The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-09-07
ACCIDENT AT SALYAIR.
Ray Willard Drowned in Sight
of His Father.
EXPLOSION OF FIREWORKS.
An Awful Scene Witnessed by Thou,
sands Of People.
The Steamer Talula and Two Row Boats
Sent to the Rescue and SIX Per-
sons Are Saved-Body of the
Victim Recovered.

Thousands of jolly pleasure seekers
went to Saltair yesterday afternoon, and
they al returned with sad hearts at
night.
| A grand display of fireworks had been
advertised for the evening, and when the
excursionists reached the beach, they
found high wind blowing, but they
laughed at this and joked with each
other as they watched the whitecaps
rolling in. The crowd pressed over to the
north side of the pavilion to observe the
preparations being made for the dis
play and to secure good positions.
| 1t was intended to have the display on
the pier, a long distance in front of the
pavilion, and Messrs. Willard and
Walker, who had the arrangements in
ful trips from the pavilion to
the pier on raft, taking out
cargoes of fireworks. AS the
5:45 train pulled in, the third trip with
the raft was being made, and the move
ments of the persons who manned the
craft were watched with interest by the
crowd. Prof. Willard himself was out
on the pier. the crew on the raft consist
ing of William Walker, Harry Taylor,
E. L. Mlllard and s. II. Willard, both
young men and sons of the professor,
and their brothers Reuben and Roy
Willard, aged respectively IL and
Is years. The party worked out
| slowly, by means Of poles, the water be-
| ing comparatively calm until the raft was
within six or eight feet from the pier,
when a terrific squat struck it. ALI hands
experienced difficulty in retaining their
positions on the raft, and their danger
/ mi
lied by the crowds in the pavilion, who
watched every movement with intense
anxiety.
The raft was carried so close to the pier
| that s. Fl. Willard succeeded in scramb-
/ ling upon it, and he at once threw rope
to his companions. This was made fast,
but came in contact with the post, and as
the craft was pitching violently, the frlc-
ton ignited the fuse, and a line of fire ran
under the tarpaulin to the fireworks. In
an instant the heavy pieces commenced to
! explode, and all the men jumped over
board, leaving the two boys on the raft.
! The spectators first saw a cloud OF
smoke ascend from the raft and an in
slant later the tarpaulins and covers were
| blazing and rockets were booming. The
sea became rougher all the time and the
water dashed over the raft, binding and
strangling Ray, the younger boy, and a
sharp movement of the raft sent him into
the lake. S. II. Willard, who by this
time had recovered his presence of mind
and grasped the situation, jumped back
on the raft in the hope of saving Ray,
but it was too late. Reuben, the
other boy, maintained his footing and
worked like little hero showing the fire.
works into the water. He was hit just
back of the ear with rocket, the bali
was nearly all burned off his head. He
was saved, however, and IN all proba-
bility will recover.
As soon as the danger was observed
Deputy Marshal Mcdonald, the beach
officer, and George O'Reilly rushed tc
the steamer TaIula, and were
quickly on their way to the pier,
them in row boats. Forsen reached tht
scene first and wanted to take up Tied
Willard, who said, ''Save some one else
first, am strong and can watt Mr..
Forsen, however, picked up Ted and his
brother Sam and took them in to the
pavilion. Mellus was close at hand and
he took Harry Taylor in his boat and fol
lowed Forsen to the pavilion.
Speaking OF the trip OF the steamer
Mr.. O'Reilly said to HERALD represen
tative, 1--WE had great difficulty in get
ting away from the pavilion. The steam
was down when we jumped aboard, bu
the boat was soon made ready. On the
way out we met Forsen and Mellers re.
turning with three men. About one-hal
mile out we discovered boy floating
face downward, and Mcdonald dove of
the steamer in his clothes and caught tht
body, coming to the surface, a rope was
thrown him and he was hauled on board
with his burden. The boy had evidently
been dead for five or ten minutes. About
oue-quarter mile further out we reached
the raft, and picked up Reuben Willard
who was trying to hold the craft steady
with pole. We took the boy on board
and found that he had been hit in the
back of the head. He told III
hel was struck by two--pounc
rocket, which knocked him senseless fol-
a short time. and that on coming to b,
commenced pushing the fireworks into
the water. He started to get oil once
but saw that the raft was the safest place
and climbed back. His brother, Ray, ht
said, was strangled by the breaker:
which swept over the raft, and slipped
overheard. The boy says that the light.
ming seemed to be striking al
bolt struck the fireworks and caused the
accident. We proceeded in to the
pier and took Mr.. Willard and Mr..
Walker on board and ther
returned to the pier, where great crowc
was awaiting us. DR.. Ewing looked after
Reuben, while the lifeless body of pool
little Ray was rolled in blankets and pre-
pared for being taken to the city,
4 All of the parties, including the res.
cuers, were badly exhausted, and Mr.. Nc.
Donald received q bad wound on the
hip. which he thinks was caused
by q blow from the steam wheel, al
though he did not feel it at the time.
The regular train, leaving the beach al
7:45 brought the MilIards, Mr.. Walker,
/ Mr.. Taylor and the body tc
the city, and the latter was
taken to Joseph W. Taylor's undertaking
establishment. Nearly ali of the excur-
sionists returned at the same time, auc
the deepest sympathy was felt fol
Mr.. Willard, who was completely broker
down as result of the trying expert
ences through which he had passed.