The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-01-18
FIRE DEPARTMENT WIPED OUT,
Not a Single Man or Beast ES.
Gaping Death or Seri-
Gus Injuries.
AWFUL DESTRUCTION WROUGHT
Damage to Property Through
out the City Is Simply
Enormous.


Cured in the Butte Hardware com
pany's warehouse, in which giant pow.
der was stored. The fire department,
were at work on the fire when the ex
plosion took place, killing scores OF
people. While efforts were being made
to remove the dead and wounded a Sec
Ond explosion occurred. The entire fire
department was wiped out, including
the chief and all the horses. Three
policemen were among the killed, who
broken all over the city and the damage
to property is enormous. ALI the am
balances were rushing to and from the
scene of the explosion. The relatives of
the killed are frantic and the city is in
CONSERVATION. The powder in the ware
house was in violation of law. 1t was
the greatest explosion in the history of
the West.
The Call of Death.
At 9:55 o'clock the fire department.
responded to a call from Box 70, the
call of death to nearly the entire de-
partmant. The fire was either in the
Kenyon Cornell or the Butte Hardware
company's warehouse and both con-
tanned powder. There was rumor
that there was powder in the building,
but this was denied and after a mo-
ment's hesitation they began fighting
the fire. At 1908 the men had barely
started to work, when there was an ex-
plosion which shook Butte to it's very
foundation. The powder in the ware
house blew up,
Spreading Death and Ruin
to all who were near. All but three of
the firemen We're killed There were
heroes among the spectators, however,
and as soon as the stun of the shock
passed away, while some ran in terror,
others Immediately began pulling the
mutilated bodies of the fremen and the
injured from the proximity of the
flames. From all over the city people
began moving towards the fire and the
crowd had greatly increased within five
minutes. Just about that length of
time after the first explosion, second
explosion almost equal in volume to the
first heightened the terror all over the
city and
Spread Death and Desolation
at the disastrous scene. In this explo-
sion scores of citizens were killed and
injured. Parts of bodies were hurled
scores Of feet away. A man near the
Northern Pacific water tank was almost
struck by the leg and thigh of human
being, driven by the force of dynamite
from the fearful scene. There were
still heroes left to help pull the shrek
ing wounded and the groaning dying to
distance, but the people up town hest
tated. There had been two explosions
and there might be more. There were
reports of carloads of powder in the
vicinity besides that stored in the ware
houses. Five minutes later
A Third Explosion Did Come,
but it was mild one, and it is believed
that very few, if any, were injured in
it. 1t had all occurred in Is minutes,
the most horrible quarter of an hour in
Butte's history. The horrible awful
ness of the scene after the explosions
was beyond description. Words could
give no idea of it. 1t presented more
the appearance of field of battle than
anything else. The dead We're strewn
everywhere and the cries and groans of
the injured and dying presented scene
altogether unearthly. Blood and brains
were spattered about. Here were legs
and arms; scattered around here and
there were pieces of flesh and entrails.
Was Siclxening.
Between the Northern Pacific and Great
Northern depots, a space of 800 feet, the
ground was literally covered with parts
OF human beings and with the dead and
injured. The scene was one of utter
and absolute destruction. The houses
in the vicinity were as thoroughly
wrecked as if cyclone had passed
through them. One of the rescuing
corps gathered 81 dead bodies in one
pile. Eight were in another. Two and
three in other piles. The rescuers
pulled some of the bodies out still quiv-
ering, the remnants of the human be-
ings still grooming while legs and arms
had been torn off. Shapeless trunks
quivered and
Died in the Arms of the Living.
The work of rescue was prosecuted in
earnest. Every vehicle in the city was
brought into service to carry away the
scores of dead, the hundreds of injured. 4