Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-10-02
The Terrible Disaster at the AL
legheny Arsenal.


The following letter, from our esteemed
friend, Jos Askew, was crowded out Of our
last issue:
PITTSBURGH. Sept. le, 1862.
MR. EDrroR: Ho~ true il Is, thar 'in
the midst Of life We are in DEATH" and IN
what an awful manner this was verified m
Wednesday afternoon 10 this vicinity The
laboratory Of the Allegheny Arsenal was
entirely blown to atoms by the explosion Of
all the combustiblesin il, causing the instan,
death Of at least seventy persons, chiefly
females, Of various ages The first alarm
in the cts was made by the FIRE bells. and il
was generally tbought by mos; Of the citizens
that there was frc somewhere in the city.
But when the word came bearing the sad
news, q rush was made to the scene of hu.
man destruction. May I never behold such
another sight; the building on FIRE, low.
dying means within the wreck. bodies
thrown a. high as the tops Of trees that
stood near by, fragments Of garments were
lodged on the limbs, parts Of bodies in every
form wero strswn over the grounds, some
were found from two to four hundred yards
from where the explosion took place. Ny
heart even now sickens while penning this
short statement at so dreadful sight. In
one hours time after the explosion, thous-
ands had gathered to witness the scattered
dead, myself making one of the number
As to the real cause of the horrible accident,
1 have not learned, some say one thing,
others another but as q committee will re.
port tomorrow hope tho true cause will
be given to the public t He
The two paymasters are among the dead,
as it was psy day, and this was fortunate,
for good many who no doubt would have
met the same fate as those who were killed,
| am informed, as they retired from the
building, as they usually do upon pay day.
Those who were not blown up, burned to
death. Two skeletons we're found embraced
in each others arms, supposed to be sisters.
shall not Attempt TO describe everything
infinitely, for il is enough to say that as
walked around the premises. an arm, a leg,
q head, in fact, every conceivable shape ant
parts of the human body could be seen
! bat that which meved the sympathy Of the
panic-stricken crowd was the shrieks oi
mothers, fathers, sisters and brothera L
was only to tell an anxious mother that you
daughter is among the ruins. when it woull
! seem that hei poor heart would burst. anG
the reply would be, ''oh no, it cannot be, >
and thousands Of ordinations that woult
melt the stoutest hearts to tenderness, and
eyes to fountains of tears. And to increase
the bereavement Of relatives. but very few
oorpses could be recognized. was on the
ground while bodies and parts of bodie.
!, we're being gathered up, and placed in 70
tation, and to witness the friends Of th,
missing coming along this row Of human
] fragments, still trying to discover some trac
of their lost Here again was a sad pictur,
and the lamuetation never can drown 10 m,
ears, Obi how anxious each one was &c
know the corps Of their missing ones.
But must draw this to close, By stat
ing that the funeral took place on Thurs
/, day afternoon, and was the largest ever wit
messed here. I should have written sooner
but was 40 completely unnamed by the shoe
I could not. Yours, &c,
| los AsREw