Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-05-31

ana wounded in Il breath, as We're in
an. one OF half the battles of the war.
Al'ef the thing occurred it began to
seem wonderful, to those who reelected
upon the situation, that sometime of
TIe Mna had never happened before.
:, ne alscharsing OF ammunition at CITY
lolh1 was thing Of frequent occur
| renee and, as this accident showed.
mere was good deal of carelessness
about 1T. This affair might have hap
Peheo twenty times before. I don't
1now.but [ suppose that after that
Jay thlngs We're arranged so that il
could not occur again.
1here We're two river steamboats, side
by side at the dock, loaded with am
mnnltlon for the whole army. I don't
suppose anybody could tell now what
was the exact quantity, or of how
many kinds it was. 1t is known that
there was great quantity Of powder
IN packages, and different kinds Of
shells. From many of the wounds
made in mems heads and bodies OF the
lying missiles, l should suppose that
all kinds were there that are used in
action. The ammunition was being
unloaded from the outer boat over the
other, and deposited in the great store
house, when the shock came.
My two comrades and myself were
more than q quarter of mile off, back
toward headquarters, when it hap
pened. l remember we'll how it sound
ed. First there was succession of
rafting bursts, which suppose was
~
mighty roar, as the great cargoes Of
explosives went Off and up all together.
Never have heard such noise, before
nor since! saw mule team ahead
of lis struck by something and instant
ly killed; the whole heavens were dark
ened by u great thick cloud of black
smoke that rose from the river. with
everything-who could tell what?-hy-
ing through it. Our mules turned
about and dashed off the other way
great deal faster than they had ever
travelled before.
1t took several minutes for the smoke
to drift off so that those who had es-
capped could see the extent of the disas-
ter and tell what to do. We stopped
our mules and went down to the water.
General Grant was on hand as soon as
anybody, and pressed every man who
was unhurt into the business of bring
ing the wounded together and trying to
| relieve them. Somebody raised the cry
that the ground was all mined, and an
other explosion likely to happen; but
Grant promptly stopped that scare,
which might have caused small panic
if it had been allowed to spread.
Oh, the horrible sights that we saw
in the next hour!-the dreadful mutt
lations of poor soldiers! Many q body
did 1 see the surgeons briefly examine
and pass, with the words, Nothing can
be done for him." I thought the condi-
ton Of those who had been torn to frag,
ments was preferable.
Glow did this shocking thing hap
pen? Who was to blame?" the reader
will ask. To this day no man has pos.
itively answered those questions.
To be sure, have read sensational
] accounts of clock-work internal ma
chimes being struggled aboard one Of
these boats by disguised Confederates
who escaped in time; but I think all
that is mere fiction. While nobody
knows anything about it-for the mer
who could tell were hurried into anoth.
er world-it is the mutual supposition
that one of the men dropped percus
sion-shell, the explosion of which first
ignited the powder and then blew W
the whole load
But think of the magnitude of war
in the course of which such an event as
this could happen, and not be mentioned
in history.
| Adventure with q Maniac.