Daily Los Angeles herald., 1881-03-06
Late kilograms.
rMs Ex pl.a- ri Powder Wosns.

rMs Expl"a-d Pswdsr wUsHs.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 4.-Soon
after 10 O'Clock this morning twn
violent explosions were heard In
this city, one following closely after
the other, and the latter shaking
buildings and rafting windows
and knocking down = sign on Sac.
rameuto street, near Montgomery.
A cloud OF smoke in the direction
Of Berkeley, which could.be plainly
seen on the water front. indicated
the scene OF the explosion and sug.
xested that another of those awful
accidents which have been so fre.
uusnt Of late years-the blowing to
stoms Of powder works, its inmates
and its coDtsnts-had occurred.
The wind, blowing at the time
from the north, had carried the
sound quickly to this side and made
the at tmospheric conclusion much
severer than 1t would have been
had the wind been In any other di.
rection. At frat the reports as to
which powder works on the Berke-
" eide Of the bay had been de.
stroyed were very conflicting. One
report announced the Eagle Powder
Works. mAnufaclory Of black
powder situated four miles from
Steges Station-as the scene OF the
catastrophe. Another report To-.
Gated the disaster at ut the Eureka
Powder WOrks. which Is situated
1t Eteges Station, and which sub
sequently turnsd out to BIZ the cor.
rect Que.
The following telegram was re-
csivei at the Office of the Eureka
Powder Works 10 thie city:
"WEST BERKELEY, March A.
Cartridge house and drying house
blown up. Come out or send Mas.
ten."
The dispatch WAS not signed, and
contained NO further Information.
The President Of the Company,
n. X. Mastsu, states that he WAS
at the works this morning with DR..
Tschivner, the inventor OF the pow
der, making some experiments.
which proved very satisfactory.
He hxd just time to eaten the train
to Oakland aud was on the local
ornssiug the bay whom the expio.
sion took place. Had he not heard
the train coming aud ran In time
to catch IL be would have remained
at the works. Dr.. Tschivner was
undoubtedly there ut the time Of
the explosion, but Dr.. Gosring, the
Bupsrinteudent, had not arrived.
Mr.. Masten is unable to account
for the explosion. The powder, he
states, 10 ona of the safest made,
and little care is necessary In its
manufacture, ~ far - avoidance
Of jarring, etc., is concerned. The
cartridges made from this powder
are oiled By ramming with q
wooden rod, which~ 10 hammered
until the cartridge 10 solid. In the
drying.room steam pipes run about
the building, and powder dropped
upon them does not explode, mere.
~ melting. Nothing could cause
the accident, he thtnks, except
carslsssness. There were at work
In the cartridge shop, where the
nrst explosion is supposed to have
occurred, twelve Chinamen en-
gagged In filling cartridges. In this
and the drying house there 10
thought to have bsen about 200
pounds Of powder, as 1000 pounds
were made yesterday, and there
were probably about 200 pounds In
the cartridge factory, That there
were two explosions seems to indi-
cate that the hrst explosion OCCUR
red In the cartridge factory, where
the twelve men were employ ed.
and that this gave riae to the Sec
Ond and heavier explosion. In
spite Ut this misfortune, Mr.. Ma
SON states that he 10 just as c0ufi.
dent now ~ ever that the powder
10 the strongest and safest made,
and In his opinion its safety at
mpared with oter powders made
the employees grossly careless.
There WAS no nitro.glycersne ir
the powder, the base, 1t 10 claimed
being ptcrlo acid. There were
some ten buildings on the groonds
end about twenty men were en-
plnyed, most OF whom were Chi'
namsn. There were two oarpen'
ters, Que mixer, o fireman and the
euperin tsndent and his assistant
L~ssss RepsSss.
Passengers by the Los A0gelel
train. which arrived after ] o'clock
report that eight Chinamen ant
two white men are killed.
A late dispatch by telephone re
ports two Chinamsn killed, 6v'
ChInamen wounded and two whit
men wounded. The packing an,
drying houses are reported enttrsI.
destroyed and several other house
badly damaged.
y.u.s ss's OAiss Advissr,
-.nNnoA, NJ gcl s.-The Time
Z ysi the following account OF al
lilshman who is described by 1t
Correspondent sa he chief advise
of ysuberl, tuS Ger Commander
I1ae naiae 81 Allied Aylward. II
n