The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-10-23
SIN DEAD SIDE By SIDE.
Laying Out the Victims Of the Colum-
bus-Day Explosion.
WILSON'S FATAL Loss OF TEMPER
The Crowd Tnterfered With HIN in His biSthafgeu
Fireworks and He ECtElessly Set Oh the
Mortar That Created Such Hayot.
Special to THE MORNING CALL

los ANGELES. Oct. 22-Another victim !
Of last nights terrible explosion dleu ti'iS
morning at 10 o'clock. Gilbert CHRISTIAN
breathing bis last at that hour. Inc boy
was conscious to the last. Young Grimm
leg was amputated this morning. Inc lot".
number Of deaths is six, including that ol
Christian. The child identified last nlght
as Ogarita Cohn was this morning found 10
be Lillian Rapp. Aside from this there Is
no change in the death list, except young
Christian as above noted.
No further persons seriously wounded
have been found, and it is now believed that
all will recover With the exception OF Freda
Rapp, whose condition is serious.
At the police station this morning the evil
dences Of last nights terrible scenes were
almost obliteraiej, but crowds OF curious
citizens still fingered around in front OF the
place inQuiring of those who came out no"
many were dead and how many were
dying.
Frequent inquiries were made Tor those
who have not been heard OF by the peepie
since Yesterday, and there was much ask
ing for the names Of those hurt. The dead
to the number of six have all been removed
to the morgue, and at 10 o'clock but two
having been removed to the County Hos
pital.
At the morgue are the bodies OF six OF
the victims. Lying side by side are the
bodies Of Frank Ford, Louis Oden, Antonio
Righetto, Victor Casino and Gilbert
Christian. The body Of little Lille Rapp
was put in the vault away from the eyes OF
the curious throng. who surged in one door
and out the other 10 view the remains 30
great was this throng Of morbid, curious
humanity that it was found necessary to
call on the Chief Of Police to detail TWO
policemen to keep back the crowd.
At 2 o'clock the inquest commenced, but
nothing was done beyond Identifying the
remains, when it was continued till
Monday.
". Il. Wilson, the man who was in charge
of the fireworks. makes the following state
ment: cat $50 o'clock last evening Her
man Cammert, my assistant, and myself
started in 10 set off the fireworks, and for
over an hour piece after piece was set of
without accident Of any kind whatever.
We were about to set off the large ship
Santa Maria when a noise from the
boys attracted my attention and I went TO
see what was the matter. They were past
the ropes and were stealing rockets. We
determined TO end the exhibition as soon as
possible. My assistant and / took three
four-inch mortars and started to get back
from the crowd and fire them OF to dismiss
the large crowd. Ny attention was
then called to the fact that a
large fountain had not been set off,
and / sent Cammert to fire two of The
bombs. and | fred one and turned to fire the
fountain. BY this time the crowd had
broken down the rope and was surgjng into
tie Enclosure. Cammert fred off the bombs
at this time and started to run. The next
thing l knew Cammert was yelling that his
leg had been hurt, and be fell down. / ran
to him and helped to put him in a wagon
and took him to the police station. l did
not know whether any one else was hurt or
not at the time, as 50 much noise was being
made"
This morning Wilson visited the grounds
where the seeident occurred The ground
was thoroughly gone over in searching fol
pieces Of the mortsrs. but without success
Wilson was asked for an explanation as Il
how the accident could have occurred. He
said:
I'VE had here last night mortaFs from
which to fire bombs of various sizes. We
had twelve three-iBeh. two six-inch, three
four-inch and one ten-inch mortar. besides
several anyils, and a cigar-box nearly full of
powder to use in printing the anyils.
"The powder was left just behind the large
ship and was covered with blankets This
box is missing, and my idea is that some
boy got 1t and poured the powder into one
CT two Of the four-inch mortars that were
fred off last. aud that caused the damage
''Cammert says he thought when he
70 mt bn hof be in ha nln a
they did not 60 so far down as usual, bu
he touched them off anyway. and l touched
off one, and then I heard him yell that b.
was hurt"
These mortars are made Of steam-pipe
and are about two feet ia length and a quar-
ter OF an inch in thickness. They ar
screwed on solid iron base about two ant
half inches thick.
There were three of these mortars used
and but two of them can be accounted fol
to-day. Two bases were found on The
ground and the tubes supposed to have been
on them were taken to the police station las
night. They are burst and twisted almost
ont of any semblance of tube.
An examination Of bomb of. the kint
used in these tubes shows it to have hat
three ounces Of powder in it-just enough
to eject the bomb. This powder is on tn
lower side of the bomb, and is exploded b.
fuse The powder stolen last night wa
four pounds, was T. F. rife powder ant
was in quantity sufficient to have burst I
tube thicker than the ones used last night
Five bombs we're also unaccounted for. be
sides a number of rockets.
The grounds around the place Of the ex
ploslon are in no way torn up, showing tina
the explosion had an upward tendency.
Wilson is still in custody and win b.
detained until after the inquest. There i.
much feeling against the man, as it is be.
lieyed that he lost his temper and recklessly
set off The mortars.