Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-05-31

The Nitro GIycerine Explosion.

The SAP Francisco correspondent Of the
New 70 Il uroJd gives the following partic-
alars of the terrible nitro glycerine explo-
sion at San Francisco, on the 10th ult:
At 1:13 on the afternoon of the 10th, I
vas standing in an Office on Sacramento
street, near Montgomery, when l heard a
tremsESsns explosion, which | can hken
snly &C the bursting Of some monster gun
many times overcharged. followed by the
roar of falling debris and the rush Of men,
women, children and horses and vehicles in
wild and terrible confusion down the street.
The French windows near which l was
standing, were driven bodily inwards, and
the glass came flying down upon me in a
shower. Utterly unable to account for the
terrible shock, | ran into the street, and
started for the point from whence the re-
port seemed to come.
Going towards California street / net q
number Of people with bleeding face and
hands, cut by the falling glass, which COW
cred the entire sidewalks and was falling in
showers from upper windows, often with
large pieces of sash attached, as | passed
along. At the northwest corner of Mont
gomery and California streets stands the
fine three-story quadruple front-eut granite
block, occupied below as the banking and
express office of the great house of Wells,
Fargo & Co., the only express company on
the Pacific coast and the leading banking
house.
Arriving in front of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s
building, found the establishment literally
a wreck; doors and windows were gone,
mortar and broken furniture covered the
floors and indescribable confusion reigned.
Pushing my way through the excited crowd
l reached the doorway of the Union Club
rooms. between the banking and express de-
partment, on the Montgomery street side,
and clambered up the stairway to the second
story, which, with the third is entirely oc-
cupied by the Union club. The furniture
was in ruins, and the ceilings thrown down.
pushed on to the rear of the building, and,
looking out into the area behind, beheld a
spectacle shall never forget On every side
was ruin indescribsbe-pile of brick and
mortar thrown confusedly together, lumber
torn into splinters everywhere, and, most
horrid of all, great splashes of blood against
the walls left standing beyond, the immedi-
ate effects Of the explosion.
All the buildings had been of brick, and
everything fronting on the area was a wreck.
the o.hce and billiard saloon or the Union
CLUB and arched gateway which leads into
the rear of Wells Fargo & Co. Is from Cali
fornia street, was an entire wreck, the end
being blown out, the floor torn into splin-
tiers, the iron roof rolled up like a piece of
wall paper, the rafters hanging loose in ev-
cry direction, furniture smashed and billiard
tables crushed by the weight of the debris
Tho hriok kitahan of tho IIuiou olI,h NH oh
stood in the area of Wells, Fargo & Co 8,
was heap of brick and mortar and broken
beams, from beneath which came the ago
n.Eing groans of the wounded and the dy-
ing. The whole area was filled with debris.
The rear wall of Bells brick building, used
as an assayer's laboratory, in the rear of the
assay office, was falling in fragments at ev-
cry minute, the roof hanging down unsup-
ported on the side next the area.
The outer walls of Wells, Fargo & Co s
shed were blown to fragments, and the
frame structure overhead, outside the main
wall of their building, mere mass of splin-
ters, the rafters lying on the walls which
supported the floor
Blood was visible in many. places, and
man with heads and hands cut by the falling
glass or timbers, were running back and
forth in anxious search for missing friends
The main rear walls of Wells, Fargo & Co. g
building we're terribly shattered, while frag
ments of doorways and window sashes only
remained in their place throughout the en-
tire building. Two fine horses, attached to
the ruins of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s express
wagons, lay in the agonies of death in the
area.
On the western side of the area, near
Bell & Co.'S laboratory Law three bodies
the only ones then in sight.