The Bottineau pioneer., 1889-03-07
- 80
BURNED TO A CRISP.
Ten Girls and Man Perish Miserabiy In Penn.
- sylvanis SQuib aEctory

into eternity. Back Of the GAYLORD shaft
stood the factory of John Powell, used fortht
manufacture of squibs used by the miners in
loosening coal in the mines. The factory en-
ployed eighty-four girls. ranging from twelve
TO twenty years, and several male workmen.
whilethe majority Of the girls were at Their
homes eating dinner the people we're startled
by the deafening thunders OF terrific explo
sion. They rushed terror-stricken to Their
doors and windows, and in the distance saw
clouds ofsmOke ascending from the squib
factory. Soon large crowd had gathered
around it, and women began ringing their
hands and men turned away from the sight
presented when the charred body
lying in one Of the rooms, and The fact
became known that at least twenty persons
were in the building at the time of the ex-
plosion eating their monday lunch. The
scene was fraught with terror as the girls,
some OF them bleeding, Others gasping for a
few breaths of fresh air, rushed to the win
dows and screamed frantically for nelp
About this time dozen miners from the ad
joining colliery came upon the scene as soon
as they saw the bleeding forms of the girls
calling for aid rushed toward the building, in
a body, but fate prevented their proflered
succor. AS soon as they stepped near the
door another terrific explosion ook place
and the entire building collapsed, burying in
the ruins the forms that moment before
stood crying for assistance. The Drawer OF
the men, when the smoke and flying debris
had settled, rushed among the ruins and one
by one the bodies were found and taken out,
charred beyond recognition, bleeding and
mangled.
At the main entrance to the factory the
remains Of five of the girls were found They
must have evidently made an effort to get
out after the first explosion, but were caught
hpfnrn. fhnv fhn
door. Not one of the bodies was recogniz-
able Some had their heads blown off;
theirs their arms, and q majority were
minus both legs and arms. The arrival OF
the relations of tho dead added confusion to
the scene. Their cries were heartrending and
pitiable, and what made it more pathetic
was the fact that mothers and sisters were
unable to recognize their own dead. After
working for hours the rescuers succeeded in
getting out all the remains, which consisted
of trunks, arms, legs and skulls. Every
one in the building at the time of the ex-
plosion perished with the exception of
Foreman Reese: He was standing at q
stove when the first explosion took
place. He rushed for the door to notify the
down in the basement. He managed to
crawl out of this place. The cause of the ex-
plosion is mystery. Powell says the sqibs
piled in O box must have exploded from
spontaneous combustion. He says he never
allowed any large Quantity of powder in the
building. When powder was wanted it was
taken from the magazine 100 yards away.
have been powder in the building or the force
of the explosion would not have been so
great. There. were three stoves in
the building. - =
The scenes around the undertaker's es-
tablishment where the bodies of the victims
were taken were heartrending Eleven bodies
lay there headess, armless and legless. From
piecas of scorched clothing and from the but
tons were the victims identified. The body
OF a young girl, supposed to be from Scran-
ton and who was seeking work, has not yet
been identified.
Up to a week ago eighty girls had been en-
ployed, but an accident to q portion of
the machinery made it necessary to lay OF ell
but few of them, A storehouse onlyt x
feet from the ruins contained twenty =
Kegs Of powder. Hundreds Of people stood
near it during the fire. not knowing its con-
tents, and strange to say it did not explode
as it became MS hot as a stove. Eye witt
nesses, of whom there arc but lew, say there
we're five reports, two heavy and th1 ight y
The heavy ones were powder Kegs and the
light ones were boxes Of souibs. At midnight
Foreman Reese is raving in deliriums.
ri A California Train Robbery.
On the receipt of the intelligence recently Of
@ train robbery at Pixley. q special car was
at!once ordered to carry officers to the scene
Of the robbery, and in a short time about
tragedy had taken place. A pool OF fresh
blood was found several yards from the
track, where one o. the unfortunate passerl-
gers had been shot down. There were indica-
tions that horses had been hitched to one OF
the telegraph poles near by. Two tramps
were :ound who told the following story:
We were waiting for thetrain to ride out
to Pixley and noticed two more men who
were said to be waiting for the train. We.
went up and commenced talking to them.
They acted in n very peculiar manner. 1t
was so dark that we could not tell exactly how
they looked, but think both were good-sized
men. Both wore overcoats, and wore white
shirts. One had his clothes strongly per-
tuned; both had shotguns or what appeared
to us to besshotguns. Thoy asked us where
was good place to get on the train. We
told them, and asked them where they were
going. They said to Delano to shoot jack
rabbits. We asked them what was the mat
ter with shooting jack rabbits at Pixley?
One Of them said he had ranch ut Delano.
lust then the train came along and the men
jumped on the front part ofthe engine. .
One OF the tramps continues"
J Something seemed to warn me that all was
oAAS
Jumped from somewhere and boarded one of
the passenger cars. l felt uneasy and walked
over to the depot and told some one what
had happened. was only laughed at, but
it was not long till we heard what happened.
The tramp who was riding on the platform
OF the baggage car said: q.
The train commenced to slow up when we
had nearly stopped T.. discovered
there was trouble Of some kind
and jumped off, When they COM.
menced shooting ran and jumped wire
sence'arid laid down in the field neor by. +
aearR.ome one say my God. I am killed,
when the shooting occurred, and then heard
an explosion of some kind. When the robbers
passengers. One of the men Shot had his
.de torn to pieces with buck shot. The train
backed up to Pixley, when one of the passen-
gers clainfst%1le saw man fall at q distance
rom the track, The train went back and
We searched for the man. We soon found
lin. He had evidently been Instantly killed.
The shot entered near the temple. He had
4 ticket in his hat for Poso.- ~ /
From the people of PixleY, and other
sources it was learned that when the train
was stopped, that as soon as the express
messenger found out what was the trouble
he barred the doors of the car, but the rob-
bers threw bomb Under it and gave him
such a shaking up that he was glad to open
the doors. The amount taken is variously
estimated, some placing it from $4,000 to
R6O, 900. The men are searching the counl
try, though theresis neselew~as to the direc;
tion taken by the robbers.
open to the Air.. j
, In earlier days and milder climates
houses were open to the air, and ven
tilation was not felt. The most fai
L IL 60 II