The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-09-01
POWDER MAGAZINE EXPLOSION
TWO MILES FROM CHICAGO.

CFtcAGo, Aegasf &.-At ss5 O'Clock this
morning in the midsa If a heavy thunder
storm. the powder magazine belonging 10
the Lafin- Rand Powder Company was
struck By lightning. An explosion ~follewed
which Destroyed property 10 the value OF
$1,000. beside killing one person almost
instantly. fatally i~njnrine four and infiicf-
ing painful injuries on nearly twenty-five
Others.
About sI5 a fash, which all agree wss
much brighter than those proceeding il. was
followed by a report that shock the greater
pan Of Cook county. Ii wa a sharp report,
but. strange 10 say. By most Of those who
lived in the vicinity of the explosion il was
hardly disiinguisiiable from the series Of
thunder cla,e which mad been the order Of
the morning. All agree that there was a
tremendous shaking Of TIE earth. Articles
81 furniture not stationary were thrown
about az if they were play .hings in a giants
power. Men. Women and children were
tossed around al the viii OF the terrible. re-
s~istleSs force.
Just preceding the explosion. a long vivid
electric fame seemed 10 burst from q cloud
dinsrlv over the Latin & Rand magazine.
IN an instant the air was filled with flying
mi-siles. Masses Of brick and clay. sheets Of
tin. large stones and pieces of timber per-
formed iniiseriiable CITATIONS hundreds Of
feet ia the air-Some falling back close to the
point from which they started, while others
shot oifthrongh space with fTightful velocity,
only conforming 10 the laws OF gravity after
a long flight Stones weighing from 100 To
aS pounds were thrown into fields two miles
from the scene. Trees were stripped Of their
foliage. fences by the mile we-e laid low.
telegraph wires were snapped like fragile
Threads and The prairie bore seams as if OF a
Thousand steam plows. Not a building with
in a mile of the explosion escaped damage.
The little cottage of John Guhl, with lis sur
rounding outhouses, was laid low without a
warning and in a moment parts of the cx-
ploded warehouse began falling on the deb
nj OF the cottage. GuhIs family consisted Of
himself. his wife and Carrie A~heranwerth.
IA years of age The latter was instantly
killed, while Guhl aud his wife were drag
ged from the ruins frightfully mutilated.
Their horse, COW and swine were all killed
by the conclusion and the bodies blown fun
Of dirt sand and powder. The ruins Of CULTS
house Immediately took fire and the smot-
dcring fragments burned out during the day
The body Of Carrie A~heranwerrh presented a
sickening spectacle. Halft the face was torn
away the eyes were almos; blown from their
sockets and there was a gaping hole in the
forehead large enough to receive a mans
fist. The girls leh arm was torn from the
shoulder. The body was removed to the
home Of her uncle, August A%heranwerth on
California avenue.
The shock caved in the two magazines Of
the Oriental Powder Company and also those
belonging to the Warren Powder Company
the Hazard, the Dupont Company's and the
Forcite Dynamite store-house. Latin Il
Rand ~Company's was the only one which
exploded. Where it stood i now an i'm
mense excavation. nearly fifty feet IN depth.