The news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1882-1891, 1882-02-23

~O"i" NV 10 ICslStou.
All were watching the men on the
roof. Suddenly, while they looked,
a great blaze of light flashed a bun
dfed feet IN ar and died away, leav-
ing III its stead huge column of
smoke and pieces of flying stone
The next instant the ground tremblsd
as If shaken by an earthquake and a
roar, ipconceivably awful and grand,
struck upon their senses with a pow
or OF thousand peals Of thunder.
la that brief space of time, before the
ear was stunned, the eye saw human
bodies suspended in air, with great
beams and rsfters ADD blocks of stone.
Then all was confusion; all sounds
shut out by that awful roar; all OBJ
Jects blurred by that binding fash.
People tell to the ground, but arose
again, wondering why they fell, mea
and women ran wildly about, shrieking
for they knew not what; children fell
to the street in fright or screamed
frantically for help; there was only
vague idea among the terror-stricken
people that the building on which the
iremen had been working had been
dismautled by an explosion. Before
they had half recovered from the
maze of mind 10 which they had been
thrown the bricks and rocks began t.
fall. A twenty pound rock cam
whizziug down like cannon-balI and
struck man fleeing for his life. H
dropped like a log and lay dead in
bis tracks A flying brick lore int
another mans vitsls and be bIed to
death before he could recover con-
seriousness. There was no sound bu,
that frightful roar still clamoring at
their ears. Men dropped dead with.
out word, without a motion of the
hands; others fell senseless, and still,
bricks and stones went crashing
through the sides and roofs of houses
and tore through ceilings and plaster.
Three men stood on the lower corner
Of Second and Welsh streets when
they saw the sudden fash of light.
Before they could turn-before thew
could even move-the silent missiles
OF death were upon then. Oue man
was struck in the forehead. The up-
per part of his skull was torn away,
and flying through the air, it struck
the window shutters of the corner
house, leaving a great blotch of blood
on tas white paint. The lifeless body
fell to the pavement with dull thud.
The other men fell across each other,
one dead and his neighbor wounded
unto death. Over across the street a
man fell dead while turning to run.
In the yard Of the Porter homestead
a boz sank to bis knees and then fell
over dead. Death and destructioo
lasted only a moment Then all was
still. There was no sound save ID
cracking of the FIRE and the Tapping
OF pieces Of cloth in the tops Of the
trees ia the yard. The half.dszed
crowd looked and wondered vsgueIy.
The pieces Of cloth we're not 10 the
tree before the explosion occurred. T..
vas suggestive Of some unknown hor-
ror and men turned sick at heart.
Down the street toward tha rivsr
they found the naked, msng ed body
OF man, without arms or distinguish
able features. They looked at tie
trees and at the place of the explo-
sion, Both were in line with the ma
ked body The breathless question
was answered. Away Of 10 a coal
yard, rods away from the BODY. a
human arm was found. 1T was rec
ogoised IS part of ooe-srmed fireman.
whose ehastly remains lay naked ii
the street. Over IN the yard near
the building three men we're seen
lying 10 pools Of blood smother Iay
in heap in elump Of bushes. Scores
Of hands lifted them and bore them
away. just then a strange, hoarse
cry burst from the rest of the crowd
asd hundred fingers pointed to the
ruins. On the eornice Of the wooden
shed, which had withstood the shock.
hung human form, that Of a large
mar. The clothes about the BODY
we're burning, and the fire from the
ruins circled about the arms and legs.
The man did not move, and when
ladder was brought some minutes sfter-
ward he was taken down, literally
roasted alive. The wounded were
all around. Some were severely in
jured, while others only received
slight bruises A colored woman was |
running across Second street, few
doors above Welsh, when she fell to |
the ground, with loud scream. An
arm, a leg and several small bones |
were broken. People were struck in |
the side, on the head, on the arms, on !
the back and 10 all conceivable por-
tons Of the body. It ia estimated |
that at least ftty-fve people were
more or less Injured, although The
names of only forty-6ve we're obtain
ed. The houses along Second street
we're turned into hospitals add all of |
the physicians in the town were soon
dressing the wounds of the injured, |
many Of whom were too badly hurt to
be moved. Women volunteered as
nurses, boys were eager to run errands
to the drug stores and everything co.,
ceivable was done to mitigate the suf-
feriogs of the unfortunate. In the
confusion of the early
forenoon reports got abroad that over
twenty people were killed, the names
Of the victims being given in full.