Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-21
KILLED OVER ONE HUNDRED
Fearful Havoc Caused by Dynamite Bx-
plosion Near johannesburg.
VERY FEW VICTIMS WERE WHITE PEOPLE
Eight Carloads of the Deadly Com.
pound Accidentally Discharged
Reduce an Entire suburb
to Chaotic Ruins.

JOHANNESBURG, South African Republic,
Feb. 20.-Detais are reaching this city today
of what is probably the most disastrous
dynamite explosion on record in any part
OF the world. Thousands of people have
been rendered homeless by the terrible ca
lamity. about 100 persons are believed to
have been killed, some two or three hundred
men, women and children have been severely
wounded, and many others have been more
or less injured.
Viedendorp, the scene of the calamity, is
a suburb of johannesburg. In it are huddled
members of the poorer classes of whites of
the Rand-Maays, Kaffirs and Cinnamon
who subsist for the most part by doing odd
jobs about the place, which is a railway
transfer station for the mining districts of
tho section.
Among the freight cars standing on the
shunt lines at Viedendorp yesterday were
eight trucks loaded with dynamite. The
deadly stun was hidden under canvas cover
ings to protect 1t from the rain and SUM-
AS evening was approaching there was
an explosion near the freight depot so awful
in the intensity of its force that the ground
for miles around was convulsed as If by an
earthquake. Houses rocked and fell, masses
of iron, stone, earth. wood and human ruins
were hurled skywards, the windows of al
most every house in Johannesburg were
broken, and people were blown through the
air like straws before a gust of wind.
The explosion had torn hole 200 feet
long and eighty feet wide over the spot
where the eight trucks of dynamite stood
but a few minutes before The whole of that
quarter of Johannesburg was literally blown
to pieces. The effects of the explosion could
be seen over a radius of more than a mile
and almost everything within a half-mile of
where the trucks had been shuntcd for the
night was razed to the ground and crushed
by the dynamite beyond redemption. Iron
work was twisted and torn, stone destroyed
and brick work puiverized.
FEW VICTIMS WERE WHITE.
On the ground were blackened shapes of
human remains. limbs. heads. trunks,
scorched and torn. The victims were mostly
Maays, Kafiirs and Cinnamon, the whites
being in minority at Viedendorp, but in
spite of this, quite a number of white people,
including six girls, are among the many
victims Of this terrible calamity.
In fifteen minutes after the explosion oc-
Cured the bodies of forty dead persons. all
horribly mutilated, were picked up and car
ried away from the scene, while the search
ing of the ruins continued without intermis-
sion. over 200 of the most severely injured
persons were also carried away, and hun
dreds of other wounded were taken to places
where they might be cared for In addition
to the wounded, thousands of people were
rendered homeless by the explosion and are
being cared for by the charitable, and will
anew. ~
Pieces Of iron stone and bricks are scat
tered all over Johannesburg. Every building
has felt the great shock more or less.
Every physician in or about Johannesburg
Is assisting in the care of the wounded
The headquarters of the Wanderers club
is being used as mortuary chamber In the
galy decorated club room are horrible lines
of memberless, blackened trunks of human
bodies, rows of charred arms and legs,
crushed and burned heads hands, feet, pieces
of flesh etc. tied up in bags, the whole pre-
sentng a sight as blood-curdng as was ever
Witnessed Around the club and scene of the
explosion the most sickening scenes are wit
messed by fathers looking for their children
wives staring blankly at what seemed to be
the remains of husbands, the living, many of
them badly hurt themselves, hunting for
traces of their dead.
Probably the best idea of the force Of the
explosion can be gathered from the fact that
the iron aXles of the trucks upon which the
dynamite was loaded were driven twenty feet
into the hard ground.
CAUSE is UNKNOWN.
How the explosion occurred is not known
but belief prevails that thevng Kaffir
found his way to the shunted trucks and that
in trying to break open one of the cases of
the explosive, being in ignorance of what it
obtained, he brought about the disaster which
has caused 80 great a loss of life and which
ras rehueieu ~ many Peop'e hoi'ieiess anu
PenhIieNs A., ,...,,, -.
me EXACT eAteh. vi .ne ulSas.er WIN never
be known According to the estimates how
ever apou' "n iov persons nay peeN hiiien au
ANU. |Vo "ouhueu sefe.eS' III auu't'on IT
IS es'lfhated that ABOUT loo more nave peen
iess severely in5ureui several VI 'he "o"huea
nave since aieu Vi 'heir INJURIES
All Ihe noSpltals are hlieu Win sufferers
from the eApiosioI anu many pllVate houses
nave Deeh turned lh'o refugees ior the
"ouliueu anu holeiess'
Most Vi lhe houses III rieuehuoip were
pul,t pun Vi coIiusa'eu iIoil, as is usual m south
Air4cah suburbs, aiu vi th,s material, any
wnere near ,he spot where 'ne EXPULSION TOOK
p'a.e' haiuty 'eSelse ieii'n'ns' ,
popuiu euoSsi'p,'o' hes "een opSneu
40, the relle' on n ne eo wuuhueu ana nolleiess;
hiieaoy over TSoo'oov ano aas ono ueen ,alneu anu
'hIs aniounl WI reach e'ovoo peiole nlsht'
III auulllon, steps haae aleauy peeil taheli
W ciear away 'ne uep'ls iioii, lne n, Erounu;
pol.lo,' " nv n'o''eS 'ueu WI pe ~,
ses.eu III pu''uh ina dts,a am AN, 'pe WI
Vi recohstruc.ihs Vieuenuolp WIZ nc eoill,
are inferred, which Will probably be tomorrow
ard the occasion will be marked by turn
out OF almost the whole population OF Jo-
hinheSnuls. I'LL,
barmonionsiv nu in tba u succornp nf the wounaid
and homeless The disaster seems to have
done great deal toward healing the sore