Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-10-05

were lifted into the air, and alighted in
msngled and mutilated shapes, many
yards from where they were standing
| when struck with the steam. An idea ol
the force and power and the horror OF the
| explosion may be gathered from some OF
the incidents which we have been able to
oollate.
Where the engine stood was left no per-
/ ceptible trace, except an area of smoked
and blackened ground. Even the founda-
| tion had been torn up. and not brick was
| left standing the one upon the other. The
| framing Ofthe saw-mill was thrown askew,
| turned over, broken and dislocated. A
| large piece of the boiler, which must have
weighed five hundred pounds, WAS car
| ried distance of hundred yards. One
| smaller piece was thrown clear into the
time-track, and, skipping over IL, buried
itself in the sod beyond. Another large
piece was blown westward, clear over the
dyke upon the eattle-pens. 1t crashed
through the roof of one, and struck a
large OK on the horn, breaking of the
tips, passing entirely ont Of the inclosure
of the fair grounds. One of the shafts, to
which was attached an eccentric, was
thrown sideways over Power Hall, and
landed at the side of Domestic Hall. One
of he rods was twisted of and carried at
least three hundred yards in a north
easterly direction, striking man on the
head VINO WAS standing not far from the
amphitheater. In almost every direction
smaller pieces OF the machinery We're
thrown, and the air was literally fun Of
splinters, bolts, screws, nuts, pieces OF
rods, and such of the lighter portions CT
the engine Innumerable are the stories
told of how deadly missiles alighted just
In front of people, arrested by IA gracious
Providence in their deadly hight.
To attempt a pen picture of the scene
F1IT ind
people, pallid with fear, rushing and crush
Ing TO aud fro, impelled by u nameless
something, towards an undefnable object
men bearing dead and wounded into the
various hailsi women shrieking and cry
ing for fear their husbands, sous on broth
ers might be among the killed; strong
men conyulsed and in tears because tenn
porarily separated from wives and chill
dren and in suspense az to their safety;
here, stumbling across the mutilated form
of man; there appalled, with the horrid
spectacle of a skull absolutely stripped of
its flesh; here an arm, there pair Of legs, |
here a side of flesh cooked until it looked
like trlpe; there pool of clotted blood; |
here a horse struck dead in his harness, |
with the occupants of the carriage dumb |
and palsied with terror. All this and !
more, infinitely more, must be imagined |
TO fill IN the details Of picture or which /
1t were next TO impossible to give but the |
faintest outline.
Tho tidings Of the accident reached |
town in 3 very few minutes, and soon the |
whole population was aroused. Pennsyl- |
vania and Delaware streets, as the princi- |
pal avenues from ths grounds, were lined /
with terror-stricken people, eager TO hear |
the news. At the gates stood groups of |
scared women and children, shivering |
with the dread that one OF those rude
hearses might drop its load Of misery al |
their dOorsteps. Never have we seen the |
city Of Indianapolis 40 thoroughly alarm
ed and aroused. The pitch from JOY TO |
sorrow was so sudden and so extreme. |
The newspaper Offices were crowded with |
eager news seekers; the rooms Of W. w. !
Weaver, the undertaken, WHITTIER the |
dead bodies were taken TO await recogui- !
ton and reclamation, were besieged with /
a crowd of several hundred until mid
night; the hotels were thronged; the Sur
gical Institute, where the wounded were 4
lying, was the focus toward which hun
dreds of people cOnverged, and wherever
two or three could get together there was
= hurried comparison OF notes and an ex-
change ot the latest information.