The examiner., 1882-02-25
HURLED TO DEATH.
Appalling Effects of an Explosion Tn a Ches-
 ter (Pa.) Fireworks Factory.

Appalling Effects of an Explosion in a Ches-
 ter (Pa.l Fireworks Factory.
 The people of Chester, Pa., were startled earls in the morning by an explosion in the pyrotech- mic works of Prof. J. c. Jackson, which killed fourteen persons, seriously woun led about thirty or forty more, and shattered every house in the neighborhood. The scene of the disaster Is an isolated district of the city, where only few shanty dwellers live. The house in which the explosion occurred is an his
 torical structure, having been erected in 1721 by Commodore Porter Until sixteen years ago it was occupied by Admiral Porter as a residence. It is unpretentious in appearance now, but when it was the home of the Porter family the building surrounded by hand some grove of tall trees, which shaded the walks at all hours. The trees still remain, but the ground is barren waste of land. The building was constructed of stone, ware river. It was about forty feet long and twenty feet wide, with peakel roof and attic.
 That part of it not used by tho factory was oc
 cupied as dwelling by one white and several colored families. There was two-story frame extension in the rear, and this was used as part of the factory. Only four persons had
 been employed in the factory up to the morn ing of the explosion. These were the superin-
 tendent, Oh arles Van Horn; son of Pro- lessor Jackson, and two young women.
 But the demand for railroad torpedoes, which received a sudden stimulus from the |puyten Duyvi1 disaster, had become so great that two or three more young women were en- gagged and a room was fitted up for them in the second story of the main building. A fire
 was lighted in the stove on the morning of the explosion, and Superintendent Van Horn says l that 7:20 o'clock he went to look at the stove, found the fire was somewhat low and went down stairs for some wood and coal to rekindle | it. As he went down he heard an explosion in | the room he had just left, which blew off part l of the roof and set the building on fire. It eaIsed he thought by puff of coal gas from | the stove which set fire to some loose powder scattered on the floor, and this in turn explod- ed some red fire and rockets which were stored in the room.
 An alarm of fire was given, and the three volunteer companies - Moyamensing Hose, Franklin Hose and Handy Hook and Ladder which comprise the fire department of the city responded at once, though their members were tired by their heavy work at the burning of the Military academy on the previous night. It was stated by the superintendent and be- lieved by the firemen that there was little or
 no powder in the building, and only small quantity of comparatively harmless pyrotech- nics. Consequently, the men worked with l out fear, and some of them mounted on the roof of the frame extension 10 get l a good position from which to direct their hose streams, while great crowd of spectators pressed close about the fremen. Van Horn warned them away, but they would not go. He and number of others entered the burning building and busted themselves in removing the machinery, while the colored tenants made haste to leave the building. While this work was going on there was another explosion, and this, though slight and
 unimportant, caused the crowd to withdraw further from the building, thus no doubt pre- venting more serious loss of life than actu- ally occurred few minutes later.
 The work of fighting the flames had been
 going on for about half an hour, and the build
 ing was surrounded by throng of fremen and others, when suddenly quantity of some terribly explosive substance was reached by
 the fire and an entire wing of the stone build ing was thrown into the air, fragments of stone,
 timber and human bodies being hurled long distances and scattered over wide area. Men 150 yards away, who thought they were watch ing the fire from an entirely safe distance, were struck and killed. Others were dashed against
 trees and houses with fatal violence. Others again were torn limb from limb, and one man, colored laborer named Perry Williams,
 janitt of the National hall and an assistant
 fireman, who was standing on the roof of the
 wing in which the explosion took place, was
 thrown to the top of the main building, where
 he lodged among the burning rafters. and lay
 shlieking and bowling, roasting to death, for
 half an hour. He was rescued by brave car
 penter named John ". Cramer, who volun-
 tcered to bring him down. He was alive when
 reached, but died few minutes later. Anthony
 Bal bour and John Vandegrift, iremen, were
 stanling on a ladder throwing water on the
 roof of the main building. Barbour was struck by a heavy stone and hurled 15O feet away, where he fell dead and horribly mangled.
 Vandegrift was blown off the ladder, but was only slightly hurt. Two other fremen were standing on the roof of the frame building when the explosion came, and their dead bodies were picked up nearly 200 yards away. These, however, were almost the only men who were instantly killed among those close to the build ing; the other victims were struck by flying pieces of the wreck. Among these were John Dices, boy, who was found lying on the side walk with his head crushed by a stone.
 The explosion was followed by scene of in- tense excitement. It shook buildings and broke windows all over the city, and called al- most the whole population of Chester to the Porter mansion, where they moaned and sobbed with anguish as they recognized or ran wildly about looking for those whom they supposed to be- among the victims. Women threw up their arms and shrieked or tainted away Some kneeled cn the CTS showed the intensity of their grief only by convulsive rocking of the body to and fro and a fixed, but vacant, staring at the flames, which now had undisputed possession of the wreck. The hremen dropped their hose and devoted them selves to the work of gathering up the dead and rescuing the wounded. They paid no more at- tention to danger than before, though two or three other slight explosions warned them that there was still a possibility of it. The bodies of the dead were gathered together before being taken off the ground, and at one time ghastly heap of half dozen corpses was piled up in the street. The fragments of bodies which were scattered around were also gathered up and all the dead were carried to the city hall to be identified, after which they were taken to their homes The wounded were carried into the nearest houses, where they were attended by physicians, all the doctors in Chester and it's vicinity having volunteered their services After seeing that all the dead and wounded who could be reached were cared for, the fremen turned their attention again to the flames and succeeded in putting out the fire about 10 clock, though by that time there was little left to burn.