The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-05-30
INSTANTLY KILLED.

ten minutes to yesterday afternoon.
The report Of the explosion shattered
panes of glass in houses near the ar
mory and shook the ground for blocks.
1t was heard in all parts of the city.
The deceased had worked as full
inmate mixer for over five years. The
man he succeeded was killed by an ex-
| plosion of illuminate. Just how Mr..
Spillane met his death will never be
| known. He was alone in the mixing
| building, which is small low brick
structure covering a pit in the ground
several feet deep. The roof Is of can
vas, so as to furnish the least possible
resistance to explosive force, Spillane
| probably allowed the illuminate to get
too dry, as in this condition it explodes
/ easily
Ground glass is used in the mix
ture, and il the mixture becomes dry
| an explosion caused by friction is LA
BILE. Undoubtedly this is what occurred
in this case.
Mr.. Spillane was thirty-four years
old and unmarried, and resided at 1903
Ashmun street. He was an experienced
man and had worked at Winchester's
ever since boyhood. He had charge
of the illuminate houses.
When found after the explosion the
body of the unfortunate man lay about
three feet from the mixing house. The
clothes was torn in shreds and the
flesh was bleeding and was badly LAGER
ated In places.
mned to view the body of the dead man,
and he gave a verdict in accordance
with the fact.
Spillane has had what might be called
narrow escapes from death before Once
he had started to go to the mixing house
and when but few hundred feet away
from 1t an explosion occurred. Another
time he had Just left the house when the
illuminate went off.
The dead man was we'll known in the
Ninth ward, and was political power
there. He had many friends. He llv-
ed with his mother and three brothers
at 109 Ashmun street One OF his broth
ers is John ]. Spillane, the we'll known
newspaper man.
Immediately after the explosion the
fire alarm rang box 522, and firemen re-
sponded and kept streams playing on
burning boards ignited by the blast of
After the explosion Rev. Father Fow- |
Ter Of st. Mary's church, who was sum
moned In great haste to administer the
rights of the church to Spillane, whom |
1t was thought was not dead, arrived at |
the gate. Some Of the officials of the |
company gave orders to admit no one |
TO the yard, hence no one was admitted, |
as a precautionary measure of safety, |
as in the excitement It was not Known |
II all danger from the illuminate was
over
The body when placed in the coffin
by Undertaken Michael #. Walker, who
was summoned, presented fearful APP
All the clothing from the
waist up had been blown off, the
were badly burned and the
shoes were scorched so that they were
rs hard as wood. The exposed part of
he body, arms and head, were as
slack as COAL The left hand was blown
off at the wrist, as were also the fingers
If the right hand. The eyes were
,lowm from their sockets and the tongue
vas driven into the neck. The muscles
- liiG lisaAiA ain NIiC NblAA eNWeS CIV |
10 the blackened flesh were
,ieces Of what appeared to be clover
eaf and a small buttercup flower. On
he whole exposed part of the body [
here was only one white spot and
hat was on the left shoulder and was
bout the size of a silver dollar The 4,
econd and third toes of the right foot /
we're badly mangled. The body was
aiken to the embaIming rooms of I'm s
ertaker Walker, where 1t was placed
n a very presentable condition and |
vas later removed to the late residence
I the deceased at 100 Ashmun street {
After the first explosion the great
caused the explosion of '
bout twenty-five pounds of illuminate
I the dry house. This was the cause
the alarm Of fire. The two explo- +
ions seemed almost simultaneous. The
ry house was a small building of wood I
nd brick and was blown to frag- L
tents. 1t stood about one hundred feet
rom the cell where Spillane was work
lg. A man working in the cartridge
hop saw a big flash of white smoke
nd a flash and then heard the explo-
ion. He was badly stunned. The con-
ussion also blew out some of the win
ows of the cartridge factory and sew
raj Of the girls were thrown to the
cor and became wildly hystercal
wo girls tried to jump from a win
DIV. Directly after the explosion the
lrs on the Dixwell avenue electric line
ere thronged with people going to
he scene. Among them were a large
lmber of Yale students. There were
least 1000 people gathered outside
lie factory in the vicinity of where
lie accident occurred. The gates were
larded by policemen, two at each
ute, and guards from the factory were
ationed all along the factory fence to
op people from climbing over Up
near 4 O'Clock the people kept com
g to the scene in crowds. Superin-
ndent of Fire Alarm Smith was
nong the city officials on the ground
r some thine. The recall was not rung
till near 8 O'Clock.
Deeds Recorded. :