The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-12-04

At 5:15 Monday afternoon at the mine O.
the COrunna Coal Co. occurred an explosion
of so pounds of dynamite that carried witt
it death and destruction. The shock Of the
explosion was felt for miles around. Many
people thought an earthquake had occurred
The diagram above will give an idea OF the
location of the buildings. The boiler anc
engine house was 32xS0 feet. In the boiler
room were two boilers one 40 and the Other
SO horse power. On the west side OF the
large boiler was cupboard used for storing
dynamite to keep it warm enough for use.
On one shelf in the cupboard were num-
Der of caps, fuses, etc, left there carlessly
by some of the miners. At o'clock the
engineer, Henry Henderson, raked out tile
fire from the boilers and left the building
for q pail of water to put the. fire out with.
When he returned he discovered the cup
board containing the deadly explosive to be
fire. He was so frightened that he dropped
his pail of water and ran from the building,
neglecting even to warn the two men in the
other end of the building. When he had
gone about rs feet toward the Office the ex-
plosiOn occurred, wrecking the entire plant
and instantly killing Michael Gasbar, whose
forehead was crushed in, left arm and all
the ribs in his left side broken. The ex-
plosiOn shattered the % inch brick walls
one wall and into the 40 horse power boiler
causing 1t to explode. Of the two car loads
of lumber used to erect the building hardly
a whole board could be found. Some OF
them were splintered into thousands OF
pieces and were driven with terrific force
for hundreds of feet, one piece going through
the side of house 800 feet away. The
Office, about 10 feet square, lathed and plas-
tered, was completely riddled by boards,
iron bolts, etc., many pieces going entirely
through it. LIMBS of trees near the office
were also taken off almost as nicely as
though done by saw. Hundreds of feet of
steam and air pipe was torn from its position
and twisted into all shapes. The stack,
made of two old boilers bolted together
weighing about six tons, was completely
demolished, one piece OF it two by three feet
IN size was blown 225 feet. The ground in
every direction was covered with the pieces;
for many rods to the north and east shingles
and pieces of lumber formed carpet for the
earth. Such a scene of ruin was never be-
fore seen in the county.
Less than two minutes before the ex-
ploson Mr.. Tod Kincaid, owner of the
mine sat in the engine room talking to Geo.
McCrwa, of Chicago, agent of Whitcomb &
Co., who was there instructing the miners
how to run the compressor and 'irOn men,"
new machines put in to do the digging. As
he left the building he met Mr.. Gasbar, stop
ped and gave him little instruction as to
the work, stepped into his buggy and started
for home. Gasbar entered the room and sat
down on the keg from which Mr.. X. had
risen. The latter had gone but short dis
lance when the explosion occurred. He
hurried at once to where he had left the
men. Both of them were discovered near
the drum, covered with boards, fire having
already broken out over them and the first
work was to put it out. This was no easy task |
for Mr.. Kincaid, as there was no one near |
to help save gang of POlanders, who could |
not understand word of English. AS soon |
as the fire was extinguished the men were
pulled Out-Gasbar dead, McCrwa badly
bruised about the head and shoulders. The
wonder is that he was not instantly killed.
Mr.. Henderson was hit by two OF the Tying
boards, knocking him down twice. AT the
lime of the explosion two children stood
near the Office and miracuously escaped in
Jury, also one of the miners who was dip
ping water from a well just north OF the
,oiler room. How he escaped death is
mystery. His coat tail was completely filled
With splinters but not scratch on the man.
Just west of the building stood the tower,
Underneath the shaft. The damage done to