The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-10-13
BLOWN TO ATOMS.
Instantaneous Fate of Four Men
in Dynamite Factory.
An Explosion Which Shook the Earth
for Miles Around.

In the Hudson River towns and along the
shore of Long Island Sound people were
startled the other forenoon just before 10
O'Clock by shock resembling an earth
quake. 1t was not an earthquake. but con-
cussion from the explosion Of half a ton Of
dynamite at Baychester, in Westchester
county, N. Y, on the Long Island Sound.
Manufacturing Company there was splin-
tered and four workmen were blown to
pieces. How it happened can never be
learned, as the four men were the only per-
sons in the place at the time. They were:
Ernest Drain. aged thirty-fve; leaves
widow and two children in Germany.
John Roesch, aged twenty-eight, single.
Max Trachbrodt, aged twenty-five, single.
Ernest Reinhardt, aged twenty-four,
single.
The Dittmar works were scattered about
over twenty or thirty acres Oh the shore of
Pelham Bay, just north and east of Bayches-
ter station, on the Harlem River branch of
the New York, New Haven and Hartford
Railroad In 1881 Carl Dittmar who says he
is the inventor of dynamite, and who was the
first to use it in this country, began making
the explosive at Baychester His two sons
were associated with him in the business.
Until recently they furnished most of the
dynamite used on the newaqueduct Only five
men have been employed at the works recent.
ly. The other morning Foreman Max kru-
ger was in charge They were in the mix
ing and packing house, a low rough frame
structure, little more than a shanty, that
stood about 200 yards from the boiler house.
Some SportSmen had been cunning in the
neighborhood during the morning, and be-
tween and 10 o'clock Foreman Kruger
went out to drive them away. When he
left the workmen were making cartridges.
Kruger had been absent only few minutes
when there was sharp report and terrific
shock. The windows in all the houses for
miles around were broken. There was flash
Just before the earth quaked. Instantly all
the debris that fell in showers on the site Of
the mixing house was ahame. Sacks of pull
verified sawdust smouldered long after the
splintered timbers had been consumed. Fore
man Kruger, with the assistance of several
people who f1ocked to the scene, began hunt
ing for the remains of four victims. During
the day four boxes full of charred pieces OF
human flesh and bones were gathered. Cor
oner Tice ordered these remains to be locked
up in the powder magazine. This is dug
out in the side of little mound, with sixfeet
of earth on top and similarly banked on three
sides. In this are 5000 pounds of blasting
powder. 1t was about the only structure Of
the company that was not damaged.
The elrth was scooped out to depth OF six
feet, like the crater of volcano, where the
mixing-house stood. That and heaps of ashes
are all that are left of it. Chunks ofcharred
wood and splinters were hurled 500 yards
away and the ground literally covered with
chips. A big cedar tree was torn up. by the
roots and the branches stripped as dry and
clean as bone. One end of the engine-house
was blown out by the strong current OF air
rushing to fill the vacuum created by the ex-
ploslon. The direction of the blast was to
the northwest and, fortunately, there were
no buildings in its track. The detached shops
and buildings Of the company were all dam
aged, though some escaped with only broken
windows.
Foreman Kruger told reporter that he
thought one of the poachers fred a shot that
entered the mixing house and ignited the ex-
plosives A. C. Dttmar, who was summoned
from New York, thought the accident must
have been due to carelessness He said he
worked all about the works and never was
afraid of an explosion.