Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1870-11-21
nrrno.oLxcsn1N1 HxPIos1oNs.

The full particulars Of the recent ex-
p!osion of eight thousand pounds Of
nitro-glycerine at Fairport, Ohio, are
highly interesting. Fairport Is thirty
miles east OF Cleveland and three miles
north of gainesville, and Is situated
near the mouth Of Grand river, and OH
the shore Of Lake Erie. 1t was for
merly the regular stopping place for
the Lake steamers ; but Grand river
having become choked up with sand,
the trade has almost ceased-and the
once prosperous town Is now reduced
to a hamlet Of thirty rlckety anu d.
lapidated houses, Inhabited principally
BY sailors and fishermen. On the east
bank Of the river there are three or
four old warehouses, which, since lSGS,
have been used for the manufacture Of
nitro-glycerine, and II thousand
pounds Of this dangerous explosive
agent are made In the establishment
every day. On the west bank Of the
river, and over twelve hundred feet
from any house. two magazines, about
one hundred feet apart, were con-
structed, by placing frame buildings,
about twelve feet hight, In exca-
vations IN the sand, ten feet square and
eight feet deep, the sand being banked
up OH all sides except at the entrance.
In these magazines were stored eight
thousand pounds Of nitro-glycerine in
stone jars. Moorel in the river near
the west bank was a small schooner OF
forty tons burden, used to convey the
nitro-glycerine to market. all railroad
and transportation companies refusing
to carry so dangerous n substance.
Four men were engaged In emptying
the nitro-glycerine from the stone jars
into sheet-irou carboys, and then III
taking the carLoys aboard the schooner
and packing them in the sand, which
WAS used for ballast. Suddenly the
country for twenty miles round was
shaken by an earthquake, and from
the magazines an immense cloud OF
blood red smoke shot up into the aii
aud spread over the entire heavens
Then q huge mass, consisting of broken
jars, splinters Of wood, clay and sand,
rose to the hight Of $50 feet, and fall
Ing again, was scattered over Falrport'
The houses IN the town were racked,
the roofs blown of, and the windows
and doors shattered. The inhabitants
Of Fairport. who, two months ago, had
suffered from an explosion Of 1000
pounds of nitro-glycerine, OH the oc'
currence Of the second calamity rushed
out into the streets frantic with feai
and unable to recognize their neigh
hors, and the sailors and worknen
commenced fighting each other In the
attempt to keep of some imagined
enemy. The only trace Of the foul
men engaged in the magazine was a
few charred and blackened pieces Of
flesh hardly as large as a mans hand
OF the frame magazines only n few
splinters could be found; and where
the buildings stood, two large cavltie;
in the earth, partly filled with water,
were formed, II sixty-scven, and The
other seventy-flve feet in diameter and
thirty feet deep. Huge masses were
hcaycd up from the bed Of clay lying
twenty-five feet below the surface Of
the ground, and scattered round the
mouths Of the cavities. The cause o.
this fearful accident Of course cannot
he a~scertained. but 1t Is supposed thai
III carrying the large jars, weighing
100 pounds each, the men accidentally
dropped one. and that the conclusion
was sufficient to produce the explosion
Nitro ~glycerinc has IL times the forc'
of gunpowder, and the amount stored
In the magazines produced the sam'
effect rs the explosion Of l2s,M'
pounds Of powder.