The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-01-27

that j. j. Enright was killed by the first
explosion and that Professor Robbins was
killed by the second one. ] picked up
half dozen or dozen sticks of Judson
powder and saw about half box full OF II
picked up altogether. | did not notice
| any OF the powder until after the second
explosion. / saw an open box of powder
In the ruins of the Butte Hardware build
ing. but there was powder all around II
and II burned up. l have had about 20
years experience in mining. and it is my
opinion that from / 900 to 1000 pounds of
powder went off in the first heavy explo-
sion and perhaps four. five or six boxes
IN the second one. think the first ex-
plosion was five or six times as heavy as
| the second one"
W. Z. DAVIS.
w. E. Davis gave the following testl-
| mony: Il was in my house at No. 215
Oregon avenue, about GOO yards from the
warehouses. when the railroad whistles
sounded the alarm of fire, and at once
went to the scene. The first little puff
think occurred in the Kenyon-Connell
warehouse. The firemen and the hose
wagon were directly north of it. walked
on and was about 80 yards away when the
first heavy explosion occurred. 1t was in
| the same building in which the first puff
occurred. l walked on and ran across
Dave Magee. the driver of the hose wagon,
who was calling for help, and another
| mani and | carried him to the Garrison
house. | was in the hotel when the
| second heavy explosion occurred, and |
have no idea where IL came from. L then
| went back and was assisting the injured
when the third explosion occurred. 1t was
| not as heavy as the others. and ii seemed
| to me to come from the Butte Hardware
company's building. / believe that the
first heavy explosion come from the Ken
yon-Connell warehouse. | certainly came
from the warehouse with a gable roof rum
ming north and south and sloping east and
west"
A. II. wETHY.
A. H. Wethey, general manager for W.
A. Clark, testified that from inquiries he
had made he believed that three or four
boxes was the greatest quantity of powder
that could have been in the kenyon-Con-
nell warehouse on the night of the eX-
plosion.
JAMES ALLERToN.
James Allerton, residing at No. East
Platinum street, about one block north
and three or four blocks west from the
scene of the explosion, testified as fol-
lows: Il went to the fire and saw that
he fire was in the north end of the Ken
yor-Connell warehouse. | arrived at the
same time as the tiremen, but stopped a
short distance west of the Butte Hard
ware building, as man remarked that a
kid had said that there was powder in the
building. After the first puff, which |
supposed to be black powder, we supposed
that the powder had all gone off, and l
walked east until reached point about
80 feet north of the northeast corner of
the Butte Hardware building. The fire.
men were al work on the northwest cor
ner of the Kenyon-Connell building and
close up to II. One OF the Sloan boys was
chopping hole in the side and another
fireman was behind him pulling at the
wall with a hook and the others were
just behind them with the hose. Then
the first heavy explosion occurred and l
was knocked down. When | regained
my feet saw n fountain of fire coming
up out of the Kenyon-Connell building. in
which | am satisfied that the explosion
occurred. The firemen we're all gone and
there were eight or ten dead men close to
me with others lying all around. placed
some of them IN comfortable positions
and pulled burning waste off from others.
heard boy calling for help just back of
the boilers north of the Butte Hardware
building, and as l stopped over to help
HIM the second explosion occurred and l
was thrown forward in a northwesterly
direction. l did not lose my senses and
lodged under one of the boilers and
watched the debris fall. As nearly as |
could tell the fire and debpls went up and
came down in the same form in the
first explosion, and from the same build |
ing. From the direction in which l was |
thrown and the manner in which the de- |
brls was thrown / believe that the second |
heavy explosion took place in the Ken |
yon-Connell building, but farther toward |
the rear of il than the first one. part |
of the Butte Hardware building was |
standing after the first heavy explosion, |
but / couldn't tell how badly it was
wrecked. There was no fire in it then. | |
think the third explosion was in the ware |
house of the Butte Hardware company. |
didn't see any one killed after the second |
heavy explosion" Mr.. Allerton also |
stated that three rabble heads were
thrown through his house by the second
explosion. One was thrown through the |
residence of Peter Larson, next door, by
the second explosion.
NJ. C. HARRIS.
NJ. c. Harris testified that he knew
nothing at all about the affairs of either
the Kenyon-Connell or Butte Hardware
companies or the amount of powder
which they owned or had stored anywhere |
on Jan. 10.
A. c. Holmes, manager of the futile |
store. testified to exactly the same effect, |
with the addition that he had seen Mr.. |
Rennish carry a box of powder across |
Quartz street from the alley back of the |
kenyon-Connell store and place it on a |
wagon after the explosions. MIR. Holmes |
started TO tell about the removal of DOW
der from his store on the same night, but |
MIR. Wines stopped him, saying that that
did not cut any figure in the inquest.
FERDINAND SANDS.
Ferdinand Sands, bookkeeper for NJ. c. |
Harris q Co., had also seen Mr.. Rennish |
carry the box of powder out of the alley |
and place 1t in the wagon, but he did not |
know anything about the powder business |
of either the Butte Hardware or Kenyon |
Connell companies. lie had engaged |
George Peery to haul some powder out of |
the city after the explosions.
Albert Congdon, clerk for the |
Courtenay, Case & Gravelle company,
testified that he was in his room |
at the corner of Oregon avenue |
and East Mercurystreet when the |
fire broke out. The first little puff came |
from the building which was on fire and /
which bad a gable roof running north and |