The Irish standard., 1894-07-21
BIZ N N TO ATOMS.
Awful Disaster to Soldiers on an
\ Outing IN Chicago.
Sudden Explosion Of . Caisson-It 10 Fol-
lowed by Fusiliade Of Shrapnel Shot
-Four Soldiers Killed Fourteen
Persons Injured.
A FATAL PARADE.

A FATAL PARADE.
CHICAGO, July 17.-One platoon OF
battery F, Second United States artil-
lery, was wiped out of existence Mon
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 unrecognizable
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
block or more in every direction were
honeycombed with shot, the windows
being broken, the roofs punctured,
furniture and carpets torn and burned
and yards of clustering 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 every where.
Great pools of it stood along the edges
Of the pavements and were constantly
fed by trickling streams from the
mangled heaps of dead or dying men
and horses. 1t was spattered on the
telegraph poles, and the brown stone
residences, $50 feet away. were
frescoed with it. Five min
utes after the explosion the
street for several blocks looked as
if two armies had fought desperately
over it and had withdrawn for mo-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
The Victims.
Following is list of the killed and
injured:
KILLED--Farrier Joseph Caller, troop OF
the Seventh cavalry, Fort Sheridan, 80 years
old, six years in the service, head blown from
shoulders and the body burned and mutilated:
Cannoneer Edward Doyle, battery F, Second
regiment. Fort Riley, Kan. % years old body
blown to pieces; Artiflcer jeremiah Donovan,
battery F, Second regiment, Fort Riley, Kan,
q years old, body blown to pieces: Private
Fred Stoltz, battery F, Second regiment, Fort
Riley, Kan. wheel driver OF caisson, terribly
burned died at Mercy hospital at 8 o'clock.
.WoUNDED-Trumpeter Herbert Antes, troop
B of the Seventh cavalry, Fort Sheridan,
shoulder blown OF and legs and arms fright
fully burned, taken to Mercy hospital, will
probably die; Sergt. Ludwig Leiner, battery F,
Second regiment Fort Riley, 80 years old;
struck in breast and face by fragments OF iron,
his body mass of burns. cannot recover; Prl-
yate John Allen, battery F, Second regiment.
Fort Riley driver OF lead team of caisson, %
years old, shot In neck and severely burned;
Private Maurice O'Donnell, battery r, Second
regiment, Fort Riley, lead driver OF second
caisson, cut on the head and burned; SeFgt.
George Holman, troop B, Seventh cavalry,
Fort Sheridan, shot in chin; Sergt. Anthony
Kane, troop B, Seventh cavalry 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 q stone sidewalk;
Private Urquhart, battery F, Second regiment,
Fort Riley, shot through the foot; Trooper
Huyck, troop B, Seventh cavalry, Fort Sheri-
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.
Griggs, $3.50 grand boulevard, cut in the arm by
flying glass; Ralph NJ Byers, IA years old, liv-
ing at ST. lakewood boulevard, two scrapnel
shots through calf of leg, removed to his home;
Miss Alice York, 4103 Grand boulevard, tendon
OF heel severed by bullet, taken home, not Sc
rious; Corporal Abraham l.. Riley, Battery F,
Second regiment, Fort Riley. thrown to tho
ground and bruised
Theory of the Explosion.
Gen. Miles, on being informed of the
disaster, sent Col. Williston to the scene
to secure report of the affair. Col.
Williston, while he could discover alb
solutely no facts concerning the cause
of the explosion, has 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
timber. ignited, the powder in the cartridges
exploded and the ignition OF the other two
chests followed.
1.-The shrapnel is probably the most deadly
projectile thrown by modern guns. The 3-inch
shells are OF steel and carry at their tips
brass combination fuse screwed on; this
fuse has both q illuminate cap and q time
fuse, 80 that the shell will explode either on
contact or at any desired range. In the
head OF the shell is about half pound
Of powder. Back Of these are the missiles
that kill. The bullets are arranged In
layers, each layer resting In q brittle cast-iron
RING The rfnra arc rerforated an that the hul.