Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1894-02-10
TWO MEN KILLED.
Fatet Explosion of Dynamite on the rni-
Dois Drainage Canal.

pois Drainage Canal.
CHICAGO, Feb 6.-By two accidental
explosions of a dynamite cartridge in a
cut on section t3 of the drainage canal
near Romeo Saturday noon two inen
were killed and three injured. One of
the two men killed, an Italian laborer,
was horribly mangled and died instant
ly, the other, Contractor Conner, died at
11:15 Sunday night The wounded men
were all Italian laborers.
The accident occurred at 11:43 a. m.
Saturday. Contractor Conner was watch
ing gang of dozen laborers en-
gagged in "mucking" in one corner
of the cut. "Mucking," it may
be explained, is gathering up the
rock loosened by the blast and
loading it into large buckets that
hold a ton, which are hoisted up
from the ditch and off to one side and
dumped. Tesavi, the laborer who was
killed, was using a pick, the others
were using crowbars or picking up
pieces and tossing them into the
bucket Tesavi aimed blow at a
had been charge. AS the pick
struck the rock there was a deafen-
ing explosion that filed the air
with fragments of the rock. Tesavi
and the half dozen men standing near
est him We're hurled a dozen feet away,
and the others of the squad of laborers
were thrown violently to the ground.
Five of them failed to rise when the
smoke and dust OF the explosion had
cleared away.
All together there were forty men at
work in the pit when the explosion oc-
Cured. For moment they were too
frightened to do anything, but they
quickly recovered and hurried to the res
cue of the injured Tesavi, who was
using the pick, was so frightfully
mangled and so covered with the dirt
and dust that he was scarcely recog-
nizable as human being. His prin-
cipal wound was a great gaping hole
in the abdomen, through which
fragment of rock as large as
a mans fist had plowed it's way His
face was battered into pulp and his
body was literally covered with wounds
and bruises. Upon examination by the
coroner Saturday it was found that
. there were fully 500 wounds upon his
body.
Contractor Conner was standing 4U
feet away when the explosion came. A
fragment of rock, weighing, perhaps,
! fifty pounds, struck him In the
right illiac region and smaller piece
struck him on the abdomen near the
right hip and penetrated to the peri
I toneum. He was knocked senseless.
L. I'D ;,l = ~,
! office of the firm, 100 yards away. DIR.
/ ]. II. Browning, the surgeon of the
! works, was sent for. He chanced to be
I in another part of the camp at the time
! and did not reach Mr.. Conner for thirty
| minutes. By that time he had recov
cred consciousness and was suffering
| eXcrutiating agony. His entire right
side was badly discolored and covered
with blood from the wound made by
the smaller stone. He fingered thirty
six hours, retaining consciousness near
ly to the last, and expired at Ills Sun
day night.
Christopher Tesavi, a cousin of the
man, was so covered with wounds the
surgeons were obliged to swathe hi!
face and the upper part of his body il
"HlIe, leaNluR oHly Ills uoSe llee. LIZ
Browning counted forty separat,
wounds upon his face.
The wounds of the three injured wcr,
dressed and they were made as comfort
able as possible in the rude office unit
Sunday noon, when carriages We're pro
cured from Lockport and they wer
removed to the hospital at Joliet Al
will recover.
No one is blamed for the accident
which was caused by one of the charge
of dynamite used in blasting missin!
fire. Four cartridges containing twelv
ounces of dynamite each were PLACED
in the solid rock on Saturday an,
fired. For some reason one o
the charges failed to explode. Th
remaining were sufficient to tea
away the rock, and of course it wa
not possible to know that the othe
charge remained, so the worlsmen be
gan their task of clearing away tn
debris. When that part of the debri
was reached where the uneXplode
charge lay it was examined and as tn
rock looked rs if it had been fired tn
worknen kept on with no thought O
danger until Tesavis pick struck
J - S,,ob Jaadl,- of