The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-07-18
DIRE EXPLOSION.
Havoc Created By Sixteen Tons
q Powder
Bodses Or Unfortunate Victims Blown to
Atoms-rerrIbIe Fire Raging-Many
sEOandeti-Great..@--s-
Confusion.

4 u II
CINCINNATI. July 16.-A terrible ex-
plosion occurred late yesterday after
Little Miami railroad twenty-eight
miles east of this city.by which at least
ten persons were killed and dozen or
more seriously injured. :
Two empty freight cars were being
rolled ON to- a side track where car
containing SOP kegs bf guupowder was
standing AS the cars struck there was
q terrific explosion and ipnnediately
af5srwardt an5ther car containing 800
kegs of gunpowder, making !, 500 kegs
altogether.
William ErauIyssa brakeman i'm the
service of the Little Miami road, was
t standing On one ofthe empty cars when
the explosion occurred. His body must
have been blown tosatQms,sas no trace
of it has been tpund< Five other per
sons, supposed to be employees of the
| powder company. were kn ed. 2
The Kings Powder Company and the
Peters cartridge works have works on
| both>sides. of theSriver along the rail-
road The-'explosion occurred on the
| south side and the destruction was
enormous. There are number of cot
tages occupied by workmen in the pow.
der factory situated close to the track:
/; These were scattered by the explosion
! and their inmates injured.
Twelve or fifteen girls at work in the
cartridge factory were crippled by the
explosion and the railway station, or
the freight house belonging to the Lit
tie Miami railroad. together with all the
adjacent buildings, were set on fire and
| totally consumed.
The havoc wrought by the explosion
| of these sixteen sztons- of .powder--was'
dreadful .The track and ties of the
railroad were fairly torn OUT of the
ground ehd great hole plowed< lin tho
= The Peters IEartridge r%faetery WIS
burned to the ground and nothing but
! mass Sqf blseksned. smolderings ruins
/ remaiH ~ SdnaFk the spot where the
building steod. ga
AS soon. IS thefhews reached this city,
about Eve O'CLOCK, a reliefasrain was
dispatchedsto. khessoene the disasters
with superintendent Peters and a
large party of surgeons on board and
relief was afforded the sufferers as soon
| as possible.
Kings Station is situated in Warren
County, along the Little NJ. ami rail-
road, which runs parallel with the
Little Miami river. The powder mills
belonging to the King Powder Company
are mostly situated on the opposite
side of the river, the nearest of
them being fully quarter of mile
from the scene of the wreck. Peters
cartridge factory is situated on the
southern side of the river and is in
rectangular frame building one story in
height. The railway has siding of its
own at Kings Station and the station
building itself is on the southern side
of the track. From the railway siding
another siding extends toward the
river directly up to the cartr dge
factory, for the especial use of which it
was built.
. On this track and quite close to the
cartridge factory freight car loaded
with 500 kegs of powder was standing.
Below this, at some little distance from
the cartridge factory, were two other
freight cars filed with soda ash, which is
used at the factory. A freight train,
drawing besides number of cars,
one containing 500 kegs of powder in
tended for the cartridge company was
running southwest along the main road
toward Cincinnati. A little distance
below Kings Station it uncoupled the
car filled with powder. instead of acting
in the usual manner and backing the
powder car together with the rest of the
freight train on the Peters siding. This
/ action saved the freight train from GER
tain destruction.
The powder car as an extra precau-
ton was then pushed on siding. The
car acquired considerable momentum as
| it rolled along the track, struck the two
cars filed with soda ash driving them
| again st the other car loaded with
powder. All this passed in an instant
The moment the cars crashed against
each other there rose a terrible roar and
the air was filled with flying fragments.
Both cars of powder exploded simultan-
eously. doing fearful damage.
The freight train which had so provi-
dentially taken its stand over 800 feet
from the explosion was seriously dam
aged by flying debris
The latest advices are that ten per-
sons, mostly railway employees, have
been killed, and thirty or forty of the
mill employees wounded.
The loss of property by the explosion
was about $50, 600. The time of its &C.
currence was between four and five
o'clock. But every thing around the
place is on fire and at midnight the
flames seemed to be gaining on the hun
dreds of people who are fighting them.
The dry weather rendered every thing
highly combustible. Grass and trees
/ and fences were burning at mid
night and the smoke was sitting. The
people are dazed and seemed to show
but little feeling over the loss .Of-life
and they were also too busy fighting the
flames and too much confused to give
1.-THE number and the names of the dead
and wounded. AS to the cause of the
explosion very one is in donbt.
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CIippIness f{sss