The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-23
CORONER WILL PROBE IT
INQUEST ON THE CAUSE OF ExPLO- SION AT WINoHEsTER'S.

That Powder Contained Dynamite-win- chester Company Will be Generous to the Injured-Three Buried Yesterday and Four Will be Buried To-day.
 Coroner Mix arrived in this city last night from Boston and will to-day conduct an inquest into the awful ca tastrophe of Wednesday morning at the Winchester shop. He will visit the scene of the disaster and summon a number of workmen and the officials Of the company to give evidence in the hope that it may be learned how the explosion was caused. A rumor was abroad yesterday that some dynamite accidentally got into the powder which was put into the machine which explod- ed. The coroner's inquiry may probe this, but nothing is known about 1t now further than the suspicious of Ferdinand P1egher, who Is superinten- dent of the cartridge loading room. He does not accuse the powder boys who loaded the dome of the machine, but he says ae knew one of them was very green.
 Medical Examiner White said that his official opinion to be rendered to the coroner to-day will be that seven persons were accidentally killed at the Winchester works, but that the disastre was not caused by any criminal care lessness, so far as he could ascertain
 One of the workmen advanced the theory yesterday that nitro-Wood pow der was used to some extent. The ma chine was constructed for ordinary powder and with such was perfectly safe a flash being the only result of combustion. Black gun powder Is made of nitre, 74.S4 parts; sulphur, LISA parts; charcoal 1892 parts. It pre- sents to the eye a mass or gram, usually angular and of uniform size, dark in color and with polished sur face Nitro wood powder is as fine as flour and will stick to the fingers like flour; its combustion differs little from gun cotton In damp weather 1t be- comes compressed like dampened flour and will form into compact mass. A train of gun powder laid root Tn length and ignited burns rapidly, but the eve can watch the different grains burn. A similar train of nitro wood powder burns it's entire length imme- diately. the particles forming into a mass and the combustion being instan- taneous. The contents of keg of powder emptied on a slab of stone and tgnited will consume with flash and a puff The same quantity ot nitro wood powder chemists say, will blow the stone to atoms, the combustions being so exceedingly rapid that the air acts as cushion and confines the force allowing no expansion
 The Winchester people manufactura numerous grades of sporting cartridges. The high grade shells, Leader and Blue Royal, were made in the room where the fatality occurred Ordinary black powder was not considered Of a suffi- ciently explosive nature for these high grade shells, and two years ago, 1t Is stated, nitro wood powder was pro- cured.
 chemist states that it is extremely probable that a primer fell out, allow ed some powder to escape, and as there is communication between the table Of the machine to the powder reservoir above. and the damp weather render ing the powder compact, the stray pri- mer became lodged in a corner of the machine, and, being crushed, connect ed the flash to the loose powder and to the reservoir above. The machine, with ordinary powder, he says, is perfectly safe but with the chemical powder be- comes deadly bomb.
 1T doubt If the danger of using that powder was comprehended," he said. "None but chemist would appreciate it."
 
 Still another theory is advanced by those who claim to be familiar with the loading department They say that paper-shot shell was put Into the machine in an inverted position, and that the punch which is used to place the wads into the shell came down on the percussion cap and exploded it. This would quickly send the spark to the powder lying about the machine and into the dope where the powder with which the shells are loaded Is kept.
 The Winchester company, however, is not renliss in doing Its share of the in- vestigating In order that some meas ures may be adopted to prevent a re- currence of the awful affair of We'd nesday morning. Machine No. 19, which caused the explosion, has been taken to pieces by MT. Mason, the master mechanic of the shops, and inventor of the loading machinery, and is being ex- amined by him.
 Yesterday a rumor reached the sor- rowing families that the Winchester company would distribute s35,0O0 be tween the relatives of the dead and in- jured. The officials of the company re- fuse to deny or affirm thls rumor. They are credited with being very lib- cral to their employees and the relatives of those who suffer while in their en- ploy.
 All of the departments were running yesterday, with the exception of the gruesome loading room It was thought that the girls who worked at the fac tory would not return after having such sight brought before them, but with few exceptions the girls were at their places yesterday. The men came as usual. The priming and cart ridge departments, where the danger is at least as great as 1t is in the loading room. was running again with a full quota of employees.
 The loading room will be ready to re- sume operations in a day or two Just as soon as the bodies were removed from the fatal department a large