The Morning herald., 1878-08-19
TEL.ECRAMS.
TERRIBLE DISASTER.
II TNl (
Hoo Kegs Of Giant Powder Ex-
plede in POttsville.
RECORD OF DEATH

OF DEATH.
! rsdr CD u - : =. 49, =
swATH FIFTY FEET WIDE CUT IN A
IoRBsT-A PICNIC DFvAsTATRD-sToNEs
TIMBER, TREEs AND ROOFS FLUNG AT
CHILDREN.
PoTsvILLr, Pa, Aug. IS.
y At hslf-past four o'clock yesterday af.er-
noon mass Of black clouds swept up in
majestic grandeur from the West, and in
fsw moments theientire heavens over Potts
vile were crashing and blazing with electric
discharges. "A shaft of forked lightning
had descended with frightful roar into
thevery foundations of q powder magazine.
The sarssnal belonged to Weldie & Co.
About eleven hundred kegs of blasting
powder were stored away in the recesses Of
the massive building.
THE MAGAZINE BxPLoDEs..
But with the indescribable baightness of
the lightning the magazine and all the
buildings around It, were literally blown to
atoms. Words can give no idea of the
shock, rgga EgB sa tlE a& W.
i rt'aa TIE SCENE in PoTTsvLLE.
Inmates of houses were hurled from
chairs Oh If they were in the path of an
avalanche. Large and deeply rooted trees
which had withstood the elemental fury Of
hundred storms were torn asunder, snap
ped Off like twigs, while their massive frag-1
ments were scattered to the winds. All
this was but the work of an instant, yet
the destruction was terrible and complete.
Twenty-Five houses were crushed as If they
eggs under o locomotive. Solid and sub
stantial houses houses were literally to
kindiing wood. .sa s
sni - A MOMENT OF DKsoLATIoN,4
Cheerful hearthstones and pianos were
hurried into cutters q mile away. The
fragments of all these houses and business
structures went flying through the air like
bursting shells. The life Of no one was
I safe. Slate roefs, masses of flooring, huge
sections of timbers, chimney towers and
foundation stones were all mingled together
and In the twinkling of an eye they were
flung into the blazing ccouds only to come
laundering down and crush the terrified
eitizsns Of Pottsville to mutilatiop and
earth.
APIo-NIC DESTROYED
At the very moment when the appalling
catsstrophy was about to occur, party Of
young people were holding picnic in o
pleasant grove about half mile away.
Girls were chatting with their partners,
children were filling the woods with their
happy voices, when suddenly the storm
burst upon them, and vivid lightnings made
5 the sky seem to their young eyes as If 1t
were filed with 10000 burning, blazing rib
bons. In the midst OF this scene of wild
and awful splendor long zigzag meteor of
light into the bowels of the powder maya
zine, and before the astonished company
could catch their lose breath, sworth
fifty feet wide was mown through the for
rest. The picnic grounds lay directly in
it's dreadful path.
MIssLEs OF DEATH.
The thousands of cubic yards of stone In
the foundations Of the magazine were rent
into square cannon balls as large as dry
goods boxes and propelled with the swift
ness Of birds shot through the swayiDg trees
90 that venerable trunks were cut off level
with the ground, and the bodies thrown
with remorseless fury among the helpless
children. There was no time to pray, no
time to call mother; no time to seek shelter
behind the adjoining rocks. All nature
was In combat; all nature was seeking the
Indecent pleasure seekers to destroy them.
Trees, boulders, timbers, roofs of houses,
blocks of stone, foundations, iron girders,
branches of trees all came laundering down
amid darkness, rain and flying dissolution.
PARTIAL LIST OF SUFFERERS.
William Rees, seventeen years of age,
had his right leg 30 shattered, that It was
amputated at the knee.
Andrew Gallagher, twelve years old, had
his head completely torn from his body,
leaving nothing but pulpy mass scattered
among the rocks.
Richard Vaughan, boy, had his leg bros
ken in two places, his hip and lower ex-
tremities smashed aud torn so badly that
bis entrails protruded. He died at six
O'Clock.
Richard Stevenson, go years old, had his
leg broken in two places and shattered.
1t was amputated at the knee.
Sadie Brasier, aged ten years, had her
shoe torn from her foot, and foot badly
crushed.
Two young ladies who were driving to
Millersville, had narrow escape. A large
descending rock struck the horse in the
side, tearing the astonished animal wide
open, from which effects 1t fell dead.
Many cattle In the neighborbood were 90
badly injured that afterwards they had to
be killed. Fishers huge coal breaker, 100
yards west of the Weldy magazine, was
also badly damaged. A portion of the en-
gine house was demolished. The explosion
was heard eleven miles and caused pro-