The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-07-17
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION
OF the Awful Powder Explosion
at Kings Mills Tuesday.
TWELVE KILLED MANY HURT
sumo Fatally An tt,..H itnsss Tells
Thrilling Story OF the Terrible
Catastrophc-ffs Never Wants
to Witness the fIik" tgain.

CINCINNATI, O, July 10 Following
'sa list Of killed at the explosion yt..
erday at Kings Mills: ,ss7' W.
Mrs. James Deacon, Henry Reynoldt,
Samuel Stephens. Mrs. James Moss and
"hlld, Mrs. Fred. Keller and child, Wm.
franey brakeman; Ralph Williams,
BABY Etatine, Nick Snyder and an ul-
known man,
Following are the injured:
l.. Behr, employed In Shell factory.
lost right arm; Ernst Collins. tkaii
crushed, will die; Mrs John Schneider,
scalp wound; Fred. Keller, severely
bruised about the body; John Mlang,
bruised about the face, will lose both
ayes; Mrs Ben. Dowden, severely
6urned; Mrs: Elstine, internal Injuries.
she will not live: Operator Hunt, scalp
wound; Harry Smith, Frank Hunt, Miss
AMMO Schneider, Miss Cailam, Miss
Maggie Hutchinson and sister,
MID. .. Proctor, a well.known resi-
dent Of Columbus, arrived In tho civ
IN the delayed Pennsylvania train a,
midnight. He was an eye witness to the
terrible affair and gave very vivid NO
count OF the explosion. The gentleman
was still suffering from tho effects OF his
terrible experience, and trembled visibly
when talking.
THE ACCIDENT DESCRIBED.
II hardly know how lean describe
the awful occurrence. am still darsd
from the effects Of the shock. Twas
visiting a friend near King Mills and
during the afternoon sauntered up tho
road to the cartridge factory. inspect-
ed it thoroughly. When the freight
rain came along started toward NV
Trends house. 0a reaching the top Of
the hill, 3! turned around just Us the
freight train was making running
switch to the side truck. Asf looked, /
'aw two detached cara bump against
what supposed was an empty car on
tte slde truck. An instant later there
Sas rnmbling noise and then the very
ground beneath me seemed to open, I
saw apuff Of smoke, followed u second
Ialer by another and the cars disappear
I'd. The station aud powder house and
iweliing seemed to follow aud the work
ttdestruesion had only Just c,mtneac.
I'd. AL this occurred quicker than [
can relate it, and I stood rooted to the
SPOT. had an idea Of course OF what
had occurred. but could not realizs it.
AN AWFUL SCENE.
Dense volumes of flame and smoke
came pouring from the doors and win
dows Of the cartridge factory, and I saw
men, women and children tearing at
Zach other in their endrayors to escape.
The explosion aud the fire at the cart
ridge house seemed to be simultaneous.
The building did not catch on FIRE in nm
ordinary way, but the flames seemed to
penetrate the doors and windows from
al sides. | saw number OF women
come ont, but some certainly persisted
in the h4mes. A dwelling house below
the cartridge house was blown from its
foundations and dashed to the ground.
In this building mother and child lost
their lives. The scene was one Of the
awtulest ever witnessed. The railroad
tracks were twisted and torn like so
much paper and the telegraph poles and
wires We're burned like 40 much finder
A carload Of coal about sixty feet dis.
tant caught fire and burned up. We cot
TO work as soon as possible, and know
We got fully dozen women from the
powder house. There was not one hut
was injured or bruised. They seemed
to be obvious Of the surroundings. and
l don't believe they realized what had
occurred. To add to the terrible scene
there was constant snapping OF the
and the rescuers were in dan.
ger Of being killed at any time. don't
another such experience as long as |
live, and l hope may never again be-
an eyewitness to such catastrophe"