The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-01-14
THE MOSEL HORROR.


Further Particulars of the Catastrophe
Terrible scenes at Bremsrhsven.
The Bremen correspondent of the Lon
don Times furnishes the following ghast-
ly details of the dynamite horror;
GA gentleman who visited the scene |
of the disaster few hours after the !
event said it looked more terrible than q
field of battle. Hospital attendants and
policeman, aided by volunteers from all
classes of the population, had, indeed,
removed those remnants OF humanity In
which the vital spark was not wholly
extinct, but what remained was human
shambles. As in an anatomical dissect-
ing-room, all the individual limbs OF the
human body might be seen lying about
separately in CHASTITY isolation. Here
head was stuck on railing, while hand
WAS seen pointing ut empty space from
window sill. More horrible, perhaps,
than the lacerated limbs, whose outward
shape was sufficiently preserved to adj
NIT of recognition, were the formless
masses of flesh strewn in every direction,
mixed up with arms and feet. On the
fatal spot were boots and shoes, coats
and shawls, and countless splinters OF
iron and wood. Where the wagon stood
from which the deadly chest was thrown
yawned hole over six feet deep and
seven feet wide. Horses, vehicle, driver
and porters were blown into atoms, with
out trace of them left. On the brink
of the opening which marked the spot
where they disappeared, an infants shoe
was seen, empty, and asking for the tiny
foot which had tenanted it that morning.
A notebook was there, containing the
memoranda of dead man. Later in
the day the most horrid indications OF
the catastrophe We're carefully collected
and carried away to the church-yard
preparatory to removal F; but many OF the
shivered fragments were thrown too
great distance, and had been lodged in
two improbable localities to be found ut
the first search. For two or three days
after the event terrible discoveries were
continually made in houses and court
yards, stables and boats. A man would
go up to the loft to fetch fuel, and find
leg flung across the Goals. A woman
feeding poultry in the hen-house was
shocked to behold finger fought for
by the feathery tribe. In the harbor,
bloody trunks rose and fell with the
stream for several days, presenting re-
voting aspect, and causing the authori-
ties to have the river dredged. The most
narrowing spectacle was that presented
in the dead-house Of the churchyard be-
fore the first burial of the remains.
Heads without trunks, trunks without
heads, legs without feet, and arms with
out hands were displayed in hideous
rows for Identification. Picture for
yourself a woman looking for her hus-
band among these CORY relics, and
| the thought beggars description. For
two consecutive days these visits to torn
members continued. For two days fare
wells were taken of heads and hands.
For two days portions of the cadaverous
array were gradually removed by rela-
tives, bringing full-sized collins for a
single limb, and having it carefully sown
up in linen before consigning it to its
last enclosure. Then the grave hid its
own. Meanwhile some thirty persons,
not wholly killed by the explosion, were
living in an improvised hospital not far
| from the scene, an unascertained number
of other sufferers having been received
in private houses. If there was any
thing calculated TO render the effects of
the catastrophe more appalling, it was
that the infection is confined to compar-
atively few families. Whole families,
having gone to see their relatives off,
were killed and wounded. A ter
rible instance is that of Mr.. Elmer,
who with all his nearest and dearest ac-
companied his eldest son to the boat to
wish him God-speed on his departure for
the West Indies. The father, the elder
and younger son, one son-in-law, the
brother of another son-in-law, and a
cousin are dead. The mother has had
her arm broken. One of the daughters
has just lost her right hand another
daughter is wounded in the face, hands
and legs third daughter is wounded III
the arm while the sister of one of the
sous-in-law had her left foot blown Off
That son-in-law whose brother is dead is
terribly lacerated in the abdomen. This
is the worst case, but others might be
cited hardly less melancholy. The ex-
plosion was heard for many miles around
1t is affirmed that low, muttering noise
penetrated to the very environs OF Ham
burg"