Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-06-30
The Explosion at Worcester.

Our Geographic columns, yesterday
morning, contained brief account of the
fearful accident at Worcester, Mass,
caused by an explosion, as it was said, OF
nitro-glycerine in the rear car of a freight
train on the Boston and Albany Railroad.
The following account, which we gather
from our exchanges, contains all the par
ticulars which have reached us:
The city of Worcester was startled at
1920 a. m, on Thursday, by an explosion
on the Boston and Albany Railroad, near
its junction with the Providence road.
The last car Of freight train bound west
had been blown literally to splinters by a
part of its cargo. By some it is supposed
to have been nitro-glycerine, since guam
titles of copper wire for exploding it
were afterward found near, while 9th ers
claim it was "Ditmar's Oriental" consign-
ed to the Hoosac tunnel. OF course the
railroad had not willingly taken such mer.
chandise, and the conductor in charge of
the train thinks it must have been in
boxes marked glass. The second and
third cars were also badly shattered, and
the buildings and workshops around were
much damaged, twelve houses being de-
molished and many others shattered. One
person, supposed to have been Timothy
Cronan, a section hand, is known to have
been killed, as small pieces of a human
body were picked up near the scene of the
but enough could not be found
to compose single recognizable feature.
The damage and number of persons in
iured were large, and included the follow
ing, most of the wounds being made by
splinters and glass: Mrs. James Ellison,
occupant of No. 116 Southbridge ST., face
and neck cut. and two children,
Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Drohan and child
and Mary Barge, boarders, similarly in
iured the rear walls of the house were
detached from the building and the win
dows, doors and plastering dissipated.
James Sullivan, Catherine Colvin, Mary
Gibson and Diana Twiss. occupants OF
No. 114k, were all more or less injured,
though none seriously; the house was
nearly demolished and was owned by
William Kidney. MIR. Welsh'E, No. ia,
was riddled to pieces. Thomas Carney's,
No. 112, was partially demolished; Mrs
Augusta Miller, an occupant, was severe
ly wounded. The Cunningham house
was badly shattered and three children
within was severely injured. Mrs
Cary and two children at No. 1856
and Miss Celia Flanagan at No 100 and
a Mrs Duggau were seriously injured,
the houses being much disarranged. Fred
Leech's house, No. 118, was badly shatter-
ed Outside of Southbridge street, glass
was demolished for great distance
around. Allen & Co.'s frearm shop, a
quarter of mile away, Wood, Light u
Co.'s machine shop, the SArg' Ut crd
clothing factory, the building rvaru ted
by the Earle stove company, wig all
their windows blown out, and Worcester
academy a mile away suffered similarly
Buildings on higher ground escaped inju
~. The gardens near by were stripped
of every bit of vegetation and the trees of
their leaves and bark The biggest piece
to be found of the wood work of the last
car was no bigger than pen-stock,
and the iron car wheels were
broken up as fine as egg coal
Heavy bars of iron were thrown a
quarter of mile The brakeman of the
car had just gone forward, and thus saved
his life. The express train for Providence
had just passed by, and was so near that
some of the windows in the rear Car we're
shattered. The train was the first morn
ing train for this city, contained u cars,
and was in the act of starting after stop
ping at the junction. The scene OF the
disaster was visited during the day,
Thursday, by $4,000 people. The total
damage is roughly estimated at Sl50,000.
The most astonishing thing about the
whole affair is that only one person was
killed, and that so few were badly in
jured The total number of the wounded
is about thirty. The man killed was
walking on the track.