The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-01-23

| we're never sent to the transfer by Mr..
Gemmeil until after they had been in.
speeted r., and the contents found found
The witness stated that if he received a
| car marked iron for the kenyon-Connel
company or Butte Hardware company be
| would set II over on the transfer track
| without making an inspection of its con
| tents. If they should receive a car of iron
from California he said he would not ex.
anime it, taking it for granted that it had
| been inspected at Sacramento.
| In reference to the fire and explosion
| Mr.. Gemmell said: Il was at home when
heard the engine whistles sounding the
| alarm OF fire. l ran up and was at the
Montana Central passenger depot when
| the hose wagon arrived and the iiremen
| made connection. / was standing on a
fiat car near II. l.. Franks bottllng works
when the first small explosion which did
| no damage occurred. | then jumped
down and ran around in front of the
| warehouses and stood over near the boil
ers, watching the firemen who were then
| at work on the building. The fire was in
| the north end and northwest corner of
the Kenyon-Connell warehouse. Jack
| Sloan, the assistant chief, was cutting a
hole in the west side of the northwest
| corner and two or three firemen were
| right behind him with the hose. The
Caplice warehouse was not on fire. When
| the first heavy explosion came | was
| Knocked down and crawled under a
boiler and stayed there until the missiles
! quit falling. then crawled out and saw
dead and injured men all around me.
There was no fire in the warehouse of
the Butte Hardware company then but
| the explosion had completely wrecked il.
L started to run down towards the Mon
tana Central depot to summon help when
Edward Buzzard drove up with his hack
and we started to load injured men into
II. We were doing this when the second
explosion came and one of the horses was
killed. / was knocked down with an
other man on top of me.
IN KENYoN-CoNNELL's PLACE.
II then retreated to little ravine and
got behind a pair of bellows until the
third explosion occurred. L did not see
any of the tiremen after the first explo-
sion, which was in the northwest corner
of the Kenyon-Connell warehouse. l have
no idea where the second explosion took
place. thought then that it might be in
the Capllce warehouse.
THE third explosion. | think, was in
the northeast corner of the Butte Hard
ware company's warehouse. 1t was not
very heavy and did not shake the ground,
although it threw stuff into the air.
heard missiles falling after the first and
second explosions, but did not see them.
l did not see any person killed by the
second explosion. While we we're putting
the injured men into the hack Officer
hrambeck, / believe il was, passed us
and went in the direction of the fire. He
must have been killed at the second eX-
poslon. if il was him / spoke to. l said,
This is HE'LL he passed us, and he
went on toward the scene of the explo-
SION"
Mr.. Gemmell illustrated his descrip-
ton of the horrible affair by means of
Mr.. Bakers map, which had been tackled
up on the wall and made everything very
clear. His testimony was listened to with
the most strict attention. He was re-
qucsted to procure more definite infor-
nation relative to the contents and hand
ling of cars delivered to the warehouse
companies during the past month, which
he promised to secure at once. After a
number of Witnesses were called and
sworn an adjournment was taken to 80
O'Clock.
CHARLES CIRCUIT.
Charles Orcutt, warehouse man for the
kenyon-Connell company, was the first
witness called at the afternoon session.
Mr.. Cotter conducted the examination of
circuit, and he went into details very
thoroughly. circuit said that he had held
the position OF warehouse man for the
kenyon-C onnell company for the past
four years and he was in charge of the
warehouse Jan. 10. The contents of the
building on that date were bar iron and
steel, stoves, ranges, magnesa covering
bic heads and fish plates. the latter being
piled up in a room 6Xl4 feet in the north
west corner of the building. The rabble
heads were piled up along the west side
of the room and the fish plates on the
north side. This room. he said, was used
as store room tor the powder that was
kept at the warehouse.
How much powder did you have in that
room Jan. ?''
about IS or 20 cases for delivery right
after the first of the month"
We'll, exactly how many did you
have?"
mot over 20 cases. We did have that
many, but / won't say that we had any
more"
"How many boxes did your company
own on the 18th of January ?''
mo one can tell exactly how many we
had"
''How is it that no one can give definite
information as to the exact amount of
powder you had?'
"Well, one reason is that we bought our
powder outright and another is that |
have full charge of the powder and my
records were destroyed in the fire. We
sent out to the magazine after powder
whenever we needed more than we had
on hand, which was sometimes not oftener
than two or three times a month. We kept
an average OF five or SIX boxes at the
warehouse all through the month"
"How, then, did you happen to have 10
cases there on Jan. ~
1T was brought in from the magazine
in expectation of orders TO be delivered
around town the next day"
IF that is so, why did you bring il to
town and store II inside the city limits
for even so long time as over night in
stead of sending out to the magazine
after il in the morning; was it not to
save expense
1T might have been"-(a fter some
hesitancy.)
"How many cases did you have in the
warehouse on Jan. Il ?''
Three, and not more than FIVE"
Cant you tell how many?"
swell, | know there were three, and
there might have been five; they weigh
80 pounds each"
"What became of the other Is boxes;
when we're they taken out and by
whom?'
81 don't know. | remember of having
shipped five boxes TO the Hecia company |
on Jan. 10, and of some having been sent |
to the Coiusa-PaI rot and Stuart mines. | |
4 IL 4.