New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1878-05-15

fessional fremen to stand guard over the
checked elements.
| The Daybreak.
Daybreak succeeding the fire revealed the
extent and character of the destruction. The
area covered by the conhagration was not so
| extensive as the completeness of the destruc-
| ton was impressive. AS the roseate streaks of
morning began to overtop the opposite side of
st. Anthony, one gradually realized the hatten-
ing effect of the dire explosion. The indescrib-
able masses of fame and masonry of the mid
night and darkness Of the night preceding
began to assume shape and form. The mounds
ofsmoking embers began to be clearly defin-
Ell. The black phantoms at the ends
of Kissing MOBILES gradually evolved
into helmeted dremen. The yellow glare was
supplanted by the white light of Gods precious
+ day until, creep, creep, creeping with Aurora's
footsteps. the suddenness and completeness Of
the explosion filled the mind of the observer
The stones which had composed the tower
ing edifces of the previous day, had been scat
tered with the caprice of a playful fairy and
with the fury of demented demon. While
sand, the frailest particles of office furniture
remained intact. Here was the top of brick
chimney lifted bodily ard entire until placed
alongside Of Himsy waste paper bas-
ket; and both were entire. The huge,
ponderous and fre-proof safe all shat
tered and torn, was near neighbor
in reckless ruin with the elegantly cushioned
stool of the exquisite clerk Of the night before.
The iron work of the machinery Of the de-
stroyed mills began, with the advancing morn
to protrude through the masses of stone debris
their Gordian-knot shapes into stern and COM
mon place reality. Railroad rails were found
to be twisted like the capital letter W, while
fragments of torn envelopes remained UNI
scorched.
A reporter of the GLOBE on the spot
along with the sweet breaking of early
dawn. The air was nipping keen,
did not deter the usual heterogeneous
crowd from collecting, and rushing into all
positions of danger. Men and women seemed
to delight in getting under the tottering, gap
ing walls still appearing on the east side of the
canal. The timber covering up the canal had
been upheaved into hundred protruding and
gaping wounds, but the eager mass of hui
manity still persisted in thronging over it.
Odd hooks and sheltered corners were gradually
pre-empted and filed, as lucky claims from the
i pitilessly chilly breeze. But among all the
crowd the relatives Of the dead or missing
were conspicuous by their absence. There was
neither weeping nor mourning in the crowd
l but there unreasonable amount
| of unquenchable curiosity. In the latter
/ quality, the women bore the most evident
4 traces. Their appearance was, taken all and
i all, eminently suggestive of down at-the-heel
4 stockings, and general state of demi-toilette.
! while the morning air pinched theirnostrils into
redness and inquisitiveness, and one oriftwo
persevered through the rough ruins with the
inevitable baby-ridden perambulator. The
men wore more anxious aspect, and eagerly
discussed the why's and wherefores of the ca
tastrophe and the mill owners themselves, at a
i And it was astonishing from what
4 distance NJ some Of the CON
4 gregation had travelled. The country, within
long radius, was largely represented, having
been attracted by the shock and flames Of the
night previous. Parties from Hammond, Wis,
some sixty miles away, had been drawn to the
spot, While country boys and lasses of varying
degree and from varying directions were in
attendance.
!, STATEMENTS OF EYE WITNESSES.
Among the components of the crowd, o.
course were some who were immediate partici
pants in the catastrophe, or who had immedi
q ately seem it. Among them was Mr.. Mortime
! b. Rollins, of Day, Rollins q Co., proprietor
of the Zenith mills. who was encountered
by a GLOBE reporter. He said b,
s was on! the East Side when the explosion tool
s place. Turning round on hearing the noise, h
y saw the debris fy fully FIVE hundred feet int,
II the air. andsaid to his wife, That is the bi,
"a mill.' He secuted the idea of there being an,
. nitro ycerine about the mills or the cars upol
e the railroad tracks. The cars running amon
s the mills never contained anything but Whea
e, and the products of the mills. Some powde
E was being used in blasting out the foundation
til for the new Washburn mill. There was moi
e however, !. sufficient of that exploden
e to do any material injury. Besid.
i he was positive the explosion was in the 5bi
i mill, and he was equally positive that tn
(cause of all the disaster was in the firing