The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-21
NOT so BAD AFTER ALL
Three Of tho -Four Boys Injured BY Giant
Powder arc Recovering.
Connie Murphy. the Worst Injured
May Also Survive His Injuries
Tales OF the Accident 10
Told by the Boys.

by tut nilidb y obttt
BUTTE, July 2O.-A representative OF the
STANDARD went TO Dublin gulch this af-
noon and did all that could be lone TO
learn the full particulars of last nights
explosion. The house of Connie Murphy,
the worst injured of the four boys, was
first found. The mother is in the great
est possible distress. She il unable to
stay in the house, but remain outdoors
with her youngest child nearly all the
time. To any inquiries that are put to
her, she il only able to answer: 1.-The
dear child hadn't beef one more than
half an hour. When they brought him in !
first saw the bloodand couldn't stand any
more"
Several neighbors were in doing what
they could To assist in caring for the in
jured boy. The reporter was invited to
see the little sufferer and entered the
room for "a moment. Comics burned
face, with the exception Of his nose and
mouth, wa entirely covered with poul-
tees lie was sleeping ut the time and
breathing heavily, as NJ under the iniiu-
ence of some sedative. Although much
quieter now, he Is said to " been some
what delcrious to-day and several
f fro% the bed. The lad IS
not so old as was rumored
last night. Instead of IA he will not be
nine until * April. During Tho day
Connie is said to have been able to talk a
little and quite nationally. He admitted
having been holding the powder in his
right hand when il vent oil. DIR. Cooper
is the attending surgeol. While DIR. Muir
ray was the first doctor on the scene of
the disaster, DIR. Cooper, as the family
physician, Immediately assumed care of
the case. About 2 o'clock this morning
DIR. Cooper, assisted by DIR. Witherspoon,
administered chloroform to the little fellow
and amputated his right arm just above
the wrist. DIR. Cooper said this evening
that the boy would probably pull through
all right. One eye was not seriously in
jured n there was a good chance OF saw
ing the other. The fact that the boy had
no fever was an encouraging symptom.
After leaving the Murphy home the re-
porter next called at the house of Morris
Callahan and inquired after Johnny.
The little fellow was able to answer
for himself I'M is not as badly injured as
was at first supposed. He was naturally
considerably frightened and has been re-
covering from that by lying a-bed all day.
When the reporter called, however, he
was scampering around the room in a
manner very little suggestive of a badly
blown up boy. Johnny's ace below the
eyes is peppered full of powder and is
much swollen. His eyes have escaped all
right, and beyond the facial Disagreement
he has sustained no injury. He was quite
painfully conscious of the fact that he
had not improved his personal appear
ance through his mining experiments and
kept hiding his face behind his mothers
chair.
Johnny was not much inclined to talk
but said that abou 10 minute before the
accident the boys called him over to have
some fun. Connie Murphy had the pow
der when he got there. Jack Lcary set
the fuse on fire and then ran away. As
the powder did not 20 of Connie thought
the fuse had gone out went to see
about il when the powder suddenly cx-
ploded. Johnnie thought Connie did not
have any powder in his hand at the time
but he was not at all sure. Indeed, SO
frightened out of recollection were the
boys, that there would be as many differ
ent stories as boys, IL Connie were able to
tell any story at all. Each N Of the
three tells a story that does not gibe with
the others.
After making an unsuccessful attempt
to interview the Leary boy, who escaped
unhurt, the reporter next called at the
home of Dan Murphy, whose two boys,
Pat n Dan, were reported badly in
jured about their face and eyes. III the
Callahan boy, they were both up and
about the house. Dannie, the younger, is
only five years old. His right eye is
slightly Scared and swollen but not
enough To endangcr the sight AT all. Be
You'd a few speckles of powder upon his
checks, chin and nose, he has no further
injuries. Patsy, the elder of the two, con-
trary To reports, his eyes are all right. but
his left ear has been quite painfully
burned. Like his little brother, he carries
AROUND "A somewhat speckled face.
Patsy contributed n little information
towards solving the question where the
boys found the powder. He said that
they had found the powder In a shanty
near IA shaft some distance west Of the
place where they set il oil. Ii Was in n
box inside the shanty. As Patsy remem-
bercd il, Cpnnie had The stick of powder
which went of i'm his hand. He Thought
the fuse had gone out and was looking at
the powder when IL went oil. He did not
think Jack Leary liz the fuse. Jack
Leary was way OIL"
The giant powder was not thrown into
a prospecting hole and there exploded. IL
was exploded only n few rods away from
Dan Murphy's on the open hillside. Three
stumps in a row mark the location. Not
over ten yards away is "a house, which es-
capped somewhat miraculously from being
blown up with h boys. No one seems
to know just how the boys got the powder,
hut II is commonly believed that they had
taken il sometime before. The boys are
supposed To have set Oft two sticks yester-
day morning, as two u~naccountable ex-
plosions were then heard. The explo-
sion of last night is thought To have been
the last of the three sticks.