The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-08-31

Al TEX THE E.tiLDS'iN-
On Archer avenue, about one mile and
half from Brighton park, and between
kedzie avenue and the Grand Trunk rail-
way, are situated the magazines of several
powder companies doing business in the
city. Going north aiong the avenue, on the
west side, tho first magazine reached is that
oNaed by the American Powder company,
ana Immediately behind it is the -Etna-
On the opposite side is the Dupont com
paRy's magazine Three hundred yards
further north was the magazine of lailin Il
Rand. and directly opposite frame cot
tage, occupied by Mrs. Devine, a lady e.
years cid, who lived alone, and in the rear
OF her cottage the Hazard company S maya
zine. One hundred yards further north of
Latin q Rand's was frame house
one story and half high, occupied
by John Guhl, Griver for the
Oriental Powder company. lie was lately
married, and in the house where his wife,
Annie, and servant named Carrie Earns
worth In the rear of Guh's house are
two magazines belonging to the Oriental
company. and north of them the Austin
company S magazine In front of the last
named, and close to Archer avenue, stood
the residence Of Justice Tearney, and on
company magazine. The magazines, as
tar as could he ascertained, contained the
following amounts Of powder: Latin &
Rand, 100, 100 pounds Of black powder and
dynamite; Hazard, 5000 pounds of pow
der; Dupont, i00,O 0J pounds; ftna, $1,000
pounds; American. y, TOO pounds; Oriental,
amount not known, Forsyth, 50, OOJ pounds,
and Austiu's, a large quantity of high ex-
I'D 10, L.
at half-past . o'clock the magazine of
Latin Il Rand was struck by lightning,
and with a roar that was heard ten miles
away the whole building was blown to
atoms The large quantity OF dynamite
stored away caused the explosion to take a
downward direction, and hole twenty feet
deep, 100 feet long, and between sixty and
seventy feet wide was made Not ves-
tige oil the building remained but pieces of
stone were carried a mile and more in diff
ferent directions. Driving along Archer
avenue was an old farmer named George
| kann, who WAS on his way to his home at
SuIamit He was blown ten rods from his
wagon, which was shattered to pieces, and
one of ths horses YVES instantly killed, the
other being in jured. kenn was picked up
and taken to DR.. Mills house, at Brighton
/ : Ii
him, and he was removed to the county
hospital in the town of Lake patrol wagon.
! Nearly opposite the exploded magazine
was the cottage OF Mrs. Devine, who lived
| by heI self This was entirely destroyed,
| falling to pieces like house made of cards.
Mrs Devine was terribly injured by the
falling building and broken glass Her
| tongue was cut in half her jaw broken, and
| she received wound in the head which
made large hole She was attended to by
! DR.. Mills, and eventually sent to the hos
pitaL About 100 yards north of the
wrecked magazine was the house of John
| Guhl, driver OF the Oriental companys
wagon. Tie house was a frame
one one and half stories high, and
in the rear was barn, in which were
some pigs and poultry. Without mo-
ments warning the house was blown to
pieces, and the inmates buried in the uins
| The barn caught fire and was quickly con.
sumed Tue unfortunate girl, Earnsworth,
was taken out OF the ruins dead, and her
body was sent to the morgue. John Guhl,
when rescued, bad his leg, some of his ribs,
and collar bone broken, while his face and
body was badly cut with glass, and blood
poured from his ears Mrs Guhl's head
She was also badly injured in the back,
and is thought to have received internal
hurts as we'll Both she and her husband
Cornela street All the stock that was in
the barn was destroyed by the fire.
The residence OF Justice Tearney is also
on the west side of Archer avenue and over
100 ,-ards north Of Guhl's house. or about
$50 yards from the magazine that exploded.
| It Is a two-story frame of some depth, and
In tho rear are the stables. The justice &C.
cuped the house, with his wife and six
children. The whole of the front part of
the house was blown In, and everything
was total wreck. Fortunately all thu
family were in the rear part, and not on,
of them was injured. A little son Tommy
aged 2, was standing with an elder brother
about ten feet from the back door, AM
the little fellow was blown clear out of tbs
door into the yard, but picked himself NJ
uuiu ured.
r. larty of men who were going on
hunting were caught by the storm close Il
the Grand Trunk railway tracks. Thel
were in on o. press wagon and two OF then
got out and took shelter from the rain il
some box cars which were on the track.
stone from the building which blew N
crashed through the car, breaking the lei
OF one and in uring the other. This was
fully three quarters of q mile from th
scene OF the explosion. Miss Alice Kennedy
who was sitting at tho window in her hous
quarter of a mile eest of the explosion
was cut in the hand by t-oken glass TIL
total loss in the immediate neighborhood
including The magazine, the destreye
houses, Justice Tearney's loss, and th
wrecked magazines will amount to betwee
$1,000 and Ss0,000 Every one of the maya
zines of the other companies were shatteret