The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-04-06

Nitro Glycerine--A Factory De-
moIished--four Lives Lost.

A little hamlet known as Little
Ferry Farm, located on the Hacksu-
sack river, about a mile from Ridge
field, in Berg N county, was on Tues
day a scene of aterrible explosion. Up
on one bank of the rive: at that place
stands Tai. p. Shaffner's nitro gly-
crime factory. 1t is a long, low bull
ding of brick, one story in height,
nestled in among severl hills. Sever
al men have been engaged in the place
in some capacity or other, and most
of them were ut work yesterday. A
few were absent from their places,
either witnessing or participating in
the celebration of st. Patrick's day.
A largo quantity of the explosive
material made at the factory was to
have been shipped from there yester-
day. and a number of men busted
themselves in removing it from the
storing rooms in the factory to q sloop
lying at a wharf near by, which was
to carry it away. The material was
packed in bags, and SO packed, was
thrown over the backs Of workingmen
o I'd and borne to the vessel. Accord
ing to ono of these men, less cautious
than the rest, while carrying a bag up
on his shoulder lost his hold upon it.
1t fell and exploded, and the explosion
started a second explosion more ter
rible than the first.
The bulk of the material stored in
the building exploded.
The consequences are beyond de,
scription. The building lay a mass
of ruins, scattered for rods around.
Bricks and mortar were hurled in ev-
cry direction i; rafters broken in pieces,
and scattered everywhere. The boil
or, broken in some places and indent-
ed in others, lay many feet from the
spot where it had once stood. Moth
ing but the chimney of the factory re-
named intact. The explosion was
heard for miles around, and its force
broke the windows OF houses a mile
distant upon the neighbor hills. Frigh-
tened by the noise and shock which
the explosion occasioned, people rush.
ed from their houses to find out what
had occurred, and when told, repaired
to the spot to see the ruins.
MIR. Shaffner, the owner of the ma
terials in the building, estimates his
loss at $4,000, and says it is not COW
cred by insurance. He states that
the explosion IA caused by the mum
dation reaching the high grade of acids
required in manufacturing nitro gly-
c%erine, the combustion of which led to
that of the nirtro-glycerine, of which
there was 1000 pounds on hand. But
the loss of property was not the only
loss sustained by the catastrophe. -Four
lives were sacrificed to the carelessless
of the inc1utious workmen. The
bodies of these unfortunate men were
torn limb from limb, and scattered
like the mason work all over. High
up in the air one was thrown, and it
descended into the river. One OF the
legs of one man was found lying two
hundred feet distant from the scene of
the catastrophe Many of those who
were not killed were more or less in
jured. One was struck on the head
by a flying brick bat and severely cut
and bruised. Another sustainded a
fracture OF the leg.
The sloop itself, considering the
amoun of damage elsewhere, escaped
comparatively unframed. Her mast
was broken of, but beyond that she
suffered little or no ipjury.-N Y.
Ifa11.