The morning times., 1895-10-24
ROJsED ALL THE ANIMALS /
Fifty Pounds Of Dynamite Ex-
pIoded at the Zoo.
PLACED TOO NEAR A FIRE
workmen Tried to Hurry Matters Up
by Thawtng IL, Bnt the Fuses
Caught-Great CONSERVATION Fol-
lowed Among the Public Pets-Felt
Over the City.

A row as If all the thirteen-inch guns OF
Uncle Sans navy had been discharged al
once aroused and shocked all the slumbcr
ers OF Washington aud the rural districts
In the neignporbood of The Zoo yesterday
morning about $50 O'Clock.
IL was an explosion of dynamite, which
shattered window pancs, ratified crockery
rocked babies in their cradles and set al
the animals in the garden In a tremendous
uproar OF excitement The lions roared
tigers dashed their sides with their tails
hyenas laughed and the wolves howled, and
the baby lions nestled close 10 their mothers,
siiiycring with fear.
The shock was very perceptiblc in tn.
northern ard western parts of the city and
many OF the late sicepers were rudeiy
awakened. For hours after the cause oi
the shock was not known. However, in
such cases the people are not at a loss fol
some probable cause. Numerous theories
were advanced by the knowing ones dur
ing the day. but not one hit it, right
One suggested that &, might have been
caused by the breaking of "A cable ON the
Columbia Railway, another that it might
have been an earthquake shock, and still
another that the cause OF trouble and eX-
element may have been at the powder
magazine, a short distance down The river.
THAwING DYNAMITE.
They were all wrong. however, as slbse-
quent investigation proved. The explo'
sion, for that is what il was, occurred
at the Zoo in front of the main building,
where there is Il force of hands at work
on the Rock Creek interceptlng sewer.
In connection with this work there is n
great deal of rock Blasting by dynamite
and it WAS while two colored men, before
work hours, were preparing the dynamite
for blasting, that the explosion occurred.
Exactly how the accident took place is
not known, further than could be learned
from superintendent Frank Baker yesterday
afternoon.
When asked how 1t happened, DR.. Baker
said he knew very little and that he only
learned incidentally. The shock, he said,
was caused by the explosion Of a fifty
pound box of dynamite which two colored
men were preparing for WORK. These men
went to work earlier than the regular force
in order to thaw out the dynamite which
had been hardened by the cold of the night.
They had built a little fire and placed
the box containing the dynamite at a safe
distance, and all was going on well until
one of the wUrknlen, thinking there was
not sufficient heat To thaw the dynamite
before time for work, threw an empty
barrel on the blaze. Then there was
trouble. The sparks flew, and so did
the men, md in a twinkling after there
was q most terrific explosion which made
the earth trcmble for miles around.
FUSES CAUGHT.
II is not unusual, DR.. Baker said, for
dynamite TO ignite from sparks and in
all probability some of the fuses must have
been near the fire but were not noticed
by the iaborers until that moment. This,
he thinks, gave them a chance TO escape,
otherwise they. would have been blown
into atoms.
IL was very fortunate the accident oc-
CURED as early in the day at it did,
for had the explosion taken place
when the worEmen were all present
there would have been no possibility OF q
hasty escape and serious injury to many
must have resulted. As It is, however,
there was no damage done further than the
shattcring of window panes and the break
ing of crockery in houses in the immediate
neg hborhood.
The report that a big hole had been blown
in the ground was purely the outgrowth
of a fertile imagination. The explosion oc-
Cured on level ground few feet from the
sewer ditch, and there being no compress
sion the blast was upward, with nothing to
resist its force.
The work on the intercepdng canals
is being done by the government, and is
in charge of Contractor McCandlish.