Los Angeles herald., 1890-07-16
BLOWN TO ATOMS.
Terrible Explosion of Gun
Powder.
Thirteen Hundred Kegs Set Off
at Once.
Ten Persons Killed and Score or
More Injured.
Large Cartridge Factory Burned to the
Ground and Powder Works and
Residences Shattered.
Associated Press DISPATCHES |

CINCINNATI, July ia terrible ex-
plosion occurred late this afternoon at
M. Kings powder mills, on the Little
Miami railroad, twenty-nine miles east
of this city. Ten persons are known to
have been killed and twenty or forty
more or less severely injured. Two
empty freight cars we're being rolled
into side track, where car containing
500 kegs of powder was standing. As
the cars struck there was an explosion,
and Immediately after another car, con-
tanning 800 kegs of powder, exploded,
making 300 kegs altogether. William
Frauly, brakeman, was standing on
one of the empty cars when the explo-
sion occurred. No trace of his body has
been found. Five other persons, sup
posed to be employees of the powder
company, were killed. The Kings
Powder Company and Peters cartridge
works have buildings On both sides of
the river along the railroad. The explo-
sion occurred on the south side, and the
destruction was enormous. There
are number of cottages occupied
by workmen in the powder works
situated close to the track these
were shattered by the explosion, and
their inmates injured. Twelve or fifteen
girls atwork in the cartridge factory were
crippled by the explosion. A railway
freight house belonging to the Little
Miami railroad, together with all the
adjacent buildings, was set on fire and
totally consumed. The tracks and ties
of the railroad were torn up, and great
hole ploughed in the ground. The Pc
ters cartridge factory was burned to the
ground, an nothing but mass of
blackened, smoldering ruins remains to
mark the spot where the building stood.
AS soon as the news reached this city a
relief train was dispatched to the scene
Of the disaster, with Superintendent Pc
ters and a large party of surgeons ON
board, and relief was afforded the suffer-
ers as soon as possible. The work of
searching for the missing and caring for
the wounded is progressing.
Terrible Destruction.
The force of the explosion demolished
all the wires in the vicinity, and it was
impossible to get any news from there
until midnight, when a delayed Pan
Handle train arrived. Even then the
passengers could not say much, as every
thing about Kings mills was in too de-
moralized condition when they left to
learn much about the actual state of af
fairs. They describe the scene in the
vicinity of the explosion as awful.
Fences, trees and buildings for hundreds
of feet in all directions from the explo-
sion were wrecked. The Peters cartridge
factory was literally demolished by the
explosion, and fire from it's combustible
contents completed the work of destruc-
tion. About thirty girls are thought to
have been at work in the factory at the
time of the explosion, and most of them
are thought to be badly hurt. The pas
sengers who arrived on the train say ten
persons were killed, and that it is posi-
BILE more bodies are in the debris.
The Flames Still Raging.
l a. ma messenger Of Adams's Ex
press Company, just arrived from the
scene, says when he passed Kings Mill
station, at II p. M, it was bright as day
all around. Everything combustible
was burning, and the people everywhere
for a great distance around were fighting
the fire. The rOadmaster of the Little
Miami road had information that there
were three families living in the little
cottages near the place of the explosion,
and that six hours diligent search had
failed to find any trace of them. He
said, furthermore, all was confusion
there, and such thing as ascertaining
the names of the victim swas next to an
impossibility. An incident related by
him was that eight or ten girls in the
cartridge factory saved themselves from
the flames by catching hold of rope
that happened to hang from the house to
the ground, and sliding down. His story
is that more than ten were killed.