Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-05-18
MINNEAPOLISNEW
THE MILL EXPLOSION.
CONTINUATION or THE CORONER'S
INVESTIGATION.

IN
The Evidence Conflrmatory of the Theory
that Fire Preceded the Expicslon--lnVes-
tigation Adjourned to Monday Evening
Next, at the Laboratory of the State Uni
versity, When the Science of the Thing
VIII be Developed.
The sixth session Of the coroner's jury met
last night and examined witnesses as to the in
side workings of the mills, the first witness
called
n. C. vANyALKESBE g,
who testified about as follows: am mill
wright in Washburn mill 'B''; have charge OF
the machinery: know nothing Of the explosion
in the ''A'' mill, except what 1 have heard
saw the fire afterwards; nave seen
dust from the purifiers eSPloue
in small quantities; have seen 1t tall on ramp
and ignite; it exploded like gunpo"der; nave
seen dust ignite from heated stones or soric-
thing getting between them ana mahla5
spark: an explosion of that KIND occurred III
the '.B' mill not oag age; it did not amount
to ANYTHING: went out Immediately; the stones
do not run dry very often great care is always
taken in keeping them from running dry; the
causes of them getting dry are various;
sometimes q nail or stick will get
into the spout and clog 1t up;
have seen sparks from the burrs or stones
when being dressed or balancing them; nave
seen sparks that looked dull like heat light
ming, not like fire; spark of that KIND would
come from dry burrs; there is a constant uraft
through the conveyors and spouts that would
draw The flames throughout the entire build
ing; the draft could be shut Oft without shat
ting the mill down; my theory as to the explo-
sion in the "a" mill is that there was hrc
that started and spread rapidly
through the building, : and generated
gas from the fine Hour or Dust
30 fast that it could not escape and the cxplo-
sion occurred; cannot tell where or how the
fire originated; might have been from an acci-
dent of some kind or from dry stone; we have
II run of stone in our mill, seven OF the French
mill, ten of the other kinds; there is more dust
comes from the French machines than from
the others; think there could be arranged fans
80 as to blow the dust from these
machines into dust house entirely separate
and outside the mill; we have plans
drawn to fix the machines in che % mill IN
that way; have the dust house nearly com
pleted now; think that plan will lessen the
danger of explosion, as consider the dust as
it comes from the machines dangerous; have
been miller for seven years; in tho Washburn
''B'' mill four years.
WILLIAM WALLACE
was the next witness called He was sworn
and testified as follows: Am engaged in soak
ing poles at the cooper shop; was standing
between the round house and the blacksmith
shop on the railroad just before the explosion;
saw smoke coming out of the third story
window Of the big mill on the side toward the
elevator; it was coming up by the side OF the
Humboldt mill; moment after saw the
smoke saw the windows of the big mill light
up; think it must have been i'll the third
story; Immediately after it lit up heard the
first explosion, and the roof OF the big
mill blow up; was knocked down, and just got
up when the second explosion occurred, which
also the Humboldt and Diamond
mills; was knocked down
by the second explosion, and when got up the
mills all on fire; saw fire in the Diamond
and Humboldt mills after the second explo-
sion and just before the walls fell; have not
read any Of the testimony printed in the
Eapcra.
FRANK GAYLORD
was called next and stated that he was going to
school at the time Of the explosion, was near the
round house of the Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad
was standing talking to Will Wallace who
called my attention to smoke coming
1 from the +,; big mill mill; = did LID not 1e
th1nk anything sr OF 1ooke% %ns nnd sa ne
flames in the big MILL which had lighted up
very sudden, and soon after the explosion oc-
CURED which knocked me down, and as | was
getting up the second explosion took place, at
Which time the mills fell fat and they were all
big mill before the explosion; it came out on
the side toward the elevator; the explosions
were both from the big mill | heard only two
reports; 90 to the Lincoln school; live in
North Minneapolis; was just walking in that
direction for recreation; am 1G years, old.
W. JONES,
recalled. Was second miller in the Washburn
''A'' mill; 1 left the mill at about o'clock;
left every thing us usual; l look around the
mill every night to see if every thing is all
right; did not notice anything wrong on the
evening of the explosion; have been u miller
for Is years; was in the mill when a fire oc-
Cured in ono of the spouts about three months
ago; cleaned the spout where the fire took
place; found scorched -four and backered dirt
dust; followed the course of the fire to one OF
the stones, one that was grinding midd llngs
it may have ignitcd from nail or something
coming in contact with the stone, emitting a
spark which set fire to the dust; do not think
the dust will ignite from anything but fame,
but it might; do not know; have noticed
electricity on the belts; by putting my finger
against the belt could feel shock at times
never saw sparks from any of the belts; never
knew of any bad gases in the basement or else
where in the mill; do not know anything about
the stones running dry in the mil
as l have not charge of the
grinding department of the mill; if the stones
were out of balance and small quantity Of
wheat between them it would make what il
was. being fed with very hot probably burn il
to finder, when spark from the stone would
set it OIL fire; have known journal on the
shafting to get hot enough to melt, but think
there could be no danger of setting the mill or
fire. never knew of any burning coming from
them think the origin of the fire that resulted
in the great :t explosion j. was ,..sa IL
through the conveyor into the dust-hous
which caused the first explosion which shool
the mill, so as to cause ali the fine dust to mix
with the air which ignted instantly and caused
the second and heaviest explosion that knocked
dust in the HUMBOLDT and Diamond to mi,
with the air, and the flame shot into then
from the "A'' mill and caused them to OK
plode have suggested to Gov. Washburn tn
plan Of building dust-houses the top o
the mill and blowing all the dust into them
could make them that they could explode
without any damage to anything else; tn
French machines make more dust in the room
than any other kind, and are, therefore, NOR
. dangerous; do not think they would be danger
GUS If they were encased; tn
mill was running usual
we were doing more business on that day be
cause l had just put in new water whee
which added about 100 horse power more to on
power and were able to do more withou
any danger to the mill.
Adjourned until Monday evening at 7:3t
No meeting at the laboratory at the University
The jury now through with the testimon
except that OF the experts which will be take
together with the chemical analysis, and e.
periments with their -four dust and otht
causes of explosion by Prcfs. Peckham an
Peck, of the State University, in their labor
tory on Monday evening.
q
Hdrer7y's Iinstrc1s This Ercn;ng.
Haverly's New Orleans Ministries appes
90 IN Aoodo,,D IF N,,e:o Hi. :