The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-07-17
FOUR REGULARS KILLED
4 CAISsOS BxPLODEs IN CHICIeo
WIN DEADLY HrFRCE
SIX Soldiers Injured and Several 0thsrA
Made Deaf by the Accidental Lady
Badly Injured by . PvoJectiie.

CHICAGO. July l6.-This afternoon q
caisson belonging to a Hotchkiss gun OF
the Second Regular Artillery exploded at
Fourth street and Grand boulevard. and
a fine residence was destroyed. Tho fol-
lowing are the casualties:
Joseph Caller. Troop B. Seventh Cav-
airy head blown on.
Cannoneer Donovan. Battery F, Second
Battery. Fort Riley Kan. killed.
jeremiah Doyle. cannoneer. Battery N
Second artillery, Fort Riley. Kan. killed.
Herbert Andres, trumpeter. Troop b. Sew.
enth cavalry, fatally wounded, taken ia
Mercy Hospital.
Injured:
Sergeant King, Sergeant Liner. Private
O'Donnell, Private Stolz, Private Enks
Private Urquhart. all OF Battery r, Sec.
ond artillery, Fort Riley, Kan.
Several other soldiers were made deaf
by the explosion. 4 lady In the house
Of Frank Devil az the corner OF Grand
boulevard and Fourth street. was struck
with a prOjectile, and badly wounded.
She was taken % hospital. Seven
horses were killed and three wounded.
The battery was making practice march
down Grand boulevard. when the explo-
sion occurred.
There Is no explanation OF the eS-
plosion, except conlectural The caisson
had just ratified across the Lake Shore
railroad track on Fourth street, when
the explosion occurred inside the caisson.
sending "A hail of proJectiles In all drec~
tlOns. Every pane OF glass within two
blocks was broken. II is conjecturel that
the jOlting over the track ignted some
loose fuse. setting Off all the cartridges
in the boxes.
HOW THE EXPLOSION OCCURRED.
The calsssn consists Of timber, On
which Is a carriage containing ammuui-
ton, making three chests on the caisson.
The explosion occurred I'm the chest on
the timber, and the force of the axplo-
sion was to the rear, tearing away this
caissOn, and ignting the powder In the
other two chests. The first chest carried
forty-twO shrapnel and fsrty-four car
tridges. The shrapnel are loaded with
percussion cap, containing fuiminites ana
small balls and are frcd from the cannon
by cartridge containing, as I'm this case,
33-l pounds OF powder. The theory OF the
accident is that the screw plugs AT tho
base Of the sharpnel became loosened.
some OF the powder leaked cut, and being
ground and pounded by the jolting OF the
timber ignlted, the powder In the cartridg-
es exploding. and the igniting OF the car.
trldges in the other two chests followed.
In the second chest on the caisson were
tWenty-siX time shells, sixteen Shrapnei0
and their complement OF tOrty-tour carty
ridges. In the third and rear chests wero
fOrty-twO shells and fOrty-four cartridges.
The force of the explosion can b9
more readily understood when II is re-
membered that 1872 cartridges contained
59t pounds OF powder The men who were
I'm the detachment said that they recog-
nized two distinct reports. seemingly ai-
most simultaneously. This WAS the tiny
ber chest followed almost instantly "
the other chests. The rattle OF explosionB
that followed the great detonation was
the bursting of the shrapnel as they
struck the ground. The men on the cals-
son were lifted by the explosion, whilq
the horses were killed by the missiIej
from the shrapnels. All OF the forty-twd
shrapnes In the timber chest exploded.
while four OF those IN the second chest
were found uneXploded