Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1892-04-23
SEVEN ARE DEAD.
Terrible Result of tho Explosion OF Pow
der Mills in New Jersey.

UtT III NOW btTstys
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 widow and
one child; Jacob Carlson, aged 80: mar
ried and leaves five children; William
Pierce, aged %, married and leaves a
widow and two children; James Vagh,
aged 26, unmarried; A. johnson, aged
80, unmarried; another body has been
name is unknown.
Two men were 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 8 o'clock, and five buildings
were shattered What caused the ex-
| plosion will never be known. The
| works of the company consisted of a
number of small buildings, scat
| 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 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
a 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 concussion might set off
the explosives in the other buildings
they took to their heels and ran for tine
mountain side.
After n 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 al
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 tc
the company's Office and doctor wa:
sent for. Meanwhile the company.
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 em
ployes was called, and it was found that
seven were missing.
A search for the bodies was then be
gun. The searchers were mostly ole
employees of the company, and knew
that in case like the present it wa
useless to search among the ruins
They found fragments of flesh ant
bones scattered over several acres o
ground. In fact, they found $50 pound
of flesh and bone, which is all that re
I mains of the bodies of the victims
!, What could be found was gathered III
in boxes and will be buried by the com
| nopv