The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-23

An Explosion In thewinchester Arms Fac.
tory-Four Women and Two Men Blown
to Pieces-Many Others wounded-Ths
Scene q Chastity One
New Haven, Conn, July 21.-Four
women and two men were killed today
by an explosion in the loading depart
ment at the armory Of the Winchester
Repeating Arms Company. Five 9TH
ers We're taken to the hospital, badly
injured.
The dead are: William F. Banner,
Mrs. Mary Baumeister, Miss Josie
! Brennan. Miss Ida Brown, William
Hill, Miss Tracy Conroy. The fatally
J injured are: George Bardorf and Ed
ward Bardorf.
The explosion occurred in the loading
room. Employed in this room were $50
hands, two-thrids of them girls or
women. Nearly all the female hands
are employed on the loading machines,
each of which requires three operators.
The full complement of hands was at
work in the room when the explosion
took place. Forty feet of the side of
the building was blown out and hurled
in pieces many feet, and fragments of
human bodies were scattered in sick
ening manner.
A hurry call was sent for all avail
able physicians. The fire department,
the police and the ambulance and hos
pita1 corps were speedily summoned
and the work of caring for the dead
and injured was begun. Narrowing
scenes were witnessed as the vast
throng congregated about the place.
AS rapidly as possible the injured were
cared for. In two instances the suffer-
ing of the wounded was frightful. Or
was partially disemboweled. AS rapid
ly as a victim was seen to be alive the
sufferer was tenderly cared for, made
as comfortable as possible and convey
ed with all possible speed to his home.
Two Of the bodies had been decapi-
tated. Others had been partially torn
asunder, and still others had been dis
membered. The officials of the COM
pany expended every effort to assist
lin the work of relief.
R~Perhaps the saddest scene was enact
ed when John Baumeister learned that
his wife was among the dead. He lived
in Hampden and had been but recently
married At the time of the explosion
he was at work but a few feet distant
from his wife. Mrs. Baumeister was
but Is years old, and had been in the
factory but three weeks. She was mar
ried a little over month ago, and she
and her husband used adjoining ma
chimes. The girl was blown fully fifty
feet and so crushed out of shape that
it was almost impossible to identify
her. The husband, curiously enough,
was apparently blown with the same
force and by the same blast, and yet
he is one Of the least seriously injured.
He struck the ground but a few feet
short of his wife.
The explosion did not cause a fire,
and the fire department confined it's
efforts to aiding in the work of relief.
The cause of the explosion has not
been determined, and perhaps it's
cause may never be known. Some of
those at work in the room at the time
say it was due to the fact that car
fridge in loading had been improperly
placed in the machine.
OF the injured, those who are able to
talk remember nothing except a blind
ing flash. Some did not even hear the
explosion. The Bardorf boys, working
side by side, were thrown at a tan
gent out one side of the building. They
struck the ground thirty feet away.
They are so crushed and mangled that
they will die.
Edward Blair, working ten feet away
at hrs machine, was sent upward
through the roof. He fell on an ash
heap, with broken bones and frac-
tured skull and his legs twisted out Of
shape. The doctors say he, too, will
die.
Edward Bardorf died after being
taken to the hospital.
Ida Brown, one Of those killed out
right, came from Detroit, Mich, in
which city her parents reside.
T. G. Bennett, president of the COM
pany, said: We have been running
automatic loading machines for some
thing more than twenty years, and this
is the first time that any one has
been injured in their use. Since the
adoptio.l Of those machines we have
had II accident in the use of black
gunpowder.'' Mr.. Bennett expressed
the belief that through the carelessness
of the operator or the powder boy the
machine that exploded had been over
oI,