Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1894-07-19
BLOWN TO ATOMS.
Awful Disaster to Soldiers on an
Outing in Chicago.
Sudden Explosion OF Caisson-It Is Fol.
lowed 10y fusilIade ct sheapnel Shot
Pour soldiers killed Fourteen
Persons Injured
A Fatal PARADE.


| day afternoon by the explosion of an
ammunition caisson near the corner of
lakewood and Grand boulevards
Every man in the platoon was either
killed outright or fearfully bruised
and burned. The unrecogniza BILE
fragments of the two cannoners
who sat on the timber were scattered
over several acres of ground. One man
had his head blown from his shoulders.
The cavalry escort, consisting of two
troops in front of the Inflated battery
and one behind, was stampeded, and
many of the men blown from their
horses and seriously Injured Nine
heavy artillery and cavalry horses
were killed outright, the pieces of some
of them being blown through the air
! Heavy caissons were torn literally to
atoms Great chunks of iron and sec
tions of wheels were hurled hundreds of
yards Some of them pierced the stout
oak doors and the plate-glass windows
of the residences along the boule-
ward, and some buried them
selves deep in the ground. Sew
eral persons on the street were more
or less injured One woman was
driven insane. All the houses for a
block or more in every direction were
honeyeombed with shot, the windows
being broken, the roofs punctured,
furniture and carpets torn and burned
and yards of plastering shaken down.
The shade trees, big elms and cotton
woods, which stand along the boule-
ward were stripped of their branches
and foliage and pierced with hundreds
of pieces of shrapnel shot and frag-
ments of iron. Blood was everywhere.
Great pools of it stood along the edges
of the pavements and were constantly
fed by trickling streams from the
mangied heaps of dead or dying men
and horses. 1t was spattered on the
telegraph poles, and the brown stone
resi-. 41stcs, $50 feet away were
frescoed with it. Five min
utes after the explosion the
street for several blocks looked as
if two armies bad fought desperately
over il and had withdrawn for mo-
ment TO prepare for another sally. For
the first time the troops sent out to
protect the city against the strikers
had experienced all the horrors of war
The Victims.
Following is a list Of the killed and
injured:
KILLED -Farrier Joseph Caller troop Of
the seventh cavalry Fort Sheridan. 30 years
Old six wears in the service head blown from
shoulders and the body burned and mutlated;
Cannoneer Edward Doyle battery r. second
regiment, Fort Riley kan. IS years old body
blown TO pieces; Artihcer Jeremiah Donovan.
battery f, Second regiment, Fort Riley. Kan.
q years old, body blown TO pieces Private
Fred Stoltz, battery +, Second regiment, Fort
Riley. Kan, wheel driver OF eaisson terribly
burned, died at Mercy hospital ats O'Clock.
WoUNDED-Trumpeter Herbert Antes troop
B Of the Seventh cavalry. Fort sheridan
shoulder blown on and legs and arms fright
fully burned, taken 10 Mercy hospital will
probably die; Sergt. Ludwig Leiner battery +
Second regiment. Fort Riley, 30 years old;
struck in breast and face by fragments of iron,
his body mass OF burns, cannot recover; Pri-
waite John Allen. battery F., Second regiment.
Fort Riley, driver OF lead team of eaisson. %
years old, shot In neck and severely burned:
Private Maurice ODonnell battery f, Second
regiment, Fort Riley, lead driver Of second
csisson, cut on the head and burned; Sergt.
George Hoffman, troop b. Seventh cavalry,
Fort sheridan, shot in chin; Sergt. Anthony
Kane troop b, SeVenthcavalry, Fort Sheridan
80 years old, ear blown OF; Private Enks- wheel
driver OF second caisson. battery f. Second
regiment. Fort Riley, blown OF his horse and
fell head first on the edge OF a stone sidewalks
Private UrQuhart, battery f, Second regiment,
Tort Riley, shot through the foot Trooper
Huyek, troop b, Seventh cavalry, Fort Sherl-
dan, bruised and rendered deaf. Private
Panushki, battery f. Second regiment,
Fort Riley wheel driver OF second caisson,
bruised about face and shoulders: Mrs L. b.
hon int IN
flying glass. Ralph N. Byers, IA years old. liy-
ing at 3U lakewood boulevard. two scrapnel
shots through calf Of leg, removed to his home
Miss Alice York. 4l03 Grand boulevard tendon
of heel severed by bullet. taken home not Sc
rious; Corporal Abraham l.. Riley, Battery f.
Second regiment, Fort Riley. thrown 70 the
ground and bruised
Theory of the Explosion.
Gen. Miles, on being informed Of the
disaster. sent Col. Willtston to the scene
to secure a report of the affair. Col.
Williston, while he could discover alb
solutely no facts concerning the cause
OF the explosion, has a theory which
may explain it. He said:
My theory Of the accident is that the plug
at the base Of one of the shrapnels became
loosened. some OF the powder leaked out, and
being ground and pounded by the jolting OF the I
timber, ignited, the powder In the cartridges
exploded, and the ignition of the other two
chests followed.
The shrapnel Is probably the most deadly |
projectile thrown by modern guns. The 3-inch |
shells are Of steel and carry at their tips /
q brass continuation fuse screwed on; this /
fuse has bot1 illuminate cap and q time /
fuse. so that the shell will explode either on /
contact or at any desired range. In the /
head Of the shell is about half q pound |
Of powder. Back Of these arc the missiles
that Kill The bullets are arranged Ia /
layers. each layer resting in . brittle cAst-iron
rfns. Tho rings are perforated so that the bull
lets lie deeply In Thorn. When the eTploaion
comes each Of these ring Is burst into . num-
Der Of jagged fragments that make awful
wounds. Each shell holds $50 bullets, and it In
III pected the rings viii burst into $50 bits 90
nihsiles In ALL having out the scraps OF tAe
lheu itself"