Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-06-09

Chicago. June S.-A match carelessly
dropped by one of the wOrkmen in the
fire works factory of NJ. Shure, at the
corner of West Van Buren, and Hal
sted streets. caused terrific explosion
a few minutes after 6 o'clock tonight.
1t was shortly after the closing time
of the factory and many OF the work
men had gone home, otherwise the loss
of life must have been very heavy. AS
it was. number of the employees were
badly hurt and the flying rockets and
candles struck several people who
were passing on street cars and on the
sidewalks. Following is the list of the
injured:
Mrs Maggie Kenny, struck by run
away horse, bruised and cut; Miss Min
ME Theuey, bruised and cut; NJ. Shure,
proprietor fireworks factory, badly cut
by glass; George Grant, cut by glass;
Mrs. Kate Grant, cut by glass; Obin
Temper, cut on head by falling beam;
Fred \. Stiles, motorman on passing
cable car. severely bruised and cut by
being thrown from his car; Andrew
Lawson. conductor on same train,
bruised by being thrown from car; c.
\. Smith. cut by glass while walking
on the street; Philip Shohard, struck
in back by sky rocket while on the op-
posite side Of the street; unconscious
and badly hurt; J. F. Harris, cut by
glass; Edward Hayes, passenger on ca
BILE car. head cut by falling glass;
Samuel Brasnik tailor, jumped from
Balcony. leg broken; John Beckwaret,
back cut; VIM. Blaha. injured by
runaway horse; Max Braselnik, spine
injured by fall; Patrick Hussey, struck
by a falling beam and several ribs
fractured: Unknown boy, run over by
Fire Chief Swenie's buggy; Oscar
Behlke, clerk for Yondorff Bros,
struck by falling wall, not seriously;
c. Gordon, hurled through a plate
glass windaw into saloon, badly cut.
The following were slightly injured
by flying glass. but all are expected to
recover: Nellie Burke, Peter Bullet,
Ludwig Zisow, Frank Hicke, Charles
Cardiff, Alpha Jones.
The force of the explosion WIS so
great that nearly al, the windows in the
block were demolished and the Shure
building. which is a four-story struc-
ture. was badly damaged. Immediate
" following the explosion the building
was ablaze from cellar to roof, and the
fire department had a desperate strug-
gle before it succeeded in extinguish-
ing the flames. The building was a.
most entirely destroyed by the fire,
however. and such portions of the large
stock of fireworks as had not been scat
tered throughout the neighborhood by
the explosion were destroyed, causing
a heavy loss TO Shure.
The explosion caused wild panic in
that portion of the town for a time,
and the widest stories were current re-
garding the number of killed and
wounded. 1t happened at a time when
the streets were crowded with people
on their way to their homes. and the
street cars which pass the front of the
building every minute, were densely
crowded with passengers. They flying
missiles from the factory struck
number of people on the cars, and one
n who was gazing into a store win
dow fully 400 feet distant, had his at
tention suddenly attracted to other mat
ters by a rocket which hit him square
" in the back. He fell to the sidewalk
unconscious and was carried to the hos
pital before he was able to give his
name. The majority Of those injured
have received but ;rihing hurts and will
ne around within day or two. The
loss to the building and contents is es-
timated at 100000
o.