St. Paul daily globe., 1892-04-19
Their Remains Gathered in
Small Pieces by Surviv-
ing Comrades.
The Surrounding Country
Shaken for Miles From
the Scene.
Two Women and Six Children
Killed in a Wild Rush in
England.

I
after o'clock this afternoon and seven
men were blown to atoms. The killed
| are:
j. D. SMITH, superintendent Of the works
JACOB CARLSON,
WILLIAM PIERCE,
JAMES VAGH,
| A JOHNSON,
GODFREY WATER,
| unknown SwEDE.
Besides these. two men were injured, one
| of whom. Benjamin Cashmere. Will probably
| die.
The works of the company conslste d
of a number of small buildings scat
tered at distance OF about 500 feet from
each other. The nitro-glycerine mill
was the first building to go up, and the
! shock of this explosion caused six other
| buildings 10 be rent asunder by their
dangerous contents. The report was
terrific, and was heard in the surround
ing country for many miles. Buildings
in the vicinity rocked as il on stormy
sea, and in some instances appeared as
about to toppla over. The startled resi-
dents rushed from their homes. and
saw a cloud of dust and smoke flying
through the air near the lower part of
the company's works.
Flying From Danger.
They knew instinctively what had
happened and ran for the mountain
side,. fearful that some of the large
storage houses Of the company, in
which there were tons of the highest
and deadhest explosives, might 20 up
at any moment. When several minutes
had passed without their fears being
realized, the people cautiously advanced
to the scene The wreckage was found
to be on fire and burning rapidly, The
most timd of the people, seeing in this
a new danger, there being possibility
that the flames might spread to the
storage houses, fed; others, however,
ran out the company's fire apparatus
and water from the lake was used to
fight the fire. In a short time the
flames were under control, and then
the.wreckage scattered about was over
hauled for the purpose Of finding the
men who mad been at work III the
buildings.
Within few minutes two men were |
found, both badly injured. The rol/of |
the company'S employees was then called |
and it was found that seven men were |
missing. These men were undoubtedly |
dead and search was begun for their |
bodies. The searchers were mostly old |
employees of the company and knew |
that in case like the present 1t was |
useless to search among the ruins that |
still remained where the building had |
stood. They found pieces of flesh and |
bones scattered over several acres of |
ground. After several hours work the |
searchers had succeeded in gathering |
about $50 pounds of mangled flesh and |
bone. which is all that remains Of the |
dead men.
MOI Cause KNOWN.
What caused the explosion will never |
be known. Most of the buildings were |
used in the mixing process. and only |
one man was employed in each. The
other buildings. which stand further
away from the lake on the side of the
mountain, are used for the storage OF |
dynamite, nitro glycerine and detona-
tors. The works have been frequently |
the scenes of explosions, but never to
such an extent as today. The explosion
occurred while all the men were at |
work, and created panic. The men |
working i'll buildings distant from those
blown up first heard roar, and the |
buildings in which they were working |
shook and trembled for fully a minute;
tnen came all explosion which sounded |
far louder than the simultaneous eX- |
pIosion of half dozen Of the largest |
cannon.
All of the explosions of the past have |
been in the houses used for mixing the |
explosive and the storage rooms have |
never before been affected. When asked |
if an Investigation would be made, a |
representative of the company said 1t
was almost useless to hold one. The /
explosion had left little of the buildings.
It would be impossible to ascertain how
the explosion occurred or even the sim
plest thing about it. There was one
man whom, it was possible, might have
been able to have told the story, but he
was the man at whose bench the first
explosion happened, and consequently
he was dead. The explosion shattered
all the windows within two miles of the
scene of the explosion. The glasses in
the barroom of Schaefer's hotel were
broken, and the guests in the house
were greatly startled. At the landing,
the railroad depot was shaken until the
beams cracked and every pane of glass
in the building, as we'll as those in the
houses around. were blown up.
Felt Miles Away.
There are TWO other powder compa-
nies in this vicinity. The Atlantic
Giant Powder company is at Kenville.
three miles away, and the United
States storage depot station is at Dover,
which is about seven miles from the
scene of the explosion. The explosion
was plainly felt at henville, and the
employees at work, thinking that it was
a part of their own works which had
blown up, lett their benches.
DOVER, n. j.. April lS.-The explo-
sion. which occurred at Lake Hopatcong
today was heard plainly here. The
United States supply depot is located
near here, and it was at first supposed
that 1t was this which had blown up.
MOUNT HOPE, n. j.. April 18.-The
men at work in the mines here thought
that an earth quake had occurred when
the ,powder mills at Lake Hopatcong
exploded this afternoon. They left the
mines, but so far as known no cavern