The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-01-30
A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
Fearful Destruction by Two and n Half
Tons of Observation-Disclosures Torn to
PIeccs-Machinery and Windows Demol-

Tons of tro-GIycerine-NIen Torn to
PIeces-Machinery and Windows Demol-
ished.
Particulars of the recent nitro-glycer-
inc explosion, near Negaunee, Lake
Superior, have been received. Nearly
two tons and a half of nitro-glycerine
had been hauled to the Chicago and
Northwestern railroad track, half a mile
west of Negaunee, and was being loaded
into a freight car preparatory to its ship
ment to the Republic iron mine, some
fifteen miles distant. In some unac-
countable name the nitro-glycerine
exploded just before ten o'clock in the
morning. The people of Negaunee
thought at first an earthquake was
about to overwhelm them. The entire
city was shaken up, and dense cloud Of
smoke and dust arose. The shock was
terrible beyond imagination. Where
the freight car had stood the railroad
track for about fifty feet was torn from
it's bed and the rails twisted, broken and
hurled away, and a hole twenty-five feet
in diameter and five feet deep excavated
and the earth thrown for rods around in
every direction.
Not the slightest trace of the car was
visible. The locomotive and tender,
which stood behind the car, we're thrown
back over one hundred feet. Wheels,
hues, cab, tubes. bell and everything
about it were wrenched, twisted and torn
asunder. Long lines of ore cars, stand
ing upon a side track heal by, were
stove in and demolished, and shreds and
scraps of iron, wood, tin, etc., covered
the snow in all directions.
Lying on the bottom of tie cab were
four of the seven men who were engaged
in loading the car-the engineer, fire.
man and two brakemen-mangled and
burned beyond recognition, with their
heads hanging owe the edge. AS soon
as the horror-stricken crowd which
fastened to the scene could recover their
senses, they took the charred and
mangled remains of these unfortunates
from the cab and laid them on the
ground until n team was procured, when
they were taken to the depot for
recognition. Of the other three men
who were engaged in handling the cars
nothing could be seen, but after diligent
search a few fragments of charred flesh
and. bones were picked up and put
together. Not cor than enough
fragments to fill an ordinary bucket
we're found.
About one hundred feet from the
place of the explosion is the north pit
of the Jackson mine. Down into this
pit were hurled horse, cart and driver.
At the engine house adjoining this pit
the force of the explosion rent the roof,
stove in the sides and ~splintered every
loose board, besides SCATTERING and
breaking the engine machinery inside.
The engineer in this building luckily
escaped with a few bruises. At the
upper Jackson location, the windows,
doors, ceilings, furniture and dishes at
all the houses were broken and strewn
about in great confusion, and women
and children we're lifted from their feet
and hurled among the rubbish. The
location was in fact a general wreck.
At the Jackson school, where the
children had just been called together,
when the shock came every window in
the west side of the building was crushed
in with the sashes, throwing a shower of
shattered glass and fragments of sash
over the heads Of the children. and
injuring four of them.
The Marquette Mining Journal says
Captain Merry, Of the Jackson mine,
stood near the fatal car when the men
commenced loading it, but fearing an
accident started to leave the spot. He
had walked about one hundred feet when
the explosion took place, just as he hap
pened to stand behind a small mound,
which sheltered him from the full force
of the shock. As it wa he was thrown
upon the ground violently, but sustained
no serious injuries. G. M. Wheeler,
manager of the nitro-glycerine works,
was standing in front of the northwestern
depot when the explosion took place and
tainted when he heard the report.
The horse attached to the cart that
was thrown by the explosion into a pit
fifty feet from the fatal car, when hauled
out walked off as though nothing had
happened. The driver escaped with
slight injuries. The shock of the explo-
sion was felt at Ishpening Cascade, the
Salisbury mine, the Carp Hill section
house and Sand Switch, fully ten miles
from Negaunee.
The losses by the explosion will reach
nearly $40, 900. Very little work was
done at any of the Negaunee mines after
the explosion, SIS most of the miners
were kept busy boarding up the windows
of their houses.