The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-21
FORT PULASKI IN FLAMES.
SeTst. Chinn Probably Fatally Wounded
BY a Powder Explosion.


Pounds Was Exploded-Explosion
walls All Day Two Classmates
Burned Out and Lot of Government
Property Destroyed-The Fire Was
Right Next to the Magazine Contain
ing Two Tons of Powder and for q
Long Time a Dangerous Explosion
Was Feared.
The second bombardment of Fort
Pulaski was one of mosquitoes, and not of
men, but it is probable that the explosion
in the storeroom near the magazine yes
terday will result in the death of Ord
nance Sergeant William Chinn who was
In charge.
More than 400 pounds of loose powder
went up in the explosion, Chinn was
knocked down three times in his effort to
reach the door, Mary Washington, his
mother-in-law, was badly injured, and the
storeroom was set on fire, causing from
time to time the explosion of pieces of
fixed ammunition which were stored
there.
For long time the situation was be-
heved to be an exceedingly dangerous one.
The storeroom was right next TO the
powder magazine in which was stored
4. 100 pounds of powder. In room not
200 feet away was 400 pounds of dyna-
mite. The conclusion from the explosion
of the magazine would undoubtedly have
exploded the dynamite, had the fire or
sufficient heat made its way through the
thick wall from the storeroom to the
magazine. Fortunately, however, the
situation was relieved and both powder
and dynamite were removed out of reach
Of danger.
WAR ON MOSQUITOES.
Sergt. Chinn left his apartment right
after breakfast to do some work in the
storeroom where he keeps all his materi-
ais and carpenters tools He had been
in the room only a few minutes when one
of the engineers, who was standing on the
northeast corner of the fort'taking angles,
heard an explosion, and saw volume of
smoke coming from the storeroom in the
southwest corner. Those in the fort
were not long in determining the cause.
The sergeant was troubled with the
swarms of mosquitoes in the store room,
and had adopted a novel, but probably
effective. means of,getting rid of them.
He took handful of powder from one of
the open casks in the corner of the room,
dampened it, and laid it in the middle of
the floor This he ignited, so that the
smoke would drive out the pesky insects.
FOLLOWED THE TRAIL.
In taking out the dry powder he had
evidently left trial from the cask to the
point where the powder was ignited on the
floor. There is no doubt that he has
been accustomed to getting rid of mos
quitoes in this way, as the powder he
would have dropped from one handful
would not have been SUFFICIENT to have
carried the fire to the cask.
Atany rate there was a trail of powder
leading up to the cask which flashed up
Just as soon as the wet powder was ignited
The 400 pounds exploded, not all at once
it seems, but at intervals of a few sec
onds, as the sergeant afterward stated he
made an attempt to get to the door and
was knocked down three times before he
could reach it. He made his way to the
quarters of Foreman William g. Austin
where the medicine chest was kept, and
VA wac a PpAASo w LIS Jul 10
HIS CLOTHES BURNED OFF.
His light jacket and shirt were burned
entirely from his body. His hair, eve
brows and mustache were all burned off,
and from his head down below his waist
he was horribly scorched and burned.
He was taken on a cot out to the wharf
almost half a mile away, and DR.. ]. B.
Graham, the quarantine officer, was tele-
phoned for,
DR. Graham responded promptly and
willingly, and was at the fort wharf q
few minutes after the accident He
dressed the mans wounds and cared for
him until assistance arrived from the
city
Mary Washington, Chinn's mother-in-
law, who was there on visit with an
other relative, was also badly burned,
though her wounds are not
nearly so serious as his. She was
approaching the door of the store
room, and was but a few feet
from it at the time the explosion oc-
CURED. She was going to ask Chinn for
pair of pincers, but before she could
speak to him the powder exploded, and
the force of the conclusion impelled her
some distance. She was picked up I'M
conscious about sixty feet from the door
few minutes afterward by Foreman
Austin, and was taken out where she
could also be given medical attention
NO OTHERS INJURED.
The report of the explosion reached the
city about ten minutes after it happened
and Capt. o. M. Carter, who had just re-
turned from the north, ordered the Angler
TO steam up and get ready to 90 down.
The Angler left the city about 10 80
with Capt. Carter and Drs. J. II. White
and Nydeger aboard. When they, ar
rived at the Fort Pulaski wharf they
found the patients had been well attended
by DR.. Graham, and that there was little
further to be done but bring them TO the
city. The sergeant and his mother-in-
law were taken aboard. The woman went
TO the home of one of her friends,
on South Broad street, and the sergent
was taken to st. Joseph's Infrmary,
where he was attended by Surgeon
White. He was resting easy last night,
though the physicians say that he will
not live, as from his waist up there is
scarcely any skin left on his body. IL is