, 1890-09-11

1nOHueu ana DeHPeu plteOusly w De
allowed to go In and see him.
BY s o'clock several hundred peo-
pile were OH the ground, and Ii was
with great difficulty that the police
kept the crowd back. All the bodies
removed were frightfully mangled,
the faces being SO badly lacerated as
to DC unrecognizable.
SOME INTERVIEWS.
How the Accident Occurred and the
Probable Cause.
A. l.. Thomas, the man who pre-
pared the blasts, was interviewed.
He said: ''I was at the blacksmith
shop upon the hill when the blast
exploded, and knew 1t was pre-
mature explosion, for 1t was not yet
o'clock, and the men had not left
the cut. They always leave at 8
and then the blasts are set off, 30 no
accident will occur. l had passed
by the place where the accident ac-
cident occurred only few
minutes before and saw the
men at work. There must have
been about forty or fifty men at
work. i had drilled the two holes
for the blast. They were sixteen
feet deep in n solid rock formation.
After the explosion l saw that the
rock had been torn to atoms for
from six to eight feet beyond the
holes, which were about twelve feet
from the cut. These two holes
were fifteen feet apart. The effect
of the blast was to tear away solid
rock fifteen feet in width. about six
ty feet In length and sixteen feet
deep, and it broke this rock up
into little atoms. This will give
some idea of the force of the dyna-
mite. 1t IL customary to use full
100 pound box of giant powder or
dynamite In each drill hole, and as
there were two holes 200 pounds
were used. / heard that there were
two extra boxes of powder on the
hill, which was also exploded, but i
do not believe it,"
A HORRIBLE SIGHT.
Councilman Notbohm. who hap
pened to be one of the first men at
the scene after the accident, said,
"The explosion occurred between
$3.50 and 8:45 o'clock. The noise at
tracted my attention, and on look
ing from the hill where j stood
saw n cloud of dust, smoke, and
rocks, and when 1t cleared
away saw men running in
all directions; some were groaning
and others crying with pain. Their
faces were blackened and many of
them were bleeding, and their
clothes torn to rags. Rushing to
the scene beheld the most horrible
sight of my life. 1t looked like "a
battle field with dead men lying
around, broken carts and mangled
horses. L helped to carry Off five
dead men before the crowd got there
and began to dig. Most of these
men were terribly disfgured and
their bones badly broken. One of
the first men 1 saw after the smoke
cleared away was n poor fellow run
ming with his left arm all shattered
and hanging limp as rag. He was
put into a buggy and taken to the
hospital"
FOREMAN BOLTS ACCOUNT.
General Foreman Charles Bolt,
when seen by REVIEW reporter,
stated that when the explosion oc-
CURED he was some distance away
from 1t. ''I had five men Mt work
loading the hole, and went to see
how they were getting on; and
finding everything all right,
walked over to another hole,
some eighty rods distance, and after
telling the man there what to do,
turned around and was on the point
of going back again when the ex-
plosion took place.
81 have no idea what caused the
explosion, unless the men were
tamping 1t too hard, and
if that was the case
1t would just as likely as not cause
a premature explosion. If / had
not been satisfied that everything
was all right would not have left it
as did"
ONE OF THE INJURED.
John Rhue, one of the in.
jured men, was seen at the
hospital and said that just
before the explosion occurred he
WAS ut work in the center of the cut,
and, as near as he could Judge, the
hole had been charged with 35C
pounds of giant powder. "rhe man
could not have been attending to
his business" said Mr.. Rhue, "or
else he tamped the powder too hard.
] heard the explosion, and started
to put on my coat and run away,
when ! was struck, as you see.
kneY nothing more until | awoke
and found myself here"
ANOTHER FoREMAN's OPINION.
Garret Warson, a sub-foreman,
said ~ was in charge of gang OF
men about $50 feet distant from
where the explosion occurred.
had been watching the men
who were preparing the
blast, and thinking it was
nearly time to set them off !
looked at my watch. 1t was TWEEN.
! ty minutes of six O'Clock. At that
instant / heard the explosion. /
looked and saw the rocks raise In
the air, two Of the men going up
several feet. We all ran over. One