The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-09
BLOWN UP At BERKELEY,
John Harbetz and A. E. Butson
Killed at the JudSon
Dynamite Works.
A Carpenters CareleSsness Causes
Fatal Explosion of Nitro
Glycerine.

Two men lost their lives and at bird
man was badly injured by a strange
accident at the Judson Dynamite and
Powder Works, two miles from West
Berkeley, yesterday morning.
The dead are John Harbetz, foreman
carpenter at the works, and Allen E. But
son, a helper.
Early yesterday morning it was discov-
cred that the pillow of one OF the mixing
machines, used to convert nitro-glycerine
into dynamite, was out of repair and Su-
perintendent Kennedy ordered Harbetz to
fix it at once. To avoid accidents the
machine was taken to the carpenter-shop,
which is about 1000 feet from the mixing
house, and Harbetz began preparations for
the work.
The superintendent, TO make sure that
careless handling should not cause a ca
tastrophe, shouted:
'Be careful about that pillow, John, there
may be something left in it,
Its all right" answered Harbetz. "we
have washed it out with soda and / guess
it's clean"
While they were talking Frank Roster,
another employe, walked UP to where Har-
betz and Butson were working and stood
watching their preparations. Superin-
tendent Kennedy, satisfied that Harbetz
would be careful, turned and walked away,
but had not taken more than dozen steps
when he was startled by heavy explosion
and turned to see the three men lying on
the ground and the fragments of the plow
scattered about He hurried to the car
penter-shop and seeing at once that the
men were seriously, if not fatally injured,
telephoned for medical assistance and then
made the sufferers as comfortable as pos
sible.
Butson, the right side of whose face was
blown off, lived out ten minutes before
death came to his relief.
Harbetz was still alive when Drs. Crow
ley and Eastman Of Oakland reached the
scene. His body was badly torn, his right
arm being reduced to shreds. The ply
sicians at once amputated that member,
but the operation was of no avail, and he
passed away about two hours after the
accident. Roster, who was standing
within three feet of the pillow when the ex-
ploslon occurred, was thrown violently to
the ground, but was not seriously injured.
He says that Butson, after tapping the
plow, which is made of heavy planks
bound together with strips OF iron, with
his hammer, started to fasten one OF the
pieces of wood with heavy nail. He had
not driven the nail more than half way in
when there was g binding fash, accom-
panied by a sharp explosion. and he was
thrown to the ground.
Superintendent Kennedy is at loss to
account for the explosion except on the
hypothesis that Harbetz, in cleaning the
plow, failed to remove all the nitro.
glycerine from the Joints of the machine,
and the conclusion Of the hammer driving
the nail caused the remaining particles to
explode. He also says that the plow was
saturated with the explosive, and that the
explosion OF small particle probably
caused the remainder to explode.
"Harbetz and Butson,'. he said, chad
been employed about these works for
years, and knew better than any one else
the danger OF using hammer or any other
hard utensll In repairing anything that
had come In contact with the glycerine. 1t
is rule of the works not to use metallic
substances on anything about the mixing
house.
II warned Harbetz not to hammer the
plow, and when be seemed like disregard
ing my admonition spoke more strongly
TO him about the matter and left believing
that he would follow my instructions. at
the same time it seems strange that the
explosion should occur after Harbetz had
washed the pillow with soda.
Rosters escape from serious injury, if
was near enough to the pillow to have re-
ceiyed the full force of the explosion had it
gone his way, but one of the queer freaks
Of the stuff sent it away from him and he
escaped"
DR.. Crowley was no less mystified than
Mr.. Kennedy regarding Rosters escape.
Show he could have been singled out to
escape when standing within arms length
of those who were terribly mangled is
more than l can understand he said.
HE will recover, his injuries being con-
fined to severe shock and large num-
Der of splinters which were blown into
him. The other men were beyond help
when we reached there, and could not
have survived under any circumstances. !"
children, and lived at Berkeley, while
Butson was single and resided at Siege.
The former was 81 years of age and the lat
ter 81.