River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-12-13

loon stood a large building owned by
1 Press, the wagon manufacturer. All these
buildings were totally demol shed, and the
| people IN the corner saloon building the
! only building with the exception Of the
mill occupied by human beings, had an
/ exceedingly narrow escape from death.
What caused the explosion could not be
ascertained. Sever al people who claimed
| to have been familiar with the interior Of
the mill thought it was boiler explosion,
/ but Marshal Murshy was positive that it
1 was an explosion of oatmeal dust and that
no boiler could cause an explosion so ter
rife as to cover the neIghboring streets
sev eral feet with debris.
The upheaval following the explosion
| threw the interior and walls of the mill to
/ the south and west An immense portion
/ OF this mass of brick and beam fell on top
OF the wagon warehouse and saloon to the
south. These buildings were crushed like
/ shells.
| How the Murphy people escaped without
harm is remarkable There We're in the
/ building asleep Charles Murphy, tho pro-
| rrtetor OF the saloon, his father, George,
his brother James, his mother and three
1 children-Lizz e, Joe and George-l0 and
respectively. They had hardly been
awakened by the report OF the explosion
when there came cras that almost
turned the building over on its side The
family who occupied the uprec floor were
| thrown violently against the wall as
brick and timber came crashing through
the roof, crushing it in and throwing
/ the building over so that it slanted at
an angle of forty FIVE degrees The en-
| tire roof Immediately took fire and then
commenced a fearful struggle on the part
of the family to escape from the wreck
Pinned down by great beams and
hemmed in on every side by debris
of every sort this was found
difficult. Charles Murphy seized his
little boy, who was sleeping beside
him, just as his aged mother came crawl
ing into the room, half blinded by the
smoke, 20 see if he was safe. AS she saw
her son and grandchild she tainted, aud
Mr.. Murphy had to carry both his mother
and son downstairs and, after consider
able difficulty, made his way to the street
The rest of the family escaped with few
bruises in a similar manner.
John Holmes, the man who was blown
cut of the window, was found about sixty
feet away from the mill He was lying on
a pile of bricks with his face terribly
mangled and his body sckening mass Of
burns and bruises. He was taken to the
county hospital.
Adjoining the mill at the west was a
two-story frame building occupied by n.
r. Lawson. The ground floor was used as
restaurant, while on the floor above
lived the restaurant-keeper, his wife and
baby, the cook and the waiter The ex-
plosion threw all these people out of bed,
stunning them for several seconds
When they recovered sufficiently to
make an effort to escape they went
to the back stairway, but it had been
blown down and they were obliged to stay
N hA of no hpfI rafff
the firemen took them out on ladders. the
restaurant was wrecked A large hole
was blown in the roof, every window in
the building was shattered. the chimney
was toppled over, doors forced from their
hinges and the plastering shaken to dust
George Barber, the day engineer, said
that when he left the building at evening
the engines and boilers were in proper con-
dition, and he did not think that the wreck
was caused by a boiler explosion.
Chief Swenie, who lives on Pierce street
three-quarters of a mile south of the mill,
said that the force Of the explosion threw
him out of bed upon his feet.
The streets near the mill were filled with
men and women clad only in their night
clothes. They were shrieking and
cry ng that there we've people in
the demolished building. The streets
for block in every direction
were strewn with debris of every sort.
There was not a whole pane of glass in
any building within a quarter of a mile
of the mill. Lake street for a block east
and west of Hasted street was
sprinkled with the glass of demol-
ished windows. Here and there
the panels of door were blown out And
this was one of the curious features of the
accident. The glass and woodwork were
pushed out instead of smashed in as one
would naturally expect them to be.
The detonation was heard on the South
side, and the first thought there as well as
elsewhere was of dynamite. The story
that bomb had been used was telephoned
all over the city inside of an hour and an
Anarchistic uprising was in every body's
I mind. Thousands of people awak
ened from their sleep by the deaf
ening explosion hurried on enough
clothing to protect them from the
night air and rushed in the direction Of the
| glare, which was so intense that L gave
South siders an impression that the whole
West side was in a blaze. The streets
around the shattered buildings were
crowded with half clad people, who
watched the progress of the flames and
talked Of the horrible fate Of the poor fe!-
lows in the ruins.
The loss will aggregate about Sl500O0
The loss on the mill, which was running
day and night, is about 5000 Jacob
Press, the wagon maker, loses about $780,
coo, and it is est mated that the other
losses will be about $4,000
BOMB THRowER's WORK.
CHICAGO Dec 1l.-With a report that
was heard for miles and that shattered
the glass in windows for blocks around
dynamite bomb thrown by some miscreant
bent on the destruction Ct life and prop
erty exploded on the roof of the
Schufeldt distillery, at Hawthorn
avenue and Larrabee street 1t was
about 6:25 a. m when the ex-
plosion occurred, and although it shocked
a popu.ous neighborhood and created the
greatest excitement, the guilty man es-
capped IN the darkness. The building
which the bomb-throwCr tr ed TO de-
stroy is long, low structure CT brick,
with fiat roof extending along Hawthorn
avenue about 800 feet. The roof is
only about ten feet above the side
walk, from which the bomb was evidently
thrown. In the place where the internal
machine struck the roof is hole about
two feet square torn in the grayel-cov-
cred boards Underneath is the big ware
house in which is stored $4,000 barrels Of
whisky, which escaped ignition by almost
miracle.
After the explosion, when the few work
men about the place had recovered from
the shock, they went cut on the roof, and
about ten feet from the hole was found
package Of dynamite. 1t contained seven
sticks of the common dynamite, such as
is used in blasting all wrapped together
in paper, around which was tied string
The whole was again wrapped in
blue cotton batting which was tied ghtly
with common wrapping Irvine There was
fuse about four inches long attached to
each end Of the package. One Of the
fuses had been ignited, for the end was
slightly charred. but for seine reason it
had gone out before the fire reached the
dynamite
L Not more than ten feet from this unex-
ploded bomb was the wine-room Of the
distillery, containing six great casks Of
alcohol each holding about 5000 gallons
In is highly infiammable stuff, and had the
bomb exploded over this room ire which
would surely have destroyed the distlllery
would have been the result
Neither the police nor the distillery
people have the slightest clew TO the per
petrator Of the outrage. Mr.. J. b Lynch,
manager aud one Of the proprietors Of the
distillery, said to reporter that he was
positive that il was the work Of the whisky
trust, winch has been fighting his com
pany for several years
"We are sure. . said Mr.. Lynch. that
IL ttsa ~ he They have