Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-10-01

y
rescued from the debris almost unin-
jured, and was afterwards adopted into
the family of wealthy Tidioute man.
In July the following year. John
Osborne was blown up while driving
his torpedo blackboard along Bear Creek
Valley below Parker. LIN 1875 Alonzo
Taylor drew an unexploded torpedo
from we'll at Troutman, Butler
County, and to guard against danger to
his companions carried the shell into
the woods to take on the cap. An OK
plosion followed. which killed TAYLOR.
February 20, 1876, q very cold day,
James Barnum, then torpedo agent at
st. Petersburg, drove TO Edenburg for
three hundred pounds of glycerine.
On his return trip he was accompanied
by q fellow-townsman, who rode with
him until he turned off the main road
TO drive up TO his magazine, and only
left him then at his request. His COM
panion had just reached the town when
he was Mortified by terrific explosion
in the direction of Barnum's magazine.
The excited crowd that soon gathered
Mt the locale of the magazine witnessed
n horrible scene. Tho ground was torn
up; trees were denuded of bark and
limbs; one of Barnum's horses terribly
mutilated, was dying in agony. The
other had been blown TO atoms, and tho
buggy was reduced to splinters. Frag-
monts of human flesh and horse flesh,
clots of blood and pieces of bono
covered the ground for rods in every
direction from the spot where the maya
zine had been, and were seen clinging
TO the branches of neighboring trees.
One of Barnum's ears was afterward
found nearly mile from the scene of
the explosion.
July, 1876, w. ii. Harper, patcntee
of Harper's torpedo, drew one of his
shells, which failed to explode, from II
well at Keating's furnace. In his en-
deavor TO ascertain why it did not work,
the shell exploded, driving pieces of
tin through his body. After nine days
of intense suffering he died. August /,
1876. William Clawson was killed near
Edenburg. The writer met him on the
road near the scene of the explosion an
hour before the occurrence, when Claw
son told me he intended to put in no
moro torpedoes after that day. He
had with him at the time siX-
quart, n four-quart and u two
quart shell. The iirst two were eX-
ploded safely. but the two-quart shot
failed to 60, and in the attempt to draw
il out il was exploded ut the top of the
hole, bcheading the well-known moon
lighter. December 10, that year,
Daniel Smith and William Humphreys
were killed at Roberts magazine at
Petrolia, where they had gone to unload
six hundred pounds of nitro lycerine.
The explosion was n most terrific one.
May 81, 1877, man by name of ALI
son, and others found ten-ycar old
gunpowdcr torpedo on the river banks
near Scrubgrass. Allison expressed
an intention to "dissect it," saying he
had .'seen lots of them in the old days"
He was advised not to fool with it, but
went on trying to pry the top of. The
explosion killed him instantly. Oc-
tober 2, j. r. Smith, of Titusville, was
killed at Roberts factory on Boil
var Run, near Bradford, and Col
onel Roberts and his nephew Owen
were both injured. The factory was q
new one, and the accident resulted
from experiments with the first run of
glycerinc. December D, Ellery
Bartlett, Roberts agent at Red Rock
was exploding empty cans. One which
had been placed on the fire was slow
going, and Bartlett picked ii up to look
for cause. The main part of his re-
mains were divided from one leg and
an arm. April 10, 1873, while Joseph
Either was lowering an eight-quart
Mcintyre torpedo in n well near
Gilmor, it exploded, cutting him in the
side and splitting open the head of
Frank Hill, a pumper. September Is,
an explosion took place on the Curtis
farm, two miles south of Bradford,
which resulted in the death of N. b.
Pulver, agent of 5. o. Gotham, of
Petrolia, j. b. Burkholder and Andy
=. Higgins and Charles 5. Page, both
well-known moonlightcrs. Several at
tempts had been made to burglarize Pull
ver's glycerIne safe by inserting glycer-
inc in the lock and firing with fuse,
but without success. 1t was supposed
another attempt had been made just be-
fore the visit of Pulver, Burkholder,
Higgins and Page, and glycerine on the
lock caused the explosion. October
20, the same year, Gotham's factory
near Petrolia was the scene of an ex-
plosion. Gotham had gone to tho
factory accompanied by his assistants,
Harry French and q young lad named
John Fowler, to manufacture an order
for four hundred pounds. Gotham was
was found dead in an adjacent stream
with no marks on his person. French
was picked up from the stream badly
mutilatcd, while but little was found of
young Fowler. twas supposed Gotham
and French had gone out and sat down
on the banks of the stream to eat their
lunch, leaving Fowler on top of the
tank to stir the compund while it was
heating
February Q, 1880, while Howard
Hackett and Feeney were driving in
cutter near Corwin Center, with one
hundred pounds of glyccrinc, the cut
tor upset, exploding the stuff. Hackett
was thrown fifty feet, badly mutilated
and killed instantly. The horse and
cutter were totally demolished. But
Feeney, strange to say, was buried in n
pile of snow and fence rails and not
seriously injured. December 10, Albert
Magee was killed on tho Ward Farm,
midway between Bradford and Tar
port. He was heating seven cans in
the derrick ut A. g. SCOTS No. 5 well,
while his partners, Perry and Scott,
were making other preparations to put
in tho shot. Perry's hearing was de-
stroyed and SCOTS hearing impaired.
January 80, 1881, Andrew Lasher,
torpedo agent, and Joseph Cushing,
merchant, of Kinzua Junction, were
killed by the explosion Of lao pounds of
nitro-glycerine, which was being
warmed for use. A number of others
were injured. The glycerine was in
the engine house, while Gushing stood
in the dersick. When picked up tho
only visible injury was q slight cut on
the head. February II, i. A. McLain
was blown TO atoms while driving
cutter between Davis switch and
Junction, with 200 pounds aboard, and
on February 1, Lorenzo Gathawait was
blown up by an empty shell near Rix-
ford, May 81, James Moore tried to
open can with knife ut Parker and
was badly shattered He died next