The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-12-15
BLOWN 20 ATOMS.
A TERRIFIC DYNAMITE EXPLOSION
NEAR COLUMBIA.

Blown Up-Mr. Bran', Irs Keeper, Meets
Fearful Ead-The Check Felt IN the
Cty.
Aleu-: ore oclocl THURSDAY sitter
neon many houses in the city o; &C.
lumoia we're sbsken until the window
panes ratified and many citizens on the
streets stepped for moment puzzled
b. the roar CT terrific explosion.
Many wondered what it vas. Il was
10! long until they knew that 125
,.ourds OF dynamite Rad been acci-
dentally explcSea q mile from the
city and thst man had aeeG blown
% pieces By the dynamite
QuaTrya an JGo. BraGt, known
among his associates 2s ''Jsrry,' bad
core 70 the dynamite mseazina over
which ne reid swsy. In fev no
ments the fearful explosion followed
and when The workmen 100 yards
away recovered from the shock, they
had hard work hunting through the
fields for the bloody particles CT what
waS ou: fe7 minutes before, their
fellow workrnsr. Ii any nan ever
oet an Instant death Jerry must have
cone SO.
Exactly how ii occurred no one will
ever know. Tne only possible cause
assigned IS that Brant was smoking
his piEe when he went 20 the mag2
Z;ue, knowing that there is no danger
Of dynamite exploding without cor
clsSion; that there was loose powder
IL the magazine and upon this q spark
from the pipe was dropped causing the
necessary Conclusion 20 explode dyua-
ca;te sticks.
When the county "m2cadan qQar-
ry" was established on Smiths branch
about g quarter Of a mile from tae
.nain road, Capt Sigh built wooden
magazine On the side Of the road which
runs from the main road to the quar-
~, on the hill side l. was aoou. 40
/ yards from the tool house further on
ard 1C0 yards from the quarry.
! Capt. Sigh placed the keys Of this
magazine, which was eight feet long,
fcus wide and three deep, in the pcs
session o. Brant, who was an expert
eoced ouarryman. He was 81 years
! OF age and had been handling dyna-
mite for many years in q1arrying.
Capt. Sigh said be was careful, ex-
pert, al lays pleasant and faithful
in carrying out all orders given him.
He was one of the first men to be en-
pioyed at this quarry. He lived in the
city On Plain street near Wayne.
Thursday the blasting was all done
! early as usual. In the magazine there
were two and one half boxes OF dyna-
mite sticks, 125 pounds in all. Two
of the boxes had never been opened.
| The other had been opened and hall its
| contents used. The electric battery,
fuses and caps and other appliances
were also in the box.
About half past - o'clock Engineer
Taylor Marsh, who by the way was
the conductor who stoored the runa-
, way electric car on the incline last
summer, returned from the city bring
ing with him roll Of new fuses. He
handed the fuses to his colored fire.
| man, inc. Bowers, who carried them
! to the magazine box and laid them
down, going back and telling Brant
to 90 put them away, Brand, who,
so one OF the workmen, had but
few moments before lighted his pipe,
vent in the direction of the box. No
one o&id any attention to what he was
Z 4 81
the door OF the tool house and his fire
man was inside. In an instant there
was binding flash, a roar ard an
explosion that knocked some Of the
men down and stunned them for
few moments. Mr.. Marsh was hit on
the forehead by some flying objectand
had his scalp cat open. He stag
gered inside the door and leaned
against the wall. His fireman was
knocked down by the sbcck; he said
ne crawled out of the back OF the
shanty.
Mr.. Wray, the well known livery.
man, who was standing on the
Smiths branch bridge and was
possibly the Only one who saw tie ex
plos;on, though from distance
Of a quarter Of mile. He saw
something fly through the air at
the time he noted The fash, this prov
ed to be bundle OF fuses found later
1C0 yards away.
When the smoke Cleared away there
was fresh hole in the hillside where
the magazine had stood. When
representative 0: The State arrived the
oulk ot the remains Of Brart were
found 32 yards from the hole in the
middle OF the road leading towards the
main road. The man hsd been blown
through three clusters OF china5erry
trees by the roadside, the body bre&k-
iog # limbs in its passage. On the
tree limbs could be seen mangled por.
tons Of the body, the trees were be-
spattered with blood aid here aad
there strips Of the oUarryman,s Cloth
iag we're seen. One OF the mans fin
gers was taken from tree. The mass
in the road wss SO mangled ;h2: no
one could tell what portion of the
ocdy it represented w;incIC c;1se ex,
animation. The head ;qas blown Of
the trunk was GisemboweIed, both
legs were missing. 1t wss 9 mere
mass. Search about the ti=lds resulted
IA the finding Of first one foot then
another, the shoes blown of otee'::ss.. :;
aud 50 ii was Tpoffic5s Of
lie relsai.ns we're found IN al djrec
lons Pieces ofskuii bore we're found
far aE2y.
Strangely enough one OF the mans
hips WAS founGin the Opposite direction
as&r the quarry. All the pieces OF
board, remains Of the electric battery,
;usss, etc. we're found in the dlrec
2:on CT OF Hyatt,s park-a direction at
right angles to that taken oy the VIC
;!m-far away. One coil OF fuses
vas found fully 100 yards up the hill.
l. had not been injured ct all.
Capt Sigh was up the road. He
Tea!iz=d what had happened as soon as
he heard the explosion and w&s soon
on The sc"re. He said he had been told
that all the powder, which had been