Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-06
TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
Acres of Land PlOwed, Trees Felled,
Houses Shattered and Fences Blown
Down by the Explosion Of Nj
trO-Glycerine,
And, Strange to Say, No Lives were Lost
The Rend-ROck Works, near Freak :
ness, a Third Time Destroyed
Wonderful Escapes.
snecIal TO the New York World. I

PEQUANAC, N. j., July AT noon to day
there was standing in valley about two
miles distant from here a little village of
hemlock buildings, in which a small colony
of German workmen lived and labored.
Largest among the buildings was one fifty by
twenty feet, which stood on the side of hill
and was built In the shape of terrace. 1t
was known as the "gycerine house." A few
feet distant, squat upon the edge OF big
pond, was another, about twenty five feet
square, known this morning as the packing
house." Near by was a small, rough-buIlt
shop, called the cartridge house." and
across, on the opposite side of the little sheet
of water, was the hotel. A big ice
house, nearly full, stood at the other end of
the pond, and on the very top of the hill was
long, low shed used as a supply storehouse.
Together the group Of unsightly and cheap
buildings constituted the "Rend- Rock powder
works" of j. B. Rand & Co., whose business
office is at No. 81 Park row, New York city.
There were and have been for several years
employed in these works a small gang of men
under the charge of Superintendent George
A. Koehler. Romantic and picturesque as is
the immediate country, no one has had the
hardihood to build in the neighborhood of so
dangerous an institution, and all the work.
men-wlth the exception of Koehler,
who lives with his wife and children
about FIVE hCndred feet from where the fac
tory this morning stood-have occupied hunks
and made shift for their living IN a single
shanty, known among them as ''the hotel. ="
In tins neutrality-suspicious. of which
might tonight be gathered from the meadow
grass and in the forests of mile of outlying
country-the workmen were assembled at
noon to day, when there entered a man,
breathless from running and white with ter
ror. Every man In the room was
on his feet in an instant, and had
recognized Ferdinand Marks, the nitro gly-
OILY 10
fret cried Marks, but before the words were
out of his mouth the room was deserted.
Looking now across the pond, around the
border which Marks had run to warn his
comrades, the workmen saw a mass of flames
where against the summit of the hill, had
been the tarred roof of the glycerine factory
Built as it was in three terraces, each con-
tanning vat of water through which the
compound passed in its manufacture, some
time each workman knew must elapse before
the fire could burn down and explode the
ntrc-glycerine, of which there were about
two hundred pounds IN the lower vat, and
to make the most of this time was their one
thought. On the east side of the valley a
steep bank is covered with growth of walnut
timber; into the woods and through them
fed some of the workmen; others, following
the line of the valley, ran like deer over the
lowlands. Superintendent koehler, with Mr..
S. ]. Fowler, the chemist of the company,
B
house when they discovered the fire. Com
pretending the danger in an instant, they
ran back to the house, caught up Miss Koch
Ter and the baby, and Fastening over knoll
near by, lay upon the ground with faces
| down. Knowing that they were dangerously
near the works, but not daring to get upon
their feet, the moments seemed to
be to them like hours, and it is now impos-
| sible for them or indeed for any of the
workmen to agree upon the length of time
| that elapsed before the explosion occurred.
| The report, they say, when finally it did
| come, was short and sharp and loud, and was
distinctly heard in Paterson, six miles dis.
| brown paper, used In the manufacture or the
cartridges, passed over the heads of some of
| the workmen as they crouched on the ground,
| but singularly enough, none of the heavier
material, such as the rafters or boards of the
| buildings, were seen or even to be found
trace of in any direction, immediately after
| the explosion, Mr.. Koehler, Mr.. Fowler and
u workman named James Driscoll went eau
tiousIy around under the brow of the
| hill and approached the works. The
| big glycerine house was gone as if it had
been swallowed by an earthquake, but
the clearinghouse, In which was nearly ton
of rend-rock powder, was still standing. The
lcehouse was in flames; the enginehouse was
| also burning like a Undertook as was the tall
grass between the spot where the glycerine
factory had stood and an adjacent store
| house IN which was a quantity of raw mate
rial used in the manufacture of the powder.
| In order to save this aforementioned building
from destruction, Mr.. Koehler and his C 1m-
| panions started to put out the fire In the grass,
| when a second explosion throw them vio-
lently to the ground. They were not IN
jured, but the blast removed the last
remnant of the settlement. A cornfield
was stripped as bare as if it had been
freshly narrowed; miles Of fences were torn
| down and thousand trees were left In mid
winter gear. The effect was in lescribable.
At Barney Sisco's, hotel, a mile away, the
| plaster was knocked from the walls and some
of the windows broken. The chickens in the
parnyards were raised yard from the
ground and the cows staggered as if drunk.
| The men near the works were some knocked
several feet, as if from great blast of wind.
There Is nothing left Of the buildings. not a
piece that would not go into small cooking
| stoYe. The stable, containing a number of
horses and standing at the distance of a
| quarter of mile, still stands, but is terribly
shattered. The trees in the woods mile
distant are twisted Oft at the roots, and in
some places paths were swept clean
through 10y flying missiles. The whole con-
| Germ covered two or three acres of ground,
and all of it now looks as it it had been new
] ly plowed. In some places great holes
were blown into the ground almost deep
enough for cellars. Yesterday morning ali
and weeds a yard high, but not tree of
them remained. They are all swept off or
buried under in the soil. The devastation is
! complete. Those who have been In a hot
battlefield, where the shells and cannon balls
have been p'owing all day, will have some
! idea of the general and complete wreck and
| devastation. The roof OF the foreman resi-
dence, mile distant, was blown off and the
chimneys knocked down. There is scarcely a
barn or building within a radius of a
a half mile that is not partly demolished.
| That no one was killed appears to be almost
a miracle. 1t was lucky for the men that
| they had a late dinner and were where they
could see the fire when it began. Had they
| been inside the buildings at the time, where
they could not have noticed the flames when
they started, not one of them would now be
| alive, or any recognizable else for that mat
ter. Inc most exaggerated reports of the at
falr reached Paterson, to the effect that a
large number of men had been killed, and q
great many people went up in carriages to
there they found themselves already
preceded by two coroners and
three Patterson undertakers. There are
different reports as to the origin of the fire.
The story about the sun setting fire to the
TN root Is not generally accredited 1t is
| 'h"uE ny scH4e W nave Deen the result OF
carelessness On the part of the employees, but
nothing definite can be ascertained. The loss
could not be learned from any one on Ne
| ground. The buildings were all common
frame structures, built apparently with the ex-
| pectation that they would be blown up some
time. 1t is expected that they will be rebuilt
at once. These works have been DESTROYED
by explosions twice before, IN February, 1875,
as was the case to-day, nobody received any
injury. The loss by to-days explosion is es-
timated at four thousand dollars.
| Opposed to the Twelfth OF July Ceie.
| hration,
MONTREAL, July AT a meeting of the
justices of the peace of the city and districI