The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1888-05-10

4 Carload Of Dynamite Lsts 0o-ssvsa
Persons Killed, Twenty Woun dsd. Eight
Aousss Burned aad OthsS Dsnolishsd.
snAxox1x, Pa, May GA freight train
on the Philadelphia anu Reading railroad
wss passing through Locust Gap, six miles
from this place, at II o'clock last night,
when . car loaded with dynamite sx-
ploded, killing seven people, wounding
twenty, some seriously, burning eight
houses, lsveling four more blocks 70 the
ground, and wrecking hundreds of others.
The engine, drawing seventy cars, was
running down the grade at . rapid rate to
make siding one mile west OF the gap TO
allow the Philadslphis fast line south the
right Of way. The engineer slowed up
such . momentum that he was obliged to
bumped: the head Of steam wss too much
for the couplings, and the seventh car from
the locomotive broke loose. The engine
was stopped to make . new coupling,
whom the broken train met with shock
suficient to explode the dynamite. The
force Of the explosion shook the ground
Tor twenty miles around, wrecking many
houses In Mount Carmel and the neighbor-
hood. The train-men, aided by the horror
stricken inhabitants, rushed to the rescue,
and succesdsd In saving many lives from
the burning buildings. OF the dead moth
ing remains but . few chsrred chips Of
bones found In the ruins. A number oi
the wounded have been taken to the
1incn' Hospital. The Reading railroad
track at the point OF the accident
last at the extreme western enc
Of the town, IL about two hundred
feet above the level Of the street
and runs along side Of the mountain; at
about this distance below the road there
10 street containing one single dwelling
on the north sido and three double ones on
the south. or these seven nothing nov
remains; they were completely torn dowr
by the explosion, and then fire did thu
rest 1t was in these that al, the death'
occurred. Mr.. and Mrs. Kerwich, VIII,
lost their three children, had q miracu
lous escape. The man was blown out O
the window and only slightly injured. HI
then got his sick wife out Of the burning
building, and afterward rescued several o
his height bora children which, In his dase(
condition, he believed his own. About ,
hundred yards below these buildings I
another row of four double houses. Thesl
are terribly demolished, but fire was ar
rested BY the promptness Of the dweller
in extinguishing the burning coal Of tn
stoves. On the same street, some thre,
hundred yards east stand nine NOR
houses, . row Of four double and one sin
gle. While not 80 entirely demolished
they, too, show plain evidence Of the de
structive force Of the explosion. Board
are torn out, roofs ceved In, and the inte
riors arc simply masses of wrecked furni
ture. 30 great was the upward force o
the exploding powder that car wheel
and axles were thrown distance o
two hundred yards. One axle fell throug
the roof Of one of the houses on tn
lower street. On the hill above traces o
the debris may be found quarter Of
mile away, while between that distanc
and the wreck there are quantities Of tn
debris Of the cars. The wrecked train, i
addition to the cars Of powder and dyni
mite, was freighted with Singer sewing
machines, glass, phosphate, oil, lumber
dour and sheet iron. Within radius q
sixty feet there IL perfect litter Of thes
| goods, all broken and piled up. Trees nea
the train were uprooted, while one larg
| one was blown on top Of freight car. TIL
lumber car was loaded with flooring, an
where this was blown up the hill many q
the long pieces are stuck in the grouni
Beneath the wrecked train there is . larg
hole about fifteen feet In diameter, th
work Of the dynamite.