Smyrna times., 1882-02-22


CHESTER PASSING THROUGH A SCENE !
or FIRE AND DEATH.-The PENNSYLVANIA |
Military Academy at Chester, q conspicu-
Gus building to travellers OH the Philadrl-
phia, Wilmington aud BaltimGrr railroad,
was destroyed by fire Thursday afternoon.
The flames were first discovered in the
laboratory, on the fourth floor, and though
every effort was made to stay them, the
building was soon in ruins. Buckets and
BabcOck eXtinguishers were manned by
the cadets, and two anneXes, Il stOre-house
and drill hall were saved after hard fight.
In thc stOrc-hOuse there were 5000 rounds
of ball cartridges and about 800 pounds of
powder. These explosives We're with
great difficulty removed beyond the reach
Of the flames. But few of the contents of
the main building were saved. There
were 143 cadets enrolled at the institution,
many of whom lost their personal effects.
A few saved their trunks by throwing
them out of the window. The Academy
was built i'll 1868 by q company of Chester
capitalists. It was q handsome stone
structure, four stories in height, $50 feet
in length and 60 feet in depth. Colonel
! Theodore Hyatt was the President of the
| faculty. The loss is estimated at $125,000
on the building and $4,000 on the furni-
ture. insurance $4,000. Colonel HYATT
sent the students home for two weeks.
The most terrible disaster however oc-
Cured on the following morning. Jack
sons tire-wOrk Inanufactory took fire and
while the fremen and citizens were work
ing on the building under the assurance
that no powder was i'll it, suddenly a
great blaze Of blood-red light flashed
up over a hundred feet i'll air and died
away, leaving in its stead huge column
of smoke and pieces of flying stone. The
next instant the ground trembled as if
shaken by an earthquake and Il roar, in
conceivably awful and grand, struck upon
their senses with the power of a thousand
pcalS of thunder. In that brief space of
time, before the ear was stunned, the eye
saw human bodies suspended in air, with
great beams and rafters and blocks of
stone. Then all was confusion all sounds
shut out by that awful roar; all objects
blurred by that binding flash. People
fell to the ground, but arose again, Won
dering why they fell; men and women
ran wildly about Shreking for they knew
not what; children fell to the ground in
fright or screamed frantically for help
there was only a vague idea among the
terror stricken people that the building on
: which the firemen had been working had
been dismantled by an explosion. Before
they had half recovered from the maze ot
} mind i'll which they had been thrown the
: bricks and rocks began to fall. A twenty
: pound rock came whiZzing down like q
: cannOn-ball and struck q man fleeing fol
| his life. He dropped like s log and lay
dead i'll his tracks. A flying brick tore
=. into another mans Vitals and he bleC
: to death without recovering conscious
l ness. There was no sound but that fright
full roar still clamOring at their ears. MeI
dropped dead without a word, without
4 motion of the hands; others fell senseles
l and still. Bricks and stones went crashin.
+ through the sides and roofs of houses an(
tore through ceilings and plaster. Three
\ men stood on the lower corner of SecOnC
and Welsh streets when they saw th,
:, sudden flash of light. Before they coult
5 turr--before they could even moVe-th
silent missiles of death were upon them
a One man was struck in the forehead. Th
!. upper part of his skull was torn away
:. and flying through the air, it struck th
1 window shutters of the corner house
: leaving a great blotch of bleod on tn
white paint. The lifelcss body fell to tn,
pavement with a dull thud. The othe
n men fell across each other, one dead ant
his neighbor wounded unto death. Owe
S across the street a man fell dead Will
turning to run. In the yard of the Porte
homestead boy sank on his knees an
g then fell over dead. Death and destruC
o tiOn lasted only a moment. Then all wa
r still. There was no sound save the crack
e ling of the fire and the tapping of piece
e of cloth in the tops of the trees i'll the yarC
II The half-dazed crowd looked and wonder
& ed vaguely. On the cOrnice of the woOde
e shed, which had withstOOd the shock
d hung a human form, that of larg
If man. The clothes about the body wer
T. burning and the fire from the ruins Gil
l. cled about the arms and legs. The ma
l. did not move, and when q ladder wa
e brought some minutes afterward he wa
Is taken down, literally roasted alive.
lie The wounded were all around. Som
st were severely hurt while others receive
he only slight bruises. People were struc
" in the side, on the head, on the arms, O
the back and in all conceivable portion
T. Of the body. 1t is estimated that at lea!
H. fifty-fve people were more or less injure,
Business was suspended for the day
7" Chester and gloom was on every count
is nance Further investigation into IL
Vo cause of the explosion has brought OIL
he the fact that three kegs of powder wei
he delivered at Prof Jackson's factory c
ly Wednesday last. The fatal casualiti
" now number II, aud or more are e!
Ie pected to die Some 81, 900 or $1,000 hay
he been raised for the sufferers.
he