Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-08
CAISSON EXPLOSION
A Detailed Description of the Real
Cause of the Accident.
A FATAL DEFECT IN AMMUNITION
Fortunate That There Was No
Greater Loss of Life.
A VALUABLE LESSON TAUGHT
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening STAR
A detachment of United States troops,
consisting of three troops of cavalry and a
battery of light artillery. left camp at
brighton Park. Chicago. on the morning of
July 10. 1894. In order to make a march of
about twenty miles through the streets of
the city. the object being to afford exercise
to men and horses. acquaint them with the
city and the conditions they were likely to
encounter. and at the same time make a
display of force. The detachment arrived
at the lake front at 9:45 am. and after a
rest of several hours started to return to
its camp by way of Michigan avenue
Grand boulevard, Washington Park and
Garfield boulevard.
Between seth and 10Th streets, near the
Intersection of 10Th street with Grand bou-
isvard. one of the caissons of the battery
exploded. The two men riding on the lin
Der chest of the caissOn were instantly de-
stroyed. one other man of the artillery and
one of the cavalry were killed, and a num-
Der OF persons. soldiers and citizens were
injured.
Might Have Been WORSE.
However dreadful the consequences of
the explosion appeared at the time 1t now
u clear that the goddess of fortune could
hardly have been more kind to the troops
and the accident may be considered as a
cheap and very profitable experiment.
!. The Grand boulevard consists of three
parallel roadways. with sidewalks, lawns
and trees between them. and 1t must be
over DO feet between houses on opposite
sides or the street. Five minutes before the
accident the command was marching in a
narrow. crowded business street-35th. The
troops being IN columns of route the bodies
Of the horses were interposed as a screen
Against protectiles flying toward the front
and rear of the column, and as the boule-
ward was almost empty, but few were hurt
by the rest OF the missiles. Conditions on
other points of the route were such that
100 persons could easily have fallen victims
20 the terrific explosion.
Cnuse of the Explosion.
As the roadway of the boulevard was
perfectly smooth and the command was
marching at an easy trot, 1t seemed i'm
Possible to account for the accident, except
Is the result of a crime, and the thought
Of dynamite arose and was pursued. until
cavalry officer. who somewhat ia
fhiiiar with the effect of explosives pointed
out that the pavement was intact, whereas
dynamite would have left a hole In the
ground. Then the theory was advanced
that possibly some powder had escaped
Prom the charges AMI had been ignited by
the constant friction of tolted projectiles.
But inquiry developed the fact that the
percussion shell manufactured by the
United States government had never been
-SNp1AASS ~, 10 tne-lc OF leiu seTNice
A private firm had contract for
furnishing percussion shells to the Unit
ed States ermy, but when the patent
expired an alleged Improvement in the
fuse was made by ordnance officers Of
the army. and the government thereafter
made It's own shells.
An officer of artillery, after removing the
explosive charge, commenced tapping a
shell against tree, saying. 1T requires a
blow of thirty pounds to set of this fuse"
At the next tap the fuse exploded in his
bands. Some ammunition of this kind was
en- the train bearing troops returning from
the Pine Ridge campaign. The train was
wrecked, and some of the ammunition boxes
burst open. but no shells exploded.
Attention was invited to this fact by Capt.
Brrie, the ordnance expert. but reply was
QUICKLY nnatfs mat the blow in that case
was perpendicular to the axis of the pro-
fectile.