St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-30
SET OFF BY LIGHTNING
One Person Killed and Four Fatally In
jured by the Explosion Of q
Powder Magazine.
The Scene of the Catastrophe About Two
Miles From the Southwestern Edge
of Chicago.
Trees Stripped. Fences Blown Down
by the Mile and Telegraph Poles
Snapped.
The Steamer A. Booth Sinks OH
Grand Portage, 40 Niles
From Duluth.
A Terrific Explosion.

CHICAGO, Aug. 29.-AG9:I9 Oclock thio
morning, in the midst of a heavy thunder
storm, the powder magazine belonging 10
the Latin-Rand Powder company was
struck by lightning. An explosion 1oi-
lowed which destroyed property valued at
SIS. 900, besides killing one person almost
instantly, fatally injuring four and intiict-
ing painful injuries on nearly twenty-five
others. The dead and fatally injured were
Miss Carrie Ahreanworth, killed instantly;
Peter Kenn, farmer, ribs broken ana
fearfully bruised; John Guhls, teamster for
the Oriental Powder company, ribs frac-
tured, right leg broken in two places, IN
ternal wounds; Mrs. Guhls, skull crushed;
Mrs. Eliza Devine, right leg crushed to
Jelly, breast transtixed by strip of glass.
The shock caved in the two magazines OF
the Oriental Powder company, and also
those belonging to the Warren Powder
company, the Hazard, the Duport com
panes and the Forcte dynamite storehouse.
The Laflin-Rand company's magazine was
the only one which exploded. Where it
stood is now
AN IMMENSE EXCAVATION
nearly fifty feet in depth. The combined
effects of hard fought battle, a cyclone
and the whitening influence of lightning
could not have presented picture of more
abiect desolation and destruction than did
the country for half mile in all directions
from the exploded magazine. The day had
opened gloomily. At s o'clock rain began
falling furiously from immense banks of
clouds. Flashes of lightning were soon
chasing each other across the armament
until the heavens seemed ablaze. The thun-
der was deafening. About 9:15 flash,
which all agree was much brighter than
those preceding it. was followed by re-
port that shook the greater part of Cook
county. 1t was sharp report, but, strange
to say. by most of those who lived in the
vicinity of the explosion it was hardly
distinguishabe from the series of thunder
claps which had been the order of the
morning. All agree that there was
TREMENDOUS SHAKING
of the earth. Articles of furniture not sta
tionary were thrown about as if they were
playthings in giants power. Men. women
and children were tossed around at the will
of the terrible, resiStleSs force released by
the explosion. The scene of the catastrophe
is about two miles from the extreme edge
of the city, near where Archer avenue set
ties down into conventional country high
way On one side wave great fields of
ripening corn, on the other broad stretch
of prairie runs for nearly mile in all di-
rectionS. On this are or rather were, a
dozen plain but strongly-built houses, with
walls of yellow brick, roofs of slate and
iron doors. These houses were the maya
zines in which the bulk of the powder sup
ply for Chicago and its territory was stored
A few people of the humber class built
their poor homes on the prairie. close to the
warehouses containing the deadly stuff and
lived without fear of any disaster from their
proximity. Right in the midst of the mag
aZines rose the home of NJ. j. Tierney. po-
lice magistrate of the Town of Lake. in the
limits of which corporation the warehouses
stood. The house was until to-day an at
uactive-looking house, two stories
high, with a spacious veranda in front
and surrounded by number of substantial
outhouses. 1t overlooked road about
forty feet away. Three hundred feet
northeast of the Tiernay residence was a
little cottage rudely built and surrounded
by sheds, stables and hog-pens. The mag
azine of the Laflin-Rand Powder company
was one of the largest of dozen structures
in the neighborhood. 1t was substantial
brick house, 70X30 feet in dimensions, with
slate roof and one iron door of great
strength. The magazine was 800 feet east
of the cottage of John Guhls and 700 feet
from the re sidence OF Mr.. Tierney. When
the rain began to fall in the morning the
people of the vicinity were
ALL INDOORS,
many of them prOlonging then Saturday
nights rest. Just prec, ding the explosion
long vivid, electric flame seemed to burst
from a cloud directly over the Lafin-Rand
magazine. In an instant the air was filled
with flying missiles. Masses of brick and
clay and pieces Of timber performed indie
scribable gyrations, hundreds of feet in
the air, some falling close to the points
from which they started, while others
shot off through space with frightful velOc-
ity only conforming to the laws of gravity
after a long flight. Stones weigh
ing from one to $50 pounds were thrown
into fields two miles from the scene.
Trees were stripped of their foliage, fences
by the mile were laid low. telegraph poles
snapped like reeds, and the prairie looks
Es if thousand steam plows had been al
work upon 1t. The little cottage Of John
Guhls. with its surrounding Out-houses.
was laid low without warning, and in q
moment parts of the exploded warehouse
began fallig on the debris of the cottage
Guhrs family consisted of himself, his
wife and Carrie Ahreanworth, IA years OF
age. The latter was instantly killed,
while Guhl and his wife were dragged from
the ruins frightfully mutilated. Theil
horses, cows and swine were all killed by
the conclusion, and the bodies full of dirt,
sand and powder. The ruin of Guhl's
house Immediately took fire and the smoul-
dering fragments burned out during the
day. The body of Carrie Ahreanwortt
presented a sckening spectacle. Half the
face was torn away. The eyes were al
most blown from their sockets, and there
was a gaping hole in her forehead large
enough to receive mans fist. The girls
left arm was torn from the shoulder. The
body was removed to the home of her I'M
Gle, August Ahreanworth, Oh California
avenue.
IN A TERRIBLE C ONDITIoN,
John Guhls was alive when taken out. but
in a terrible condition. His right leg was
broken in two places, and his back was Sc
riously injured. The flesh on his face was
cut into ribbons and powder, sand and peb
bIes were blown into the uggly gashes
His sufferings were agonizing to behold.
Mrs. Guhls was extricated alive, but al.
most beyond hope. Her entire body was
mangled and bruised. The right side Of
her body was parlyzed, but the worst Of
her wounds was gaping one in the back
of her head, through which her brains oozed
Guhls and his wife were tenderly carried tt
she residen ce of DR.. j. Lee Mills, at The