-.
sion, the building burst into flames, and
shocking to tell, nothing could be done
to aid the sufferers, or rescue them from
the fearful ravages Of the fire that ragged
fdriously through the shattered building;
for, among the finished work packed
away TO send off when called for, was
considerable number of shells. As the
fire reached them, the awful instruments
of warfare exploded, sometimes one,
sometimes two, three, or moro at time,
scattering masses of iron in every direc-
ton. No one could approach the fatal
spot The firemen stood far Off with their
engine idle, unable to lend their aid
The roaring flames pursued their devour-
ing work uninterrupted, reducing TO Gin
der the bodies Of forty young girls, pro-
tected in its horrible flerceness by The
exploding shells, which appeared TO be
making war on their own account. The
sight was horrible, but there was another
scene still more narrowing, il that was
possible, than the work of death-it was
the sight Of screaming women and mad
dened men calling about for their child
rem The loved ones that had left them
at the noon meal, rejoicing in their youth
and in the attractions Of beauty iike a
holocaust Of maidens, offered an impious
sacrifice TO the Moloeh of war.
East Tennessee was pretty we'll rep
resented in Cincinnati on Thursday.
AThere were Colonel Robert Johnson
u.