Huntsville gazette., 1893-10-21
TERRIBLE DYNAMITE.


Dynamite in the Hands of Weli-Shooters
at Emington, IIL-The Business Portion
of the Town Badly Damaged-A Doctor
Who Shifted Danger.
EAINGToN, Ill, Oct 17.-Five people
killed and five seriously injured, two of
whom can not possibly live. This is
what premature explosion of dyna-
mite accomplished in Emington at IL
o'clock yesterday forenoon.
THE KILLED.
Chris Eyer, of Eyer Bros, well-borers,
of Dwight, ILL.,; married.; leaves widow
and one child.
James Cornwell, of Dwight; single,
in employ of Eyer Bros.
c. Z. Fowler. of Emington: specta-
tor; married; leaves widow and two
children.
Fred Eyer, of Olney, cousin of Eyer
Dash Eyer, Olney, also cousin.
THE INJURED.
Chris Sherer. Olney; can not live;
was the only support of his mother.
John Brown, Emington; not expect
ed to live.
James Wylie, Emington.
VIM. Wylie, Emington.
John Kennedy. Emington.
The firm of Wylie Bros, who are
both among the seriously injured were
engaged in boring a well for Eming
ton. When down to depth of sos
feet, not having struck good vein of
water, as their contract called for, they
engaged the Eyer Bros. to help them
in fulfilling their contract. Chris Eyer
and his men arrived this morning and
commenced their work at once. They
intended to explode dynamite down in
the bottom of the hole already made by
the Wylies. They had filled piece
of 14-inch gas-pipe . feet long with
the explosive and were engaged in cap
ping it when in some way it exploded.
The two Eyers and Cornwell were so
mangled that they could not be iden-
titled one from the other. Their shoes,
hats and other clothing were torn from
their bodies into shreds SO that pieces
of them were gathered up in baskets.
Fowler and Fred Eyer Jared somewhat
better, but both died soon afterwards.
The men were all thrown over fifty
feet from the spot where they We're at
work.
The dead were at once removed to
Neuhoff Bros undertaking establish
ment, where, as soon as Coroner John
Zimmerman arrived, he impaneled a
jury of the following meni D. A.
Frailey, G. II. Telforl J. Conroy, Cal
vim Conroy, Mike Conroy and William
Scanlon. A verdict was returned in
accordance with the facts.
sad feature of the affair is the kill
ing of the two cousins and serious in
jury of Chris Sherer, who can not live.
They had been to the Worlds fair last
week and were on their way to
Olney. They stopped to pay their
Dwight relatives a visit. While there
they took a trip to Emington with them
to see them work and Scherer, when
able to converse, moaned out the wish
that he had gone home to his mother
last night.
The damage to the city can not be
estimated, but it is considerable as it
is doubtful whether there is residence
in the entire town that is not damaged.
The crash was plainly heard miles
away and it was not long before the
little town began to fill up with
people who had come to see
what was the matter, and who all
lent helping hands in taking care of
the dead and dying. The most of
the damage is in the business portion
of the town. The buildings and stocks
most damaged are those of Herb q Son,
general store; 0. Lewis, general store;
G. Drew, meat market; Conroy Sisters,
millinery and dressmaking; Emington
house, hotel; q. Shelly, grocery store;
John Johnson, residence; DIR. Hamil-
ton, Office and residence. The doctor,
in an interview, said that he watched
the men at work, thinking they seemed
very free in handling the explosive.
He went directly to the house,
asked his wife whether the chill
dren were in the house, and re-
quested her not to let them out of
the house, after which he went di-
rectly to his office, which is east of the
house and somewhat nearer the scene
where the men were at work. He
closed all the doors and windows and
sat down to read. He had not been
sitting there long when the explosion
occurred, throwing him to the floor
and knocking him senseless. When he
came to he realized at once what had
happened, as his entire apothecary
stock was one broken mass upon the
floor. He was among the first on the
scene of the catastrophe and at once
set to work relieving the injured. 0.
p. Ball, the Wabash railroad agent,
saved his life by leaving the place only
few seconds before the explosion.
The Storm on the Atlantic Coast.
New YORK, Oct. 1.-THE Herald's
Charleston (S c. special says: While
somewhat demoralized by the storm
which swept up the coast Saturday,
Charleston is not seriously injured.
For few minutes at time the wind