Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-09-03

A dispatch from Chicago, ILL.,, Aug. %,
says lightning struck the Latin Rand
Powder company's magazine about 81
O'Clock this morning, causing an explosion
which killed one person, fatally injured four,
painfully injured a number of others, and
destroyed about SIS, 900 of property.
The scene of the disaster is about two milos
from the extreme southwestern edge of the
city, near where Atchor avenue becomes a
conventional country highway For half a
mile around the magazine the scene now is
one Of desolation and destruction, aud not a
building within mile Of the magazine ej-
capsd damage. The magazine. n
substantial brick structure 20 by
30 feet, and having slate roof aud h,avy
iron door, was demolished, with W. j.
Ilerney's house, two stories high, 700 feet
away, and John Guhl's cottage 800 feet dis
tant. An excavation 80 feet deep marks the
place where the magazine stood, heavy stones
are scattered III the neighhorng fields, trees
are stripped of their foliage fences over
thrown, and telegraph wires snapped.
The whole of Cook county was
shaken by the shock. Hundreds of
panes Of glass in manufactures some
distance away We're broken. The shock
Caved in the two magazines of the Oiental
Powder Company, near by, and also those
belonging to the Warren Powder Company,
the Hazard and Dupont companies, and the
Forcte dynamite storehouse.
The bodies of the killed and some Of the in
Jured were fearfully mutilated. The dead
and fatally injured are. Mss Carrie A.
Hernworth, Killed instantly; Petar Kenn,
farmer, ribs broken and fearfuily burned;
John Guhl, teamster for the Oriental Powder
Company, ribs fractured, right leg broken in
Two places, internal wounds Miss Guhl,
skull crushed; Mrs. Eliza Devine, right leg
crushed to jelly and breast transfxed by a
strip of glass. When the first shock of the
magazine explosion reached the Jesuit
Church Of the Holy Family at One Hundred
anu Twenty eighth street and Blue Island
avenue, five miles distant 10 o'clock mass was
going on in che basement of the edifce. The
ratters shook and the building trembled like
an aspen leaf There were between 1000 and
l2O0 Teople at the service. Rev. Fr. Lagao
w2s the celebrant The worshippers got up
IN the benches aud made an indiscriminate
plunge for the staircase and windows The
latter were knocked out castings and ALL The
utmost confusion prevailed. Men fell in
heaps ov,r fainting women and children.
To get out of the grounds adjoining
the church basement was an uphill
movement, and in the excitement many were
knocked down and trampled under foot.
FIR. Legae's admonitions to the congregation
to remain seated were drowned in the pas
sionate appeals of help from crushed women
and children. just at this time Rev. Fr.
Coughin, the parish priest, made his appear
ance at one of the windows through which
the frantic crowd was surgng. The presence
of the priest had good effect, but just as
the congregation were taking their seats
some one cried fire The cry was taken up
by hundreds, and was heard across the street
Rt the engine house. The marshal ordered
his men out, and when the firemen made
their appearance hose in hand, everything
assumed an indescribable state of confusion.
Me1 howled, women screamed and children
screeched. By sudden impulse, the entire
congregation rushed for the iron screen ed
windows. The wire protectors were snapped
asunder like so many threads, and for time
the firemen and unconscious women and
children were the sole occupants of the
sacred edifce. A large bronze statue on the
dome of the church was dislodged, and fell
down through the skylight. All the transom
windows i'll th3 corridor of the st. Ignatns
College were shattered, and great seam
opened in the west wall of that building.
Strange to relate, Notwithstanding the panic,
no one was seriously hurt
The exploded magazine contained, it Is es-
timated, lao, 600 pounds Of powder and half
as much dynamite. In the neighboring 10
s:orehouses were 100000 pounds of dynamite
and twice as much powder. Not one of the
IL buildings had lightning rol or con-
auctor