Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1879-07-19
THE BopIE
The Cause OF she Calamity All
the Results OF Fsoit"g "-Ths
Amouat OF Explosives Caunias

The cause OF the Bodis blow-up,
which il was thought would never be-
come known. has at last been tolsrsbly
well a~scertaincd. ID. II. Birdsall. agent
for the Giant Powder Company. who
was in Lake District at the time OF the
explosion. and who had been in the
magazine but a day or two before. has
been investigating the case thoroughly.
He returned to Virginia yesterday.
Mr. Birdsall says no fuse or caps were
kept in the magazine. and that II was
used rs a receptacle for giant powder
Hercules and Vulcan. There were
about 1900 pounds Of giant stored there.
about the same amount Of Hercules and
q little less OF Vulcan; in all about 1000
pounds. This he knows OF his own
knowledge. having examined the mage.
zine himself while In Bodie.
He gives the following as the results OF
his examination into the u OF the
explosion: The keeper went to the mag.
azine to get . box OF giant powder Tor
the Standard Company. The man Who
came for the powder went with him.
This man had also been sent for caps,
and had them In his hand whom he went
for the powder. Both went into the
magazine. The keeper was seen TO
come out with his boz Of powder, put 1t
down and then turn back to close the
door.
The door usually turned easily on its
hinges, and could be shut with two
fingers. Still. for some cause, the man
had difficulty in closing 1t, and was seen
pushing heavily against It at the moment
OF the explosion. The other man who
had accompanied him into the magazine
and who had the caps in his hand. was
nowhere to DO seen ut that time. There
came q comparatively lighter explosion.
followed almost Immediately by the
heavier.
This Ia as far as the facts 60, except
In one particular. Near the door OF the
magazine stood . box OF giant powder.
out OF which about one-half OF the con-
snts had been to ken.
Upon the foregoing facts Mr.. Birdsall
builds the following plausible theory :
The man with the caps in his hand was
0 to enter the magazine with the
keeper. He did not como out when the
keeper did. He was consequently In
the magazine when the keeper attempt.
ed to close the door and still had the OF.
ploders in his hand. The keeper at.
tempted to close the door upon him for
q Joke, as jailers sometimes lock visitors
In jails. This the man inside. with the
giant caps in his hand, resisted. The
half.used box Of giant powder was right
there and 10 the scuiile the caps were
either set of. or were dropped, or per.
haps stepped on and exploded, and by
them the half box Of giant, causing the
frst light explosion. which in turn set
OF the whole N
Mr.. Birdsall il confirmedin his theory
by his knowledge Of giant powder. He
declares that no amount Of concussion
alone will cause it to explode. 1t re-
auires $50 degrees Of heat in connection
with that to explode Ii. At the manu-
factory q weight Of 100 pounds had been.
In an experiment, dropped s feet 70.
psatedly upon q box OF giant powder till
the box had been reduced to atoms and
the powder to dust and no explosion fol
lowed. The necessary $50 degrees OF
heat were not there.
He is satisfied therefore that nothing
in or around the magazine in Bodie
could have caused that explosion except
the caps which that man had in his
hand. Just how they caused it no n
knows for certain; but upon the facts a.
s~scertained by him. he builds the theory
above advanced aud believes 1t to be in
the main correct. At any rate he IL
sure that those caps caused the explosion
as nothing else could.