Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-12-20
THE CHICAGO EXPLOSION.
The Force Unprecedented-Th Extent OF the
Wreck and the Amount of the Loss.

The Force Unprecedented-Th Extent OF the
Wreck and the Amount of the Loss.
CHICAGO, Dec. 11.-An explosion that
shattered divers big oat meal mill on
Halstead street, near the viaduct, destroy
ed Jacob Press wagon factory, James
McCormick's saloon, and Jacob Heng's
Farmers Home, occurred in the oat meal
mill at 2 O'Clock this morning. Three
men are known to have been killed, one
fatally injured, and number of people
were badly bruised and shaken up.
Chief Swenie, who lives on Pierce street,
three quarters Of mile south of the mill,
said that the force of the ex plosion threw
him out o. bed. There was not a whole
pane of glass left in any building within
a quarter of a mile of the mill. III re
and there the panels of door we're blown
out. And this was one of the curious
features of the accident. The glass and
woodwork we're pushed out instead of
smashed in as one would naturally expect.
The proprietor and manager of the
mill were on the ground early, but have
been unable TO learn positively the cause
of the explosion. Each thinks that oat
meal dust may have caused it. but the
terrific force is unprecedented if this
theory be accepted. No other reasonable
explanation is offered, however, and the
explosion of dust is accepted, until q bet
ter reason is found.
The fire seemed to spring up almost
before the rumble of the explosion died
out, end in less time than it takes to tell
it the whole wreck was in flames. Sparks
that were carried through the air by the
wind ignited buildings two blocks away,
and for half an hour the chemical COM
panies had all they could do to prevent
half dozen serious coufagation5. The
streets were flied with debris for block
on every side of the burned
patch, and this seriously DISTRACTED the
firemen in their work. They stumbled
over boards and timbers and debris I'M
til their clothes were torn, their hands
and faces cut and their limbs so badly
stiffened that they could scarcely walk.
But, notwithstanding these terrible
obstacles, the fremen worked Gu until
the danger was over.
By9 O'Clock the fire department had
succeeded in extinguishing the fire, and
the work of excavating in the ruins was
begun.
About 1880 O'Clock the body of Charles
Miller, the engineer, was found in the
north driveway of the mill. 1t was Gov
cred with about three feet of ashes, the
lower part covered with bruises and
burns, and the face so mangled as to be
unrecognizable. He was 80 years old,
ard leaves a wife and three children.
Shortly after his remains were found
the body of Ernst Casper vas discovered.
He was lying on his back, his charred,
blackened head rested on step of a
stairway. His hands and feet were
burned to cinder. Hundreds of men
searched anxiousiy for the missing
millers, and after some time one
of them, John Holmes, was found
lying in the alley across the
street from the mill terribly burned and
lacerated. He was working in the second
story of the mill when the explosion oc-
CURED and was hurled through window
and across the street. He cannot live.
The loss will aggregate $150,000.