The union Democrat., 1870-12-03
Terrible Explosion of Gun Gotten -K.oss OF
Fifty Lives.

On Sunday last. about / O'Clock in the
morning. the inhabitants of the town were
awakened by sheck, which everybody ct
once declared to be the shock ofan earthquake,
but which was really the effect of the explo-
sion of magazine. in which had been stored
number of cases filed with gun cotton that
had only lately arrived from Trieste. The
Austrian manufacturers had warned lhe au-
,horities here that this cotton would have TO
be turned daily, as it was liable to spontan-
Gus ignition /; bat this, in all likelihood, was
soon forgotten, and the result is the msf0r-
tune have TO write about, The magazine
was situated in the center Of the town called
Kom el-Dvck THE Cocks ulll, a caleareous
roek, where stood in o!dcn times o theatre.
and which until lately was covered with Arab
huts but where Europeans and Syrians, hay.
ing discovered the salabiity OF the spot, had
built houses and villas with gardens. a
great number CT these are now either de-
stroyed or more or less injured. as the huge
stones with which the magazine had been
built had been sent with lateral force agaius:
the houses, and bombarded them, in some
eases going through several walls and doing
little harm. The house of Wilson, an Eng
fish resident, completely destroyed, vet though
the rooms were filed with Stones he and his
family were not iniured-a wonderful escape
indeed. Beyond the destruction of the houS-
es in the immediate quarter, no greater mis-
chief was done to property than the breaking
Of windows in nearly all the houses situated
within quarter of mile from the maya
zine, but the loss of life occasioned by the ac-
cident, arising from careIessnesS, is very
great. It is true that the official account
gives the number as fifty it is true that most
Of them were ''only Arabs :" but then | be-
lieve the number is very far below the true
enc, AID | also believe that the lives of these
"oulv Arabs" were valuable. But no one
would be likely to think so who saw the few
soldiers at work who were sent to dig for the
buried bodies. 1t was a horrible sight.
They take from the side of heap some of
the stones and rubbish, and put it on the top
of the very same heap they are working at,
until they discover some part of body.
They then get hold of it as hest shey can, and
pail, shouting at the same time in their hor-
r;ble moaotonQus measure. Here they drag
forth the body of a woman, which, having
been lying compressed by the stones, expands
in each part as it comes forth then they ex-
pose another body-is it man or woman
Bystanders cannot tell for the head is rot
there. The work went on during the fore
noon, in the afternoon nothing was done.
Next morning expected to find, at all events.
those places cleared where it was likely that
bodies were still lying ; but no, only found
aboot GOO soldiers employed in filling up the
gap made by the explosion where the maya
zine stood, carrying the stones and raking
the earth down with their hands, while the
Arabs, who were still in search of relatives,
were also digging in the same manner, where
yesterday morning had stood their poor
dwellings. The excitement here is very
great, everybody blaming the Government
for storing such an explosive material in the
midst of thickly-popuated quarter.-[ 44Ier-
on3,ja, ( Oct. 2e) Correspondence London
Echo