Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1893-10-21
BLOWN TO PIECES.
Five Men Killed and Five injured by =
Dynamite Explosion.

EMINGToN, ILL.,, Oct lS.-By the pre-
mature explosion of dynamite while
charging the village well at 11:l7
o'clock Monday morning five men were
killed and five seriously injured Out
of the five injured only two have any
chance for recovery. The explosion
shook the buildings within a radius of
miles and not whole pane of glass
is left in Emington
The killed are:
Chris Eyer, of the firm OF Eyer Bros, well
6ggers, Dwight, Ill; leaves wife and one child.
C. y. Fowler, Emington, ILL.,; leaves wife and
two children.
James Cromwell, Dwight; single.
Fred Eyer olney, III; cousin of the Eyer
brothers.
Tom Eyer, Olney, ILL.,; also cousin of the Eyer
brothers.
The injgTsd are: James Wyllie, Will
liam WylHe, John Kennedy, bohn
Brown aud Chris. Sherer The two
latter win die All are residents of
Emington- except Sherer, who lives at
Olney.
Wylhe., Bro, of Emington, who
are well makers, had contracted with
the city of Emington to furnish we'll
Having gone down to a depth of 3O5
feet their drill broke and they were un-
able to go any further Hencelthey en-
gagged Eyer Bro, to use dynamite in
order to further their work. The lat
ter arrived Monday morning from
Dwight and began their labors. A
two-foot piece of 4 inch gas-pipe was
flled,with dynamite. They had filed
the tube and were Gaping it with sol
der, when the pipe exploded.
A drop of the molten lead, it is
thought, seeped through the joints of
| the dynamites tin casing. There was
mighty crash, followed by strange
stiffness. In the fear of the ensuing
moment no one thought of the workers
at the village we'll. Homes lay half in
ruins, as though marked by the vista
ton of an earthquake. After awhile
I the people went out on the streets.
ShTeds of flesh and bits of clothing
lay scattered about deep hole about
2 feet across and close by where drills
and derrick once were. 1t was a sight
that for time deprived the onloollers
| of speech or emotion. Across the
street from the well hole lay
two blaclSened figures. They We're
|
intense stiffness was punctuated by
moan from one of the injured re-
covering.z With that sound came re-
turning sensibility to stupefied by
ISLANDERS. Rough inprovised litters
were brought out and the whole vic
Tins of the disaster We're taken across
to Ailloff's' drug store. Doctors were
summoned.
The killed and injured were near the
place of the explosion and We're thrown
over so feet by the shock. They were
mangled so badly that Identification
was almost impossible. Their clothes
were completely torn from their bodies.
Chris Sherer, who cannot live has
pieces of iron and wood driven into his
body, which is the case with all of the
injured.
From the heaps of splinter red timbers
shreds of clothing and flesh were gath
cred and all were carried over to New
hoff Bros p. undertaking establish.
ment. While the bodies of the dead
had been literally torn to pieces the
faces in three cases We're recognizable
The doctor on reaching the scene OF
the explosion with the help of Others
commenced to carry the dead and dy-
ing to the undertakers, Newhoff Bros.
Fred Eyer's left leg was entirely blown
off and cannot be found
! The shock was plainly felt at Camp
us, miles away and the entire city
is more or less wrecked. The business
portion is badly damaged, hardly &
pane of glass remaining in the fronts