Los Angeles herald., 1892-10-22
WILSON'S STORY.

The Pyrotechnist Locked Up to Await
the Result OF the Inquest.
Later in the evening Wilson was in
terviewed by HERALD reporter in the
Office Of the chief of police. Wilson
said:
'I had been employed by the Italian
colony to fire the salutes; / had 40 NOR
tars for the occasion. We had fred all
the shells except a few that we had
saved for the final salute. We went to
another part of the grounds to FIRE the
salute, and, after we had fred it, we
looked back and saw shells and fireworks
flying in every direction. Myself and my
assistant, Kammert, ran from the set
piece, where we had fred the final
salute, to where we had left the shells,
fireworks and powder. This was about
100 yards. We tried to beat back the
crowd, and 30 keep them from destroy
ing the shells and fireworks, but we
were powerless.
They had broken down the wire rope
which had been put up to keep them
back, and I even tried to beat some of
them back with stick, but they rushed
in over the rope in such large numbers
that7 we were powerless. Near some
of the SHELLS was three or four pounds
of powder in a cigar box; there could
not have been more for the box was only
about half full when left, and when I
got back it was all gone some of the
crowd then fred three or four shells;
then, as nearly every thing had been de-
stroyed, said to my boy-that is, my
aesistant-Kammert, who works for me,
sWell,' 1 said to him, 'as there, are
only three shells left, we might as we'll
get rid of them; there were nine or ten
shells in the box when we left for where
the set-piece was to fire the
final salute. took the 10-incb
shell in my hand, put it in the mortar
and fired it; always fire off the large
shells myself; l next took one of the
four.incb shells and fired it; then Kam-
inert took the other four-inch shell and
put it into the mortar; he said it did
not go to the bottom, but exploded as
he put it in the mortar. The explosion
was 80 terrific that knew something
was wrong; some OF the crowd must
have put some of that powder into the
mortar. If they had not done so,
there would have been no accident; I
fred this mortar about 20 times during
the evening; if a mortar is properly
handled it will not burst, and there is
no danger to anybody; tried in
every way to keep the crowd back, but
they laughed at me, and came upon the
ground smoking cigars, and"
At this point, Chief Glass interrupted
Wilson with the question:
"And you fred the mortar while the
people were standing all around you ?"
"Yes, I fred two, but did not fire
thes one that BURST" replied Wilson.
Continuing, Wilson said:
"The crowd surged and surged in, and
took everything; fred off all my shells
and Roman candles, and was powerless
to help myself; there was not police
officer in sight to keep the crowd back
or to prevent them from taking and des-
troying my property. The committee
told me that the Garibaldi guards would
be there, and that there would also be
six policemen there to keep the crowd
beyond the wire rope, but none of them
were there"
Chief of Police Glass-No demand was
made at this Office for policemen. But
why did you fire off those shells when
people were 80 near you?
Wilson replied: "Well, was en-
ployed by the Italian colony to fire the
salutes, and was attending to my duty.
The crowd would come beyond the ropes,
and had been there while other mortars
were fred. The shell was not overload
ed; some of the crowd must have poured
some powder into the mortar; there was
not enough powder in that shell to burst
the mortar"
Chief Glass thought that there might
have been criminal negligence on the
part of Wilson, and he was locked up in
the central station to await further in
.vestigation.
At the celebration at San Juan. on
July 22d last, under the management of
Wilson, mortar exploded, by which a
man lost leg.