The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1889-01-16
AS DaSGmRous - DYNAMITE.
rhe Highly Explosive Flour Dust which
Frequently Wrecks guse Mills.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)


Hugh T. Alderman, of Abilene, Kan,
a gentleman largely interested in flour
milling, said to reporter: "The recent
fearful mill explosion in Chicago, see
by the papers, has given rise to much
comment and several theories have
been advanced as to its canse. For my
part, after an experience Of over twenty
wears in the business, l can not see any
good reason for looking beyond flour
dust. Ii pow6.r magazine should
blow up there would be every reason to
ascribe the explosion to the powder, and
the fine -four dust found in every mill
where great care is not taken to keep 1t
down, is almost as explosive as gunpoW-
der. Few people appreciate this, BUTT Is a
fact well known to all mlllers. Certcin-
" barrel OF -four is as harmless an
article as can we'll be imagined. but II
the process of manufacture q high explo-
sive, scarcely less powerful than dyna-
mite, is generated. This consists OF
nothing more than the fine dust which
comes from, the stones. When IN Eass
it is perfectly harmless, but let it once
become disseminated through the air Of
room in the form of almost impalpable
powder, and it is likely to ex-
plode at any moment with terrific vlo-
lence. I am not scientific man enoush
to give the reason for this, but F"ow
that ike many other substances :;@cnn-
less when in mass, -four dust, when nns-
ly divided and confined, is one OF the
mcst terrible agents Of destruction IN
existence. While visiting Minneapolis
to attend g milie-s' eonvent!' IN 1868,
I witnessed casualty which shall neVsr
forget.
"a large party of members OF the con-
vertion were making tour OF the mills,
ard great pains had been taken to put
every thing in the best order for their re-
ception. A number OF the visitors had
entered the Washburn mill and were
walking around looking at the machine
ry. Just before their arrival number
of men had been set to work with brooms
sweeping the floors and carefully brush
ing the dust out the of corners. AS aeon
sequence the rooms we're filed with
minute particles of the fine dust which
came from the stones, the air being
fairly laden with it. I CHANGED to be
with another party, and just as we passed
into the street, We heard sharp explo-
sion. instantly followed by long, rum
bling noise, ending in a peal Like a
thousand claps of thunder. and those
with me we're thrown to the ground
with violence and partially stunned.
When I recovered somewhat and stag
gered to my feet I saw in place
Of the great Washburn mills a heap OF
ruins, the walls being torn IN pieces and
huge irregular hole being made
in the ground. All the neighboring
buildings were more or less injured,
some having half their walls torn
out, while there was not whole pane OF
glass within $50 yards. The noise of the
explosion summoned the fire department
and the confagration which started up
was at once checked. But the loss OF
life was terrible. Eleven mill proprie-
tors and over forty workmen, who
chanced to be in the mill at the time, were
instantly killed, in some cases their
bodies being torn to pieces SO as to rem
| der recognition impossible, while over a
dozen men we're wounded by flying
fragments, some of them fatally. 1t was
one of the most dangerous explosions
ever known.
cat first it was ascribeG 70 the boilers:
| on investigation it was fonld :hat these
were uninjured> Much testimony. was
taken before the coroner's jury, and the
responsibility fixed upon the -four dust.
| It appeared that just before the sweeping
commenced all the windows in the mill
had been closed, so that the particles
were closely confined in the building
AS one said, the air was white with -four,
in highly divided condition. Both
testimony and experiment proved that
an explosion may occur at any instant
when these conditions prevail. Fire !:
| not necessary; in fact 1t is
| doubtful whether fame alone vii
cause the dust to explode, it going of
much more readily BY percussion. Nc
| one was lett alive IN the room where the
disaster commenced, but probably g
workman dropped an iron bar or ham:
mer; or it may even have been occasioned
by q violent stamp OF a foot.