The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1895-01-19
THE POPULATION is STUNNED
Fire Ia Warehouse Ignited Dynamite
and an Awful Wreck Was
the Result.
Especial Telegram)

stored tonight The fire department
were at work on the fire when an ex-
plosion took place, killing a large num-
Der. While efforts were being made to
remove the dead and wounded a second
explosion occurred. The entire fire de-
partment was wiped out, including the
chief and all the horses. Three police
men were among the killed who num-
Der at least 75
Plate glass was broken all over the
city and the damage to property is
enormous All the ambulances are
rushing to and fro from the scene of the
explosion Relatives of the killed are
frantic and the city is in CONSERVATION.
The powder in the warehouse was in
violation of the law. 1t was the great
est explosion in the history of the west.
At 1855 p. m. the fire department re-
sponded to a call from box Y, the call
of death to nearly the entire depart
ment. The fire was either in the Ken
yon-Cornell or the Butte Hardware
Company warehouse and both con-
tanned powder There was a rumor
that there was powder in the building
but this was denied, and after mo-
ment's hesitation they began lighting
the fire. At 10 o'clock when the men
had barely started to work. there was
an explosion which shook Butte to its
foundations. The powder in the ware
house blew up, spreading death and
ruin to all who were near. All but three
of the firemen were killed. 1t is believed
that in the first explosion only the fire
men were killed There We're heroes
among the spectators, however, and
as soon as the stun Of the shock passed
away, while some ran in terror others
began pulling the mutilated bodies of
the firemen and the injured from the
proximity of the flames From all over
the city people began moving toward
the fire and the crowd had greatly in
creased within five minutes
SECOND EXPLOSION.
Within about five minutes after
the first explosion a 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 explosion
scores Of citizens were killed and in
jured. Parts of bodies were hurled
scores of feet away. one man near the
Northern Pacific water tank was al
most struck by the leg and thigh of a
human being driven by the force OF
dynamite from the fearful scene There
were still heroes left to help pull the
shrieking wounded and the grooming
dying to a distance, but the people W
town hesitated. There had been two
explosions and there might be more
There were rumors of carloads of pow
der being in the vicinity, besides thai
stored in the warehouses. Five min
utes later a third explosion did come
but it was a mild one, and it is believed
that very few, if any, were injured il
this
FRIGHTFUL SCENES.
This had all occurred in 10 minutes
the most horrible quarter of an hou
in Butte's history. The awfulness o
the scene after the explosions was be
yond description. Words could give NJ
idea of it. 1t presented more the ap
pearance of a field of battle than any
thing else. The dead are strewn every
where and the cries and groans of tn
injured and dying presented scene al
together unearthly. Blood and brain
were scattered all about. Here wer
legs and arms scattered around an
there were pieces of flesh and entrail'
1t was sickening.
Between the Northern Pacific an
Great Northern depots, a space OF 81
feet. the ground was literally covere
with parts of human bodies and wit
dead and injured. The scene was OF
of utter and absolute destruction. tt
houses in the vicinity were as thorough
Iy wrecked as If a cyclone had passe
through them. One of the rescuin
CORPS gathered q dead bodies in or
pile. eight in another and two an
three in other piles. The rescuers pulle
some of the bodies out still quiverin
the remnants of human beings sti
grooming while legs and arms had bee
torn off, and shapeless trunks quivere
and died in the arms of the living.
The work of rescue was prosecute
in earnest. Every vehicle in the eli
was brought into service to carry ava
the scores of dead and the hundreds
injured. The hospitals were filled, Il
snare rooms in the hotels were take
and private houses were thrown OpC
where necessary.
The dead body of a small boy, nan
unknown was picked up on East Go
street by James Thompson after Il
second explosion had occurred. The
were no marks on his body and he eV
IDENTIFY was killed by the concussio
The body was sent to one of the unde
taking rooms.
All night the crowds or anxious Peep