Brookings County sentinel. (Brookings, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1890, 1889-09-13
Over 400 People Killed and 500
Injured by an Explosion I'm
an Antwerp Factory.
One Hundred and Thirty Bodies and
an Immense Pile of Human Frag.
ments Gathered Up.
The Scene That Ensues Beyond Parallel
in History, Except in the Big
Chicago Fire.
Explosion After Explosion Of Cartridges and
Oil Tanks Resemble Battle Of Giants

ANTWERP, Sept. GA large quantity
of cartridges exploded Friday in the
cartridge warehouse of NJ. Corvilain, de-
molishing The building and setting
large petroleum factory adjoining afire.
The warehouses were in the vicinity of
the Bourse and the
Loss Of Life Was Terrible.
How many were killed will never be
known, as many bodies were blown into
fragments. One hundred and thirty
corpses were gathered in the morgue, and
an immense pile of mangled and undis-
tinguishable remains. At the moment of
the explosion and the outbreak
of the fire many wOrkmen on the docks
jumped into the Scheldt and were
drowned. 1t is estimated that 1000
tons of cartridges exploded. The report
of the explosion was heard thirty miles,
and the volume of smoke arising ex-
ceeded that of any of Europes greatest
battles. Heads, legs, arms and other
fragments of human bodies were found
half mile distant from the scene Of the
explosion.
130 WHOLE CORPSES
were taken to the m0rgue and charred
heaps of human flesh and bones, repre-
senting an unknown quantity of human
ity, are also piled in the dead houses.
THE CATASTROPHE
took place in a powder magazine belong
ing to NJ. Coryilain, merchant who had
recently purchased 100000 Of old
cartridges, intending to sell the powder.
His work people, over. 100 in number,
more than half Of them being women,
were &C ;upied in the task of opening
these cartridges when the explosion took
place. TO what it was due, there is very
little hope of discovering, for of NJ. Cor
villains employees
NOT ONE HAS BEEN FOUND ALIVE.
in fact not a single corpse has been
found intact. 1t was not only in the
Corvilain factory that lives were lost. A
large number of persons were also more
or less severely wounded by pieces of
glass, and the roofs of several houses
fell in. For a great distance all around
was strewn with cartridges and debris of
all kinds. A few minutes after the ex-
plosion vast sheet of flame leaped into
the sky, and it was seen that petroleum
warehouse, not far from the magazine
was on fire. Even in broad daylight,
the blaze of 5000 barrels of petroleum
on fire was
VISIBLE AT BRUSSELS,
a distance of over thirty miles. Then
Maison Hydraulique, of Antwerp, which
furnishes the motive power for all the
cranes and other machines of the port,
suddenly gave way and became heap
of ruins. In the streets everywhere were
wounded persons, and at frequent inter-
walls one came across parts of the human
frame, such as legs and arms. The spec
tacle is terribly superb, and nothing
in recent history can compare with
it, save the scene which Paris pre-
sented during the last days Of the Conn
mune, and the great fire in Chicago.
The continuous noise Of exploding bar
rels of oil and falling ruins os buildings,
together with the roaring and cracking
of the flames, exactly resembled the
sound of a fiercely contested battle. The
river banks, out of the reach Of tho
flames, are covered with men, women,
and children who,
RENDERED DESTITUTE AND HOMELESS,
are camping out and taking most des-
perate chances of obtaining food. The
efforts of the fremen were greatly i'm.
peded by the scarcity of water, resulting
from the destruction by fire of three.
fourths of the entire system of water
works, which were Of comparatively re-
cent construction and cost $400, 900. g..
1t was not until Sunday that the
efforts of the firemen to subdue the
flames were of any avail. The losses Of
property resulting from the explosion
are appalling. The petroleum stores
were all destroyed. The sheds used in
storing the oil were consumed. The
hydraulic pumps and all the buildings
in the district were destroyed. Oil tank
after oil tank exploded and ell are
in tho ruins. A dense mass of
smoke still rises from the burned quar-
ter and hangs like pail over the whole
city. The flames have, however, been
subdued and the efforts of the firemen
and the troops to prevent their spread
have been successful. The ruins OF the
burded buildings are still too hot to
admit of much effective work toward
recovering the bodies of the dead, but
enough has been gathered by the brave
explorers among the smoking ruins to
make it certain that the death list
WILL NOT FALL SHORT OF 200,
IT, indeed it does not LARGELY exceed