The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-21


seventy-five feet away, with one OF her
friends, and neither was hurt. The other
men were 81 work on the construction of
the mining casemate outside the fort.
DANGEROUSLY NEAR THE MAGAZINE.
The explosion occurred In the store
room exactly IN the southwest corner of
the fort. Just north Of it, and separated
by a thick brick wall, was the magazine
in which was stored T., 100 pounds of pow
der that has been there since the bomb
ardment of the fort.
Not more than 200 feet away stored in
one of the rooms of the fort was over 400
pounds of dynamite which was used in
blasting. Capt. Carter saw the danger
AND ordered the men TO keep away from
It. Had the fire in any way been COM
municated to the magazine and caused an
explosion of the two tons Of powder the
conclusion would undoubtedly have ex-
ploded the dynamite. which would have
meant the destruction of large part of
the fort. Happily, however, this situa-
tion was relieved and danger of an acct
dent of this kind averted.
FIRE BROKE OUT.
The heat from the explosion ignited the
dry wood of the easement in which tine
explosion occurred, and the fire soon be-
gan TO spread. Between the storeroom
and the next casemate going east was
heavy wooden door which has not
been opened for years. The flames
burned through this, and the adjoining
classmates were soon mass Of flames.
Then came the greatest danger to the
magazine. In the storeroom were a large
number of loaded shells of different sizes,
about $50 signal rockets and other fixed
ammunition. As the fire reached them
each exploded in its turn, and there were
explosions of these shells at intervals all
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exploding shells might break through the
wall between the fire and the powder
magazine, but it was about FIVE feet thick
and was not penetrated. The chamber
was well protected so far as heat was
concerned, for beside the thick wall the
magazine was lined with dry wood.
PREPARED TO PUT 1T OUT.
The fire burned slowly in the two case
mates all day, and the explosions of the
shells made frequent breaches in the roof
above When the Angler came up TO the
city, Capt Carter secured about 300 feet
of hose from the fire department and with
this and about 100 hand grenades went
down to have it extinguished
The dynamite had been removed from
the fort during the morning, but the
powder was still in the magazine. 1t was
found on Investigation however, that the
magazine could be reached without great
danger. 1t was opened at a time when
the fire had gone down, and the thirty
two casks of powder were removed hur-
riedly TO place of safety. This
left the men free to work on the
fire without danger of an explosion.
Water was procured from a cistern and
carried to the fire by means of steam
pump. There was a great deal of smoke
and smouldering fire, but ii was not a
hard matter to get it under control. 1t
was well watched last night, and will
probably be entirely out by this morning.
THE PROPERTY DESTROYED.
II will be hard matter to estimate the
loss of government property as a result
of the explosion. Everything in the
storeroom and the casemate just east of
il was destroyed. Fortunately the ser
geant had closed the heavy iron door of
the magazine or there would have been a
more serious explosion.
In the storeroom were 100 empty powder
barrels, about two tons of MANILA rope,
paints, oils, tools, large quantity of
fixed ammunition and other things. All
were completely destroyed The wood
work of these two classmates was en-
tirely burned out, and the walls around
and the roof overhead were badly
damaged by the explosion of the
heavy shells. Most of the
stuff. however. was old and would
have been practically worthless so far as
any use in time of war was concerned
The rope was about rotted out, and a
good deal of the other property was Junk
of very little value. The damage to the
fort was probably the most serious loss,
and as there is no appropriation to speak
of for making repairs of thiskind on gov
eminent Notifications, it may not be re-
paired for years
UNDER THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT.
The property destroyed that is the
powder and other ammunition, was under
the department of ordnance. The SER
geant was responsible for it to the chief
of ordnance. The fort, however, is in
charge of the engineering department.
Under the government regulations,
Chinn would. of course, have to be court
martialed for this loss Of government
property, due to his carelessness. This
looks hard under the circumstances, but
the law is memorable. 1t is hardly probable,
however, that ne will live to answer to
court martial. The physicians think it
will be impossible for him to survive his
injuries.
Chinn was promoted from the ranks for
efficiency in the service. He was at one
time first sergeant in the Twenty
fourth United States Infantry, and was
afterward raised to the rank of ordnance
sergeant He has been considered an
able and faithful officer in his position
He bore his suffering with fortitude.