The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-21
EXPLOSION AT THE ARSENAL.
NINE MEN KILLED AND THREE WOUNDED.


from the National Intelligencer of Dec. 10
Two years have not elapsed since sew
enteen young women were hurled into
eternity by an explosion at the Wash
ington Arsenal. The excitement at that
time was intense; for, although amid the
scenes of war and of suffering, the peO-
pie of Washington had no such horror
to disturb their peace of mind as that
which in moment, by the agency of
fire, sent almost score of human beings
to the world from which no traveller re-
turns. Yesterday the tragedy was re-
peated. In the morning, ten men, most
of them husbands and fathers, and
many of them discharged soldiers who
had served their country with faith and
honesty in the shock of battle, went
forth to their labors jOyfulIy and full of
life and hope. Tn the evening they
were crisped and blackened corpses,
hardly to be recognized; and all the re-
suit of carelessness, it Is believed, on the
part of one of the wOrkmen.
At two o'clock, or little while before
that hour, the city experienced a shock,
almost rs of an earthquake, and it was
natural to suppose that an eXplOsion had
taken place either at the Arsenal or at
the Navy Yard. All doubts were speed
lily set at rest by the fire-bells ringing
out number II, which box is at the COR
ner of M street south and F0ur-and-a-
half street west. Fastening to the To-
cality, our reporter ascertained that an
explosion had taken place i'm q frame
building, a fewyards inside the first gate
of the road leading to the Arsenal
building proper, and some yards from
the road. The building was used as
receptacle for the ammunition which
has been turned in from the abandoned
forts around and about Washington; and
there the powder was taken out of the
shells and turned into barrels. The
theory Of the explosion is, that n fric-
ton match was carelessly allowed to re-
main in one shell, and that another was
dropped upon it, thus causing the exp lo-
sion.
In the absence of a cOrOner's investi-
cation, all statements are somewhat
speculative, and so great was the confu-
sion at the scene of the accident, that it
was with difficulty that any facts could
be collected. 1t was mt one time report
ed that the explosion was the result of n
spark dropped from pipe or cigar which
q workman was smoking; but we were
informed by Major Benton, the efficient
commander of the arsenal, that no
smoking is allowed inside the grounds;
and we have proof positive that such is
the case. An individual in the uniform
of a sergeant of infantry endeavored to
create the impression that the workmen
were in the habit Of smoking while at
their work, by Saying that he had
warned the men not to smoke. When
closely questioned, however, he evaded
a direct reply, and gave no satisfactory
reason to induce belief in his state
ment.
The persons killed were jeremiah
Mahoney, Patrick ReardOn, Marshal
WHITLEY, James Moran, Michael Me-
Dermott, John Meahan, Martin Coyle,
Thomas Fealey and Peter McGarry.
All of the above had their clothes com
pIetely burned off, and portions of their
flesh were burned to crisp. In some
instances heads were partially torn off.
arms and legs were drawn up, and en-.
trails protruded from nearly all the bo-
dies. Blackened, crisped, bloody, and
tortured into every conceivable position
indicative of misery, there the bodies
lay, guarded by sentinel and hid from
view by a canvas covering, which was
only removed as some relative approach