River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1895-01-24
THE BUTTE DISASTER.
Scores Are Moved Down by a
Dynamite Explosion.
Fifty-Three Lives Are Known to Have
Been Thus Lost-Msny Others Are
Missing - Details of the Hor-
rible Affair.

| BUTTE, Mont, Jan. 19.-Hour after
hour the disaster of Tuesday has been
putting on more distressing proper
/ tions, and il looks now as if the real
weight and extent of the terrible
calamity would never be known. The
list of known dead has swelled to fifty
| three, and there are at least four in the
I hospitals who cannot recover.
Others are also believed to be fatally
injured. To the list of missing he name
of Charles Hoffbauer has been added.
A few hours before the explosion he
purchased pair of shoes, and on his
way home he evidently stopped at the
fire. One shoe, badly torn, of the new
ones he had under his arm has been
found quarter of a mile from the
scene of the catastrophe, but not L
fragment of Hoffba uer has been dis
covered. He was about twenty-eight
years of age and unmarried.
Included in the list of dead are the
four missing firemen-Dave Moses, Sam
Ash, 4. y. Norling and Ed Sloan-but
not Hotfbauer nor any other of the miss
ing. In the minds of those who visited
the scene after the explosion there is
atoms and never will be heard Of
Terrible Devastation.
When the smoke had cleared away
the terrified survivors were sickened at
the sight of the ground for block
around the scene of the explosion
strewn with the quivering and dismem-
bered flesh of men and horses, pinned
down by fragments of the fire engines
and burning brands from the demol-
ished warehouse.
Upon the site of the warehouse there
was a CHASTITY hole filed with debris
blazing in hundreds of places, with
here and there the fragment of an un-
fortunate fireman.
The noise of the explosion broke all
the glass in The city and caused the
houses to rock 50 violently that
the residents were stricken with
fear. They did not know from what
quarter the disaster had come, and as
the explosion had almost destroyed the
burning warehouse there was little to
mark the scene of terrible destruction.
second and Third Explosions.
After the first explosion hundreds of
people fastened to the scene, and this
accounts for the great loss oi life.
While they were endeavoring to render
assistance to the injured the second
explosion occurred, moving down the
crowds of men, women and children as
with sickle of death. The survivors
were fastening from the scene when
third explosion occurred, adding to the
list of victims. many of the terror
stricken people, fleeing from the scene
of destruction. were moved down by
the flying debris.
Three Firemen Survive.
Only three firemen present at the
scene of the fire escaped being killed.
Chief Cameron was blown to atoms,
and the only thing found of him was
his belt attached to a charred portion
of his body. The firemen who escaped
were Dave Moses, Dave McGee and j.
III. Flannerv.
Awful Force of Explosion.
From all that can be learned the total
amount of explosives that went up in
the three explosions was nearly thirty
tons-enough to wipe out the state of
Rhode Island. There were twenty tons
of giant powder alone that went up in
one blast.