The Bessemer indicator., 1893-03-25
A DIRE DISASTER.
FIGURING MILL EXPLOSION.
The Town OF Litchhcld. Illinois, y earl
Demolished by "a Series of Disasters.

The Town OF Litchnoid, Illinois, y earl
Demolished by F" Series of Disasters.
An explosion resembling an earthquake and
destroying nearly 81 600 900 worth of property
occurred at Litohheld, Illinois, on the 2lst
The loss OF one life and the injury of a mum
Der or people resulted from the catastrophe
Practically every structure In Litchfeld was
wrecked, and scores Of dwellings rendered
uninhabitable. Panic regned for hours aud
! details of the terrible affair were obtained
with the utmost difficulty,
About 3;l5 a, M. an alarm OF fire wa,
turned In and upon Investigation II developed
that the Litchileld Planet Mills located Ia the
southwest part OF the city and said TO be one
Of the largest, II not the largest, single -four
making establishments In the world was In
hamcs. Before the tiremeu arrived upon the
scene the fire had gained such headway that
for some time nothing could hc done TO check
II and 1t seemed as II the entire south part OF
the town would be consumed,
The hre Is supposed TO have originated by a
spark from passing locomotive falling in
one Of the dust rooms The hose and hook
and ladder companies had hardly succeeded
in getting their apparatus ia working order
lence which was caused by the flames sudden
contact with peut-up mill dust. The eyplo-
sion shook the earth over a singularly wide
area, while the atmospheric conclusion was
felt as far Decatur, distance Of tfty
miles
The dremen batucd with the flames for
three long hours finally subduing them to
such an eItent that adjoining property was
saved. The explosion broke large plate-glass
windows In majority OF stores in the city,
prostratcd almost every one on the street
shook houses loose from their foundations
and Jared the machinery In the Litchlcld
Car and Machine company to such an extent
that work bad to be suspended
The head millwrlght Mr. John Carve OF
aterloo, Iowa, in making an effort to save
his tools in the burning building. was stunned
by the explosion and cudcayorlng 10 escape
was pinned against the smokc-stacl and
burned 10 death. When found about three
hours afterwards his legs were burned of at
The hips. The right arm and left hand were
entirely consumed and his body was burned
to perfect crisp.
4 large elevator standing Immediately
across the Wabash track west of the mill, and
containing some 10000 bushels OF wheat
was quickly in flames, and together with It's
valuable contents burned TO the ground. Ten
or twelve cars of wheat standing on the house
track were reduced TO ashes A large pile Of
debris ten or fifteen feet high fell on the main
track OF the Wabash railroad, and as n con
sequence traffic on that road was badly I'm
paired The Western Union telegraph wires
were also down, which makes matter. a great
deal UOrsp A uumbpr pf sprioua hat not
necessary fatal accidents were reported
The night watchman in the mill was hurl-
cd through window and badly injured
Window glass were broken and chmneys
blown down in towns ten miles distant
Nearly every house within radius of two
blocks OF the mill was badly wrecked. All
the plate glass in the stores on Main and
State streets were blown out