The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-09-02

OAhLANO, OAD., SepG. 1.-1nlS aIJer-
noon grief was hurled into four happy
families at Pinole. James McNulty, W.
w. Crater, Manuel Garcia Mortirzo and
John Freitas went to their work in the
early morning and in the afternoon their
disfigured bodies lay side by side in the
acid-house that for many successive years
has done duty at the California Powder
Works as morgue.
In another part of the big charnel-house,
in small boxes, were the remains of eight
Cinnamon. Around them a small group
Of their countrymen were chattering,
though whether their excitement was due
to grief or congratulation over their own
fate no white man can Judge.
a tongue of fame had shot into the air
about an hour after noon. Bright as was
the sun it was NOT bright enough to
eclipse the view of the curling fire from
being seen for miles around.
A few seconds after the fash there was
a long, low rum bling sound that shook the
earth, and again, after the lapse OF few
seconds, there was another fash and an
other sound like distant thunder Under
ordinary circumstances it would be
thought that summer storm was pass
ing over the Berkeley hills. But the
wives and mothers who live near Pinole
Point know by sad experience just what
such artificial lightning and thunder mean.
They rush at once to the gate and down
the dusty road to learn who is left father
less and what homes are bereft of the
bread-winner.
A dozen men were at work in the nitro
glycerine house. They had just returned
from their midday meal and were going
about their dangerous duties, though
with no thought OF danger TO themselves
With confidence, the result of being ac-
customed to handle deadly material they
passed their jokes and carried on their
conversation with as much apparent care
lessness as though they were al picnic
Suddenly there was a shout
One of the most experienced men
thought he saw something unnatural
lowering over a bucket of the deadly acid.
He looked again and experience told him
instantly that he and his fellow workmen
were on the verge of eternity. He did not
let moment pass, but rushing to the
doors he yelled, Follow me boys, she's
going"
Men in powder factories do not cry
"Wolf" when there is no wild beast in
sight, and the companions of Gus Shredder,
who made the discovery, did not hesitate
or reason why" They few, and as they
few they shouted.
They had gone about a thousand feet
when there was fash of lightning. in
stantly followed 6y deafening crashing
louder than any thunder. The ground
trembled beneath them, and those who
were not thrown down quickly sought a
PROSTATE position as the safest way to
avoid the flying missiles.
Any one observing them would have
thought that they were killed, as not one
moved. Not so, however. There was a
method in their act They knew that
their late workshop was connected with
another deadly place-the mixing-house-
with pipe through which the ignited
acid would surely travel at fearful speed.
When the flames should reach the mix
ing-house, then
But before they had time to think their
fear was realized, another fash came
which they did not see, as their faces were
on the ground. They heard the harrow
ing explosion and crash that followed. and
then they arose, and little later were
working hard with others in subduing the
fires kindied by the two explosions.
Although the men in the nitro-g -glycerine
house escaped uniniured, far different was
the fate OF the poor fellows who were in
the mixing-house. Eight Cinnamon, who
were at work in the house, James Nc
Nulty the foreman of the glycerine- house,
and w. w. Crater, VINO was in the fatal
territory, were sacrificed instantly. Very
hard was the fate of McNulty. His work
was with the men who escaped, and had
he not just made a call at the mixing
house he would in all human probability
have still been alive.
Manuel Garcia Mortirzo and John
Freitas were working in car that was on
a railroad track on the bank above the
mixing-ho Whether or not they tried
to save themselves after the first explosion
viii never be known, but their dead bodies
were picked up about twenty :eet from the
track in such condition that nobody but
their intimate acquaintance would know
them
When the fact was realized that there
was no danger of any further explosions