The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-05-19
Tn8 GRBAT EXPLOSION.
Herald Special Report from
Paris.
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Details Of the Cartridge Fac
tory Explosion.
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INTENSE EXCITEMENT AND ALARM.
Cartridges Railing, Wounded Grooming and
the Frightened Shrinking
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TERROR AND DESPAIR EVERYWHERE.
~. s-, ss.: "a.
Heads, Limbs, Mutilated Trunks and HUI
man Pulp Strewing the Streets.
Graphic Report of Terrible and Sick
ening Accident.
Cartridges Railing, Wounded Grooming and
the Frightened Shriekins.
TERROR AND DESPAIR EVERYWHERE
Heads, Limbs, Mutiiated Trunks and HUI
man Pulp Strewing the Streets.
Graphic Report of Terrible and Sick
ening Accident.
TeLEeaams 70 THE NEW YORK HERALD

/
PARIS, May l8-Morning,
Via BoULoaNE, May l8-Egening
! The loss Of life by the explosion of the
cartridge factory on the Avenue Rapp, Champs
de Mars, was mainly among women and
children.
A GENERAL RUSH TO THE soENE.
The concussion was felt throughout the city
certain what bad occurred thousands rushed
in the direction of the columns Of white
smoke. The entire population seemed TO be
on the streets, all filled with amazement, ter
ror and curiosity. I met thousands on the
road to the Champs de Mars, rushing away,
az if they were mad, from the scene, with
their children and valuabes. Some Of them
were helping the wounded along.
THK BURNING FACTORY.
AT the head Of the Avenue Rapp the see ne
was a terrible one. Several houses were
burning, and the rattle of exploding cartridges
was incessant; first there would be brilliant
blaze and then loud explosion. From the
base of the cartridge factory there shot up
ward fearful mass of fire and smoke.
THE WOUNDED AND DYING.
Hundreds and thousands of cartridges, crack
ing and rafting, one after the other,
mingled with terrific shrieks from the wounded
and frightened. Nearly all those injured
were women and children. The few men en-
ployed in the building were either killed or
fearfnlly wounded. Mutilated forms were to
be seen on every side grooming and writhing
with agony.
DESPAIR AND TERROR.
Across the great place of the Iuvalides, up
and down the neighboring streets ran the
terror-stricken multitude. shrieking out the
names Of mothers, wives and sisters. saw
aged women wringing their hands in despair
at the sudden and overwhelming calamity
which had befallen them. Uncertainty of the
situation increased the terror everywhere.
A FRIGHTFUL SPECTACLE.
For distance OF several hundred yards
your correspondent assisted In placing upon
stretchers the heads. limbs and mutilated
trunks Of the hapless victims of the explosion.
| On one body chung the scorched fragments of
| a hoped skirt, and on the finger Of one hand
was wedding ring, showing that the unfor-
tunate woman was a wife, and probably .
mother, whose children had shared her fate.
HUMAN PULP.
| Higher up the street was mass of human
debris. One body was scarcely more than so
much pulp blackened by powder. 1t was alto
| gether the most sickenng spectacle that can
be imagined and caused thrill of horror to
pass through all who witnessed it.
OTHER MAGAZINES IN DANGER.
At half-past six o'clock in the evening a
force of cavalrymen was ordered to drive
away the crowd from the vicinity, as there
are several other magazines in the neighbor-
hood, and it was feared that the fire depart
meat would be unable to arrest the flames,
and that they too would explode.
| PANIC FEARED.
All traffic on the bridges has been stopped
and panic among the troops is feared. Re-
quisitions have been made upon all the street
cabs.
| INDEscRIBABLR EXCITEMENT.
| As l send this despatch the excitement
throughout the city is indescribable. The
! streets in the quarter where the explosion took
place arc densely crowded by men and wo-
men, who see IN to have lost all control over
themselves.
| Number Of Persons Kiilcd-tsreat Loss al
| Propsrty-vcrsaiilists Accuhed Of CAUSING
LONDON, May Is, 1871.
A despatch from Paris says the num-
Der Of persons killed by the explosion of the
powder magazine in the Avenue du Trocadero
is variously estimated at from fifty to two
hundred. The stock Of cartridges, which was
immense, and large amount of neighboring
property were destroyed.
THE vERsAILLIsTs ACCUSED OF THE EXPLOSION.
The Communist Official journal accuses the
versaillsts of causing the cartridge explosion
/ l.. H. lo~ tx,xk Ux~sS>
demonstrates that the explosion was solely the
result Of accident, from the fact that no shell
fell In the Champ do Mars at the time Of Its