Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-01-09
TERRIBLE EXPLOSION.
Seven Men Killed and Many injured
by an Explosion Of Nitro.Glyoerins,
1t Negaunee, Mich.

by an Explosion Of Nitro. 0lyoerins
1t Negaunee, Mich.
At 9:45 o'clock in the forenoon of tn,
I'd inst, an explosion of about 4,80t
pounds of nitro-glycerine occurred neal
Negaunee, instantly killing seven per
sons. The glycerine had been handled
from the mandatory, about one mile
distant, and was being loaded into q
freight car standing on the Chicago and
Northwestern road, and it is supposed
the cans were handled too roughly or
that one of the men dropped a can,
which caused the explosion.
The point where the explosion occur
red is in the corporate limits of Negau-
nee, twenty rods from the North jackson
mine. The shock was felt for distance
of several miles, the buildings in Ishpem-
ing being shaken as if by an earthquake,
and nearly all the stores and dwellings
in Negaunee having their windows shat
tered. The car into which the glycerine
was being loaded was blown into frag.
ments, the axles were broken into pieces,
the track torn up for distance of
several rods and the rails broken and
twisted, while locomotive attached to
the car was utterly demolished.
The engineer, VIM Myers, the fireman
and two brakemen, named respectively
Charles Miller, jeremiah Foley and VIM.
Spellman, who were in the cab, were all
killed and SO horribly mutilated aud dis
figured as to render Identification inn
possible, except by their most intimate
friends. Ira Hinckley, chemist, and the
superintendent of the glycerine factory,
$. A. Wheeler, and his son, aged 20
years. who were loading the cars, were
all blown to atoms, pieces of flesh being
picked up three-fourths of mile away,
there being nothing left by which they
could be identified except Wheeler's
watch, which was found, and the cylin-
der of revolver known to have been in
the possession of his son.
A number of men who worked in the
vicinity were more or less injured. Capt.
Merry, superintendent of the jackson
mine, who was standing on the hill over
looking the scene, was knocked senseless
but not seriously injured, while Capt. |
Thomas, near him, had an ear taken off, |!
by flying missiles. The explosion tore
hole in the ground ten feet deep and
fifty feet in circumference. The shock
was like that of an earthquake.
At the Jackson street school, a mile
distant, nearly every pane of glass was
broken, the stoves were thrown down and |
the building swayed as if about to fall.
A panic ensued and in the effort to get
out many children were injured, though
none dangerously. Cyr's drug store had
all the windows knocked out and the
bottles thrown from the shelves, occa-
sioning loss of at least 81 900.
The total damage cannot. pQHM tafe
5phff|HH tes' III t6e car and loss of glycerine,
t will run up into thousands.
1t is the most heart-rending accident
which has ever occurred in the mining
region, and has created feeling which
nay result in the discontinuance of high
* plosives in the mines. The general
belief, however, is that the explosion
vas the result of carelessness, and no
blame is attached to the glycerene COM
,any or any one except those who have
,aid the penalty eff their carelessness
With their lives.