The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-10-07
TERRIBLE EXPLOSION.
-Four Men Blown To Fragments by an E1'
plOsion of Dynamite.

-Four Men Blown To Fragments by an En-
plOsion of Dynamite.
BARTow- oS-THE-SoUND, \. Y, Sept 80.
"A terrific explosion occurred at the Dit
mar Powder works, Bay Chester, on the
Harlem river branch of the New York &
New Haven railroad about ten o'clock this
morning, resulting in the instantaneous
death of four men employed in the factory.
! The explosion occurred in the pack
ing house, a one-story frame build
ing, 20x30 feet in the center of
the grounds, about 200 yards from
the main factory, large building near
the water, where the bulk of the giant pow
der and nitro-glycerine used in the new
aqueduct work is manufactured. The men
were hard at work putting up and packing
cartridges, when suddenly, without warn
ing the explosion occurred, shattering the
building to spIinters and blowing four men
to fragments and exploding the powder, of
which there was large quantity, and which
shot uD into the air as high as fifty feet
Splinters of the building were
blown a mile distant. The names
Of the men killed are as follows:
Ernest Dralen, John busch, Max Shafbolt,
and Mr.. Rheinhart Nothing was left of
them except fragments OF their bodies.
Their hands, legs, feet, arms, pieces of
skulls, backbOnes, and charred bits OF flesh
scattered in every direction from 500 to 600
feet from the packing house. Max Curger,
foreman of the works, says the explosion
was caused by two men shooting into the
building. He was in the packing house at
the Time, and going out, found the
two men who said they were shooting az
squirrels. He says he threatened them
with arrest and they then became impu-
dent. AS the explosion occurred the men
were seen hurrying away. p II. STAINS
field. superintendent OF the ThOrits Powder
Company, near by, picked up box full of
fragments of the dead men, and others as
sisted in the work and the remains were all
put in a heap to await the coroner's arrival.
One of the dead men leaves family in
Germany. The others were single. The
mandatory of the Ditmar works was
nearly wrecked. One end of the building
was blown TO pieces, exposing the interior.
After the explosion the lower timbers of
the building took fire and burned fiercely.
A large tree near by was torn up by the
roots. Branches of other trees were blown
away. The ground around for half mile
was strewn with fragments of the dead.
splinters, packing paper, etc. The vio-
lence of the explosion shook houses in Bar
tow, across the creek from Bay Chester.
Many windows in John Ellio's Bay
View Hotel at Pelham Bridge, over a mile
away, were shattered. Thomas DinwoOd's
blacksmith shop at West Chester was
shaken violently, and windows in many
houses in the same village were broken.
This is the second explosion that has &C.
Cured in these works this year. One
last winter blew a man TO frag-
ments. The remains of the men
killed to-day could not possibly be ident.
fed. Many persons living miles away
drove hurriedly TO the scene and some of
them helped TO gather together the frag
ments of the dead men. Windows, sashes
and doors in the railroad station at Bay
Chester, not far from here, were wrecked.