Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-06-25
NITRO GLYCERINE DISASTER.

The nitro glycerine disaster at Worcester,
is described in the Boston Advertiser, by an
eyewitness, as follows
A-gentleman who was standing within a
dozen rods of the rear of the train when the
explosion occurred states that when the train
stopped, the rear car was lost to view in a tre-
memdous cloud of dust, smoke and fragments
of all descriptions. Immediately there broke
upon the ear sharp crash that told story
of disaster and ruin of the most fearful char
acter. The air was full of debris; pieces OF
blazing muzlin-a portion of the freight-were
thrown to an incredible height and, slowly
falling, alighted all ablaze, rods away, in the
open fields.
Following the roar of the explosion frag-
ments fell thick as hail upon the line of the
road and the streets surrounding, and when
the cloud cleared away the results were plain
ly visible. The three last cars of the train
were blown to fragments, and only the fore
truck of the third remained. The train stood
at the time upon grade or embankment,
high above the level of the street. so that only
one third, perhaps, of the buildings along
side were above the rails. The other side
was open country. For several rods the build
irgs were demolished. Laths and plaster
were blown to the winds, as one would knock
the ashes from cigar; partitions were blown
out, windows and sashes splintered to frag
ments bed clothing torn from the beds and
flung into all sorts of places, and ruin made
of what were an instant before secure and
quiet homes.
Below the cars and on the track itself the
rails were twisted from their places, the ties
were annihilated, and the axles broken off
and driven into the ground for half their
lengths. In all directions the shattered and
broken iron work told a plain story of the
fearful force that has been so suddenly de-
veloped. For yards even rods, around the
contents of the cars were scattered upon the
track; pieces of cotton cloth, sides and scraps
of leather, shoes, furniture, statianery, litter
the road. The telegraph poles for several
hundred feet were blown to pieces, and the
wires twisted into fantastic shapes dropped
from such as remained standing.
The wheels of the cars were blown to
fragments, and one of the pals that play in
the ratchet of the brake was picked up half a
mile away 1t went whizzing into the kitchen
of housewife and struck against the fire.
place.
In all directions the force of the explosion
was noticeable, and many a long day the
crash of glass and splintering of sashes will
be remembered.
At this writing it is impossible to say with
any correctness how many lives have been
from two to ten. Two are known to have
been killed, but their names were unknown.
An elderly person in the most exposed
building is reported to have lost his senses
by the violence of the explosion, and mo-
ment after the streets were full of gashed and
bleeding faces.
The platen Of large iron planning machine
in the New York Machine Works was lifted
clear of its bed by the conclusion. The
plastering in the house of Mr.. Conley or
Conlin, half mile from the disaster, was
torn from the ceilings. Children white about
about the lips, and men and women with
scared faces, ran hither and thither.
One man, sick in bed with rheumatism, was
blown out of bed into an adjoining garden.
The Argus says an apple tree in the orchard
of VIM. T. Woodbury. of East Raymond, has
branch on which the buds are just coming
into bloom, while the apples on the rest of the
branches are as large as bullets. The tree
has never been grated.