River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-04-21
SEVEN ARE DEAD.
Terrible Result OF the Explosion of Pow
der Mills in New Jersey.

der Mills in New Jersey.
MOUNT ARLINGTON. n. j., April 10
The works of the American Forcite
Powder Company on the shores of Lake
Hopatcong, about mile below here,
blew up at about 3 o'clock Monday
afternoon and seven men were blown
to atoms. The names of five of the
men killed are as follows:
j. ID. Smith. superintendent of the
works, married and leaves a widow and
one child; Jacob Carlson, aged 35; mar
ried and leaves five children; William
Pierce, aged Is, married and leaves a
widow and two children; James Vagh,
aged 20. unmarried; A. Johnson, aged
80, unmarried; another body has been
recognized as that of a Swede whose
name is unknown.
Two men We're injured. One of them,
Benjamin Cashmere, is so terribly
burned and mangled that he will prob
ably die.
The explosion occurred few min
utes after o'clock, and five buildings
were shattered. What caused-the ex-
plosion win never be known. The
works of the company consisted of
AN'Ah'N VI hhAitAAhSSs SNnA-
tered at about distance of
800 feet from each other. Most
of the buildings were used in the
mixing process, and only one man was
employed in each. The other build
ings, which stand farther away from
the lake on the side of the mountain,
are used for the storage of dynamite,
nitro-glycerine and detonators. The
works, have frequently been the scenes
of explosions, but never TO such an ex-
tent as on this occasion.
| The explosion occurred while all the
men were at work and caused a panic.
| The men working in buildings distant
! from those blown up first heard a roar
and the buildings in which they were
| working shook and trembled for fully
a minute; then came an explo-
sion which sounded louder than
| the simultaneous explosion of half
dozen of the largest cannon. The
| startled men rushed from their work
and saw a cloud of dust and smoke fly
ing through the air near the lower part
| of the company's grounds. They knew
in moment what had happened, and
| fearing the conclusion might set off
/ the explosives in the other buildings
they took to their heels and ian for the
mountain side.
After a few moments. when they saw
that no further danger was imminent,
| they cautiously advanced TO the scene
| of the explosion. The wreckage was
/ already on fire and was burning
| fiercely. The men went TO work at
once to overhaul the wreck in search
| of the men who had been
in the ruined buildings Within a
few minutes they succeeded in finding
| two men, both of whom were badly in
| jured. These were quickly removed to
| the companys office and doctor was
sent for Meanwhile the company's
/ fire apparatus was run out and water
/ from the lake was used to fight the fire.
As soon as the flames were under con-
troll the roll of the company's EN-
| ployes was called, and it was found that
seven were missing.
! A search for the bodies was then be-
gun. The searchers were mostly old
employees of the company, and knew
/ that in a case like the present it was
useless to search among the ruins.
They found fragments of flesh and
I bones scattered over several acres of
ground. In fact they found $50 pounds
/ of flesh and bone, which is all that re-
mains of the bodies of the victims.
What could be found was gathered up
/ in boxes and will be buried by the com
! pany.