Maysville weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1864-1866, 1864-06-23

0 "osuiuSIou hepuDllcan, OF PEluay
evening. says:
AT ten minutes past twelve O'Clock to-
day, the quarter of the city adjacent to the
United States Arsenal, near the foot of
Four-and -a-half street, was startled by an
explosion, followed by a column of smoke
rising from the Arsenal grounds. Persons
hurrying to the scene found that the long
building or shed, called the laboratory,
where shells are charged, had blown up and
wss on fire.
At twenty minutes past one the fire was
extinguished, and the bodies and fragm ents
OF bodies taken out of the ruins. The scene
was horrible beyond description. U nder
the metal roof of the building were the
seething bodies aud linn bs, mangleG, scorch-
ed and charred beyond the possibility Of
Identification. Most of those who escaped
about two hundred and fifty persons,
mostly females, are employed in that build,
iDg-had fled shrieking away. Some faint
ed. aud were with difficulty restored, and
some had, after the first shock, returned to
shrek over the fate of their companions;
while an agonized crowd Of relatives rush ed
to the spot to learn tidiDgs of their daugh-
ters or sisters who were known to have been
in the fate1 building.
As near as we Can learn, at this writing,
nineteen young women were taken out OF
the smoking ruins in the horrible condition
before related, while four more badly in
jured were rescued, of whom three are ex-
pected to die, and twenty five or thirty
were burned or bruised somewhat, but not
seriously.
The explosion is accounted for by the
ignition OF red stars used in signal rockets
A quantity of these were being dried 10
black pans outside the building. A spark
was seen to fall from the chimney of tn 9
cartridge laboratory by son Of the super
inteudcnt Of the arsenal, and it is suppose ed
tn the stars were set on fire in this man
ner. Another theory is that these stars be-
came heated by the sun beyond the max
Imum point. and were set on fire. The i'm
petuous Il Ime from these stars dashed into
the building and caused the explosion.
Three girls were taken out alive and
placed in the hospital. Their Bamss are
Sally McElfrssh, Annie Bache Cor Bates)
aud Rebecca Hull. Miss Bates is so serious.
ly burned that her recovery is doubtful.
The following girls are still missing. and
are doubtless among the dead: Eliza La
cey, Miss Dunn. Lizzie Braceler, Bette
Branningan, NJ ELISA Adams, Julia New en-
and Maggie Yonson. The three last n am ed
are given up by their friends as dead. Macy
who are not among the dead are missing,
for tn ey were SO frightened that they fed
in all directions. One took refuge in a eel
lar, and remained there for an hour before
she recovered from the effects Of her EXTERN
terror.
A late edition of the Washington Star has
the following additional particulars:
Major Stebbins, military storek eeper, was
in the building at tho time. with several
other gentlemen, and states that after the
powder on the benches caught, tue fire
spread down rapidly. binding the girls aud
setting fire to their clothes. Many of th EN-
"a n to tho windows wrapped in flames, and
on the way communi catod tho flre TO the
dresses of others. fortunately there were
no completed cartridges inthe room, those
IN hand being ready to pinch.
MsJor Stebbins was in position TO assist
the unfortunate girls 10 making their es-
cape, and to him and others who were nea T,
and to the soldiers aud workmeu who W ere
promptly on the spot, do many of them owe
tn cir lives.
Special care was taken to prevent the fire
from reaching the large magazine, in W hich
several tons Of powder is constantly kept,
for had the flames reached this building the
loss Of life would have been fearful, as sew
eral huEdred persons were in the immedi-
ate vicinity.
As soon as the accident occurred, a dis
patch was sent from the arsenal to the War
Departm ent, informing Secretary Stanton
what had taken place, and asking tn at sur
geons be furnished, which request was i'm
mediately complied with.