The morning call., 1890-10-08
A COMPLETE WRECK.
Terrific Powder Works Ezplo-
sion in Delaware.
Twelve Persons Known to Have Been
Killed, and Others Injured.
Many Buildings Demolished and Fifty Fam
lilies Rendered Homeless Seven or
Eight Mills Destroyed.
Special to The MORNING CALL

WILMINGTON Del). Oct. An explosion
of powder occurred at the Duponts' powder
works, Dupont Del, this afternoon. The
mills are seven miles from this city. One
of the magazines went off first and the roll
ing and drying mills near by, set off by
the concussioh. followed in rapid succession.
There were at least seven distinct, success
sive explosions. Every dwelling in the
neighborhood is reported wrecked, unroofed
or more or less damaged. Telephone in
explosion was distinctly heard in that
section. Ten persons killed and twenty
wounded.
Rockland is complete wreck. None of
its houses are left standing Rock land is a
village on the Brandywine, fully a mile
above the scene of the explosion. 1t COM
prises large paper-mill, owned by the Jes-
sup & Moore Company, and about fifty
dwellings, in which chiefly reside the mill
employees. Its population is about 200. The
evidence of destruction at that distance
leads to the belief here that the number
Of killed and wounded has notyet been fully
ascertained.
When an Associated Press representative
arrived on the scene he found women ard
children, wives, sons and daughters OF the
men employed in the powder mandatory.
madly rushing here and there, seeking in
formation about the safety of their loved
ones. The yard in which the mills stood
was Uttered with debris of the
fallen buildings, and at some places
where buildings had been the only
traces left were empty cellars and few
foundation stones. The little village of Du-
pont and the banks Immediately outside
the powder-yard presented a most pitiable
appearance. A hundred dwellings were
either demolished or badly damaged. Build
ings were unroofed, the fronts of houses
blown out and wrecked. Inside the dwell
ings the devastation was complete. The
rooms on the ground floors were strewn
with broken crockery, crushed stoves. rem
nants of tables, etc.
The Dupont Powder Mills extend along
the Brandywine, chiefly on the west bank
and close to the water for about two miles.
They are divided into the upper (Hagley)
and lower yards. The former is three
miles and the latter five miles from Will
mington. The report of the damage done
at Rockland proves incorrect as to
locality, the name of Rockland be-
ing enormously used for buildings
clustered around what is known locally as
the upper yard" There are some fifty
houses inhabited by employees of powder
mills clustered here, and these were all
wrecked. The damage to property cannot
be thoroughly estimated tonight. The
force of the conclusion even broke windows
in some parts of Wilmington, four or five
miles away. Following is a partial list of
killed:
KILLED AND INJURED.
JOHN DIETz,
WILLIAM DENNISON,
MARTIN DOLAN,
JAMES DOLAN,
PATRICK DOUGHERTY,
ROSE DOUGHERTY,
WILLIAM GREEN,
JOHN HURLIKE,
THOMAS HURLIKE,
JOHN MARTYGAN,
WILLIAM MCCARTNEY.
JOHN NEWALL.
Several others are missing.
The more seriously injured, as far as
learned, are:
Daniel Harkins, William Logan, Annie
and Marie DUlan, James Ward, Hugh Ferry,
John McDougall, Mrs. William Mcdowell,
her two-year-old daughter and Lydia An
derson, Andrew Godfrey, Frank Hollis,
John MeCaffrey, Charles Godfrey, Thomas
L. DougheIty. Several OF the injured will
die.
The office of the Dupont Company is
complete wreck and six mills are in ruins.
Several members Of the Dupont firm were
injured by falling walls and broken glass,
but none OF them seriously. The dead were
all employees of the company aad were in
and about the mills that exploded. Several
workmen are missing and are believed to
have been blown into fragments.
The first explosion occurred in one of the
packing mills where workman named Gran
was receiving can of heXagonal powder to
be slipped Tor the use Of the United States
Government. In some way spark was
communicated to the can and it blew up.
Instantly the packing mill exploded and the
other mills in the upper yards. sever or eight
in number followed at intervals of less then
one second. All of these except one were
"rolling-mllls," in which the ingredients OF
gunpowder are pulverized by vertical rollers
of stone, turning slowly around center
post.
Immediately after the explosion large
building, known as the Refinery loca ted
near the center of the village, took fire.
1t was a matter of life and death
to the whole population that the fire should
be extinguished before it communicated
with the powder the building contained.
The Dupont Fire Brigade succeeded in ex-
tinguishing the flames. Had the roof fallen
in it is doubtful if any man, woman or child
in the vicinity would have escaped death or
serious injury. About fifty families are rem
dered homeless by the disaster.
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. THE shock of
the explosion at Wilmington this afternoon
was plainly felt in many sections of this
city. The shock was also felt at Millville,
n. j., Chester, Penn, aud other points
thirty to thirty-five miles distant
SsThe estimated loss cannot be less than
$500 600.