Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-10-08
BLOWN TO ATOMS
Terrible Explosion at the
 Dupont Powder Mills
NEAR WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
Twelve Persons Killed and Number of
 Others More or Less Injured.

Many Houses Wrecked By the Explosions
 That Were Felt In Three stntes-The
 Disaster Caused By a Workman Who
 Was Soldering Up Cans of Powder.
 Some of the Victims Blown to Pieces.
 WILMINGTON, Del. Oct. s.-A terrific ex- plosion resulting in the loss of twelve lives, the injurinG of many people and the destruction of much property oc- cured yesterday afternoon in the upper yard of the extensive powder works of E. I. Dupont, De Nemours S Co.,, on Brandywine Creek, three miles north of this city. The shock was keenly felt here and caused intense ex- citement. Buildings trembled and windows were demolished.
 Areporter who left here for the scene of the disaster says that as he reached the Mount Salem Methodist Church, A mile from the city, he saw broken frames in the church windows and other evidences of destruction.
 Following a curve In the road, he beheld an appalling spectacle. Women and children, wives and sons and daughters of mon employed in the powder manufacto-y were madly rushing here and there seeking infor- nation about their loved ones.
 The yard in which the mills stood was filtered with debris of fallen buildings, and at some places where 6 buildings had been the only trace left was empty cellars.
 The little village of Dupont's Banks, immediately outside the powder yard, A hundred dwellings were either de- molished or badly damaged. Buildings were unroofed, fronts of houses were blown out and wrecked. Inside the dwellings the devastation was complete.
 The soda mill, large stone building about 200 yards from the magazines, is wrecked, the roof of the charcoal mills fell, and the buildings themselves took fire from the furnaces. Effective use of the fire apparatus at the works soon extinguished the fires.
 Where the corning and packing house stood there are holes in the ground ten feet deep.
 The large storage magazine con tain ing several tons of powder and built of corrugated iron is situated about a quarter of a mile from the wrecked | mills, it with another smaller mill es- capped; also the glazing room and press room.
 Four of the Duponts and several clerks were in the office when the ex- plosion took place. Every window wac blown out and much of the plsstering fell from the walls, but beyond l scratches, cuts and bruises no one was hurt.
 | the yard were killed while their driver | escaped.
 William R. Green was working in | the magazine when that blew up first. He was packing powder for the Govern . ment. It is supposed that his solder | ing iron became hot and ignited the | powder.
 There were at least seven successive | explosions. Every dwelling in the and buildings within radius of half | Q mile are more or less damaged. The little town of Rookland is @ | complete wreck. None of its houses are left standing. Rockland is e will 1age on the Brandywine, Q mile above the scene of the explosion. It com | prised large paper mill owned by the Jesup & Moore Company, and about | fifty dwellings, in which chiefly resided the mill employees. Its population is about two hundred.
 About fifty families are rendered homeless there.
 The injured are being gathered into the hospital building appertaining to the works, and are receiving such aid as they need.
 Some of the killed were blown to pieces.
 The list of dead, so far reported, is as follows:
 Wm s. Green, a solderer, aged 40, leaves a widow and four children, His body was found whole but so badly blaokened as to be barely recognizable. William McGarvey, laborer, aged 40, single, head blown of; Martin Dolan, aged 65, employed in the graining mill, leaves family; Jim Dolan, a laborer, aged 60, single; John H. Harrigan, laborer, married, aged 50; Michael Harrigan, laborer; Patrick Dougherty, aged 30, single;>John Newell, laborer, aged 30, leaves a family; John Her line, laborer; Michael Herlihe, laborer; Mrs. Rosie Dougherty, aged 80, found crushed by the roof of her house. | It is estimated that between seven and ten tons of powder were exploded, some reports say two or three times that much. The total loss will be from k200, 900 to $500,00O The company is rich and will begin to rebuild at once.