The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1871-06-15

Children Kined-The Air Full of Frag-
ments of Human Bodies. e1ss9s..-.
The correspondent of the New York
Tribune, writing from Paris, May Is,
says: IL U1tI 3l4 as
A terrific explosion occurred yester-
day ats 80 p. m. who am mile
from the scene of the disaster, thought
1 was dead man. have powder
magazine about one hundred and fifty
yards from me. Y yesterday morning
there were thirty-five or forty railway
vans dischaFging shells into it. When
/ heard the series of explosions i made
sure it was the above mentioned pow.
der magazine which had blown up
for the reports were deafening-the
house shivered, the windows ratified
every woman was shfieking, children
were sobbing, National Guards were
running wildly about, crying, "TC
arms to arms !" looked around mG
to see which wall Of the house would
fall first. Finding it remained firm
on its foundation went to the win
| dow to find the street filled with {
I terrified crowd, but nobody could dis
cover the source of the detonation
until man cried, tDo look there Pa Il
extraordinary sight presented itself
A ball six or seven times as large az
the Federal Canitol foated in mid air
1t was smoke, but so black and SC
dense that the rays of the setting SUI
were distinctly visible as pencils o.
| light pfotruding' on every side beyond
4 it, like the solar spectrum seen in {
dark room, when beams penetrate
some shutters crevice. The huge bal
floated motionless, and gave no sigr
| of merging into air. 81 iii'51sJ 4'f'i g
Presently volumes of thinner nokt
curled fitfully upward, and now and
then forked tongues of flame ran ner.
vously from their bottom to their top
e The Hotel des InvalidsE has beer
blown up " was the general cry
Down towards it an inundation of hu.
man beings poured in constantly gath.
ering floods, which ehoked even the
broad outer beulevards. Windows
had lost all their glass, and dinner
| tables had been overturned and theiI
china vessels scattered. But twas not
the Invalides; it was thed extensive
cartridge gemanufactory of the Champ
de Mars which had exploded 0 When
the CATASTROPHE occurred the streets
were full of people returning home
to dinner. They thought battery OF
mitrailleures was planted at the street
corner, and was throwing volleys
down it. Every person fell fat on the
ground. AS one drew near the Champs
de Mars the sight baffledo description
Arms, legs, hands, heads, some of them
still quivering5 with vestiges of life,
the majority of them blackened with
powder and fire, were to be found
every ten PAGES one made down the
street. There was not whole VIM
dow anywhere to be seen. Cartridges
or balls or cartridge papers, were
strewn broadcast. l picked up a
chassepot ball melted and lfattened to
the length Of fourinches. Three hun
dred yards from the scene OF the ex-
plosion the naked trunk of a woman
was found head and limbs had been
torn off. The number of victims has
not yet been ascertained. Three hum
dred is the lowest estimate made. Five
hundred women were employed in the
manufactory but two hundred leave
work at 4:30 pm, each day. 1t is
believed the building contained three
hundred women when the explosion
took place. These all perished. and
they are not the only victims. A
model lodging house, called Cite Ma
poleon, has been so much damaged
that its fall is hourly expected! A
great many of its tenants were killed.
All the wounded soldiers in the Rue
de la Universite, were killed. "A iwo-
man standing at a window had one
arm pulled out of its socket, and she
died instantly from the nervous shock
and terror. One woman ileaped from
her window and was killed. In the
same house an infant was rent to pieces
in its cradle. Avenue de la Bourbon
mage has scarcely a house standing
Houses four stories high are mass of
rubbish. For some time after the ex-
plosion the neighborhood witnessed
maddening scenes. Panic stricken
horses galloped wildly in every direc-
ton women some with babies in
their arms, ran to and fro, shrieking
Historically children were screaming
tor their parents; people fRantically
threw out of their windows every
thing they could lay hands on. But
for the prompt arrival of the firemen
the disaster would have been far
greater, for there were thousand bar
rels of powder in the neighboring
magazines, and the fire was rapidly
gaining on them. All the sheds on the
eastern side of the Champ de Mars
were in flames. The powder was
storedsin cellars under them Several
hundred vehicles of every description
omnibusses, ambulance wagons, hacks
railway Wagons-were soon ON the
spot carrying away thevictims. Some
had eight (none less than two1 corpses
or wounded persons. .