The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-10-11
VICTIMS OF DYNAMITE.
SAILORS KILLED BY ENEMIES
; IN SAN FRANCISCO.
A Terrible Crime Carried out by
Union SaiIors-Three Buildings
Destroyed and Glass Broken for
Blocks-Fiye Men Blown to
Atoms-A Sixth Wounded.

Union SailOrS--A hiOo AS'
Destroyed and Glass Broken for
BIocks-Five Men Blown to
Atoms-A Sixth Wounded.
A dispatch from San Francisco, Cal, snys :
Six men were blown up with dynamite early
in the morning on the water front. Two
wero killed7outright, three died in tho City
Receiving Hospital after a few hours OF
agony, and the sixth still lives with the pros
meet OF ultimate recovery, but he will be
shattered and broken wreck OF q man.
The explosion was the result OF deliberate
crime. meant to do far deadlier work than
the snuffing out OF five lives. 1t is charged
directly to the Coast Seamens Union,
stronp and lawless organization that has
rulsd the San Francisco water front for 1our
wears and more. Tho list of the dead IS:
George Holmes. piledriyer, aged twenty-five;
William T Mackenzie, boHmaker twenty
twn Charles Bernard. boarding-h6dse en-
nI,ye. twenty-five Edward Murphy, sailor,
twenty-eieht; Andrew McGuinness, sailor,
twenty-five.
:Iohn Curtin, Jr., is the survivor. There is
n rumor that seven men were IN the party
and that the missing man was blown 70
atoms. but no fragment OF seventh body
can be found. The scene OF the explosion
was in front Of John Curtin's sailors board
ing house 334 Main street. near Harrison, q
wooden, two-Story building.
The Curtin house has for years been known
az n non-union or .'scab" sailors boarding
house, and attacks OF more or less brutality
have from time to time been made by union
sailors. both upon John Curtin and the men
he housed, and three times has Curtin been
brutally beaten in the past two years. Only
two or three days ago trap was set on the
sidewalk for Curtin to fall into. AS result
, of the injuries thus received he was lying IN
bed when the explosion occurred.
At midnight the door Of the Curtin house
swas locked. Most OF the inmates were abed,
including Mr. and Mrs. Curtin and their little
children. Some one tried the latch cautious
ly and stole away A few minutes later the
six victims strolled down the street. All but
two we're dodgers in the house. They had ali
been Mt theatre and stopped to chata minute
or two before separating.
Young Curtin saw lying againt the door
what seemed to be val!se covered with an
old blanket Jerking away the covers he
picked I'D the valise and instantly put 1t
down again and sprarg back with the cry.
"Boys it's dynamite!'
McGuinness stepped forward and care
lessly pushed the valise with one foot. That
instant there was 4 crash that shook the
whole eastern side Of the city and tore beams
and timbers from their faStenings.
Csved-in partitions, like egeshells, strewod
the street for two blocks with shattered win
dows, and scraped out yawning hole where
the sidewalk had been. Worse than that, 1t
left in the tangle Of splintered boards and
broken glass [six. bodies. stripped, most OF
them, to the skin, all apparently lifeless.
From the fire engine house near by and
from every house men came running to the
spot. They found three houses completely
wrecked. Out Of the ruins men, women and
children were crawling. Here was naked
foot, and there another, and all about was
smell or burned flesh and ofclothing thatwas
still aflre. Directly in front of Curtin's house
the sidewalk was torn up Cor over twenty
feet and in the centre was hole at least hVe
feet deep.
At first glance nothing could be seen in the
hole but when q lantern was lowered the
spectators saw, half covered with esrth,
broken glass. and splinters OF board, the
mutilated remains OF a man. Both legs were
blown of below the knees. the head hung to
the body BY few shrsds Of flesh. and the
entire body was burned. The tattered re-
mains OF an undershirt still clung 10 the
body, but every other particle OF clothing
was gone. -
In the gutter next to the sidewalk lay the
bodies of three men, and the faint moans
from two of them showed that life was not
vet eXt1nct. fOllcenen duu palrol Wagons
were soon at hand, and the bodies were car
ried to the receiving hospital. 1t was found
that Holmes and McGuinness had been in
stantly killed.
The surgeons saw at once that Curtin was
the only one who could live. 1t was only an
hour or two before all the rest were dead.
Strangely enough, no one else was hurt by
the explosion.
One OF the victims revived enough on the
way to feel his terrible pain as he was carried
20 the operating table. On him, as on the
other victims, there was not spot an inch
square from which blood was not oozing.
The bomb was undoubtedly meant to kill
Curtin, his wife and children, and all the
non-union sailors in the house. Probably 1t
had time fuse attached and the man who
carried it feared TO wait long enough to
open the locked door. 1t was merely u
chance that brought the six victims to the
spot Just at tho moment when the deadly en-
gine WAS to explode.
Tho police did prompt work. Three men
wers arrested within an hour on strong sus-
picion. Mrs. Curtin told the police that
few days before several union sailors had
warned her that the days OF herself and her
husband were numbered.