Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-02-21
CAR LOADS
Of Dynamite Explode Near Jo-
hanneSburg, Transvaal.
Hundreds of Unfortunates Killed and
Horribly Mangled.
Forty Bodies Recovered, and the Search
for Dead Only BeGun-Niany Victims
Carried to Different Hospitais-ihe
Worst Explosion Ever Recorded.

JoHANNEsBURa, South African Re-
public, Feb. 90 "Details are reaching
this city of what is probably the
most disastrous dynamite explosion on
record in any part of the world. Thou
sands of people have been rendered
homeless by the terrible calamity,
about 100 persons are believed to have
been killed, some 300 men, women and
children have been severely wounded
and many others have been more or
less injured.
Viedendorp, the scene of the calam-
ity, is a suburb of Johannesburg. In
it are huddled members of the poorer
classes of the. whites of the Rand,
Malays, Kaffirs and Cinnamon, who
subsist for the most part by doing odd
jobs about the place, which is a rail-
way transfer station for the mining
districts of the section.
Among the freight cars standing on
the shunt lines at Viedendorp Wednes-
day were eight trucks loaded with
dynamite. The deadly stuff was hid.
den under canvas coverings to protect
it from the rain and sun.
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, earth, stone, wood
and human remains were hurled sky.
wards, the windows of almost
every house in Johannesburg were
broken and people were blown through
the air like straws before gust OF
wind. The explosion had torn a hole
200 feet long and so feet wide over the
spot whore the eight trucks of dyna-
mite stood but few minutes before
The whole of that quarter of Johannes
burg was blown to pieces The eff
fects of the explosion could be seen
over radius of more than a mile, and
almost verything within half mile
of the spot where the trucks had been
shunted for the night was RACED to the
ground and crushed by the dynamite
beyond redemption; iron work twisted
aud torn, stones destroyed and brick
work pulverized.
On the ground were blackened heaps
of human remains, limbs, heads,
trunks, scorched and torn. The vic.
tins were mostly Malays, Katlirs and
Cinnamon.
In - minutes after the eXplos-
ion occurred the bodies of 40 dead
persons, all horribly mutilated, were
picked up and carried away from the
scene, while the searching of the ruins
continued without intermission. Over
200 of the most severely injured per-
sons were also carried away and hun.
dreds of other wounded persons were
taken to places where they might be
cared for.
In addition to the wounded, thou. |
sands of people rendered homeless by
the explosion are being cared for by
the charitable and will receive assist.
ance until they can begin life anew.
Pieces of iron, stone and bricks are
scattered all over Johannesburg; every
building has felt the great shock more
or less.
Every physician in or about Johan-
nesburg isnassisting in the care of the
wounded.
Probably the best idea iof the force
of the explosion can be gathered from
the fact that the iron ayles of the
trucks upon which the dynamite was
loaded have been driven 20 feet into
the hard ground.