The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-02-21
OVER 4 HTNDRED DEAD.
Details Of the Explosion in johann
nesburg's Suburb.
SEVERAL HUNDRED WOUNDED

Twenty Tons of Dynamite Went on with a
Roar. Spreading Death and DesoIation
on Every Hand--Thousands Of People
Made Homeless.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Feb. s1.-
Details are reaching this city of what is
probably the most disastrous dynamite ex-
plosion on record in any part of the world
Thousands of people have been rendered
homeless by the terrible calamity, over 100
persons have been killed, some 200 to 300
men, women and children have been SC
verely wounded, and many others have
been more or less injured
Niedendorp, the scene of the calamity, is
suburb of Johannesburg. In 1t are hud.
died members of the poorer classes of
whites of the Rand, Malays, Kaffirs and
Cinnamon, who subsis6 for the most part
by doing odd jobs about the place, which
is a railway transfer station for the min
ing district of the section.
Among the freight cars standing on the
shunt lines at Viedendorp on Wednesday
were eight trucks loaded with dynamite.
The deadly stuff, twenty tons in ALL was
hidden under canvas coverings TO protect
| 1t from the rain and the sun
/ AS evening was approaching there was
an explosion near the freight depot, so
awful in its force that the ground for
] miles around was oonvulsed as If by an
earthquake, houses rocked and fell masses
of iron, earth, stone, wood and human re-
mains were hurled skywards the windows
of almost every house in Johannesburg
were broken, and people were blown
| through the air like straws before gust
of wind.
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 have been
driven twenty feet into the hard ground
The explosion tore a hole 200 feet long
and eighty feet wide over the the spot
where the eight trucks of dynamite stood
but few minutes before, The whole OF
that quarter of Johannesburg was liter
ally blown to pieces. The effects of the
explosion could be seen over radius Of
more than mile, and almost everything
with a half mile Of the spot where thu
trucks had been shunted for the nigh
was razed to the ground and crushed b!
the dynamite beyond redemption.
On the ground were blackened heaps o
human remains; limbs, heads, trunks
scorched and torn, The victims were
mostly Malays, Kaffirs and Cinnamon, tn
whites being in minority at Viedendorp
but in spite of this, quite a number o
white people, including six girls, ar
among the many victims Of this terribl
calamity.
In fifteen minutes after the explosion
occurred the bodies of forty persons, al
horribly mutilated were picked up an
carried away from the scene, while tn
searching of the ruins continued withou
interlnission. Over POO of the most Sc
verely injured persons were also carrie
away, and hundreds of other wounde
persons were taken to places where the
might be cared for.
e In addition to the wounded thousand
It of people, rendered homeless by the explC
4 sion, are being cared for by the charitabl
and will receive assistance until they ca
begin life anew.
Pieces of iron, stone and brick are seal
tered all over Johannesburg, and ever
building has felt the great shock more c
less.
How the explosion occurred is nC
known, but a belief prevails that a thie'
ing Kaffir found his way to the shunte
trucks, and that in trying to break ope
one of the cases of the explosive, being
ignorance of what it contained, he brougl
about the disaster which has caused
great loss Of life and which has rendere
so many people homeless and penniless.