The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-07-28
EXPLOSION HORROR.
SOUR WOMEN AND TWO MEN VIC
TINS OF POWDER.

TINS OF POWDER.
= Ea-row.Dg scene--s1ansted Bodies
| strsv the QroGnd--a Young wlfo Killed
by aer Husband's Side.
-Four women and two men were
killed Wednesday at New Haven,
Conn, by an ex olosion in the loading
department at tae arnory Of the Win.
chester Rapeatirg Arms company.
Five others we're taken to the hospital
| badly wounded. The dead are: Viii
! liam L. B2uner, Mrs. Mary Banner,
Miss Jennie Banner, Miss Ida Brown,
William Hill and Miss Tracy Conroy.
Fatally injured: George Bardof, Ed
ward Bardoff.
T1a explosion occurred in the load.
ing room. Employed in this room
were $50 hands, tvo.thirds Of them
girls and women. Nearly all Of the
! female hands ara employed on the
/ losding machiaes, each of which re-
qUires tarea operators. The full com.
element OF hauds was at work IN the
Ioom when the explosion took place.
Forty feet Of the side o. the building
Tas blown ou! and hurled many feet
and fragments OF human bodies were
scattered IL slckeaing manner. 4
hurry call was sent for al available
| Physicians Tne Gre department, the
police, toe ambulance and hospital
;oorFs were speedily summoned and
/ the work Of caring for the dead and
! Injured vas begun.
/ Sarro wing scenes were witnessed
as tee vast throac coagregated about
the place. As rapidly as possible the
/ Injured were cared for. II two in
s:aaces tha suffering OF the wounded
vas frightfui. Oae was partially dis
emboTe.ed.
As rapidly as 9 victim was seen to
oe aliye, the sufferer was tenderly
cared for, made as comfortable as pos
sibie aud conveyed with all possible
ispeed to his home. Two Of the bodies
aad been decapitated. Others had
oaan partially torn asunder, and stiit
;others had been dismembared. The
officials Of the company expended
every effort to assist in the work OF
relief.
!; Perhaps the saddest scene was en-
;acted when John Baumer learned that
his wife was among the dead. He
lived in HamoGen and had been but
recently married. At the time OF the
sexplcSion he was ct work few feet
distant from his wife. Mary Bauner
was but l6 years old aud had oeen
IL the factory bat three weeks. she
was married little over a month ago
land she and her husband, Fritz, used
adjoining machines. The girl was
iblowr fully 50 feet and so crushed out
| OF shape that it was almost impossible
Ito identity her. The husband, Curl
;ously enough, was apparently blown
! with the same force and by the same
| blast, and yet he is one OF the least
Iserioasly injured. He struck the
ground but a few feet short OF his
wife.
Tie explosion did not cause any
::le, and the FIRE department confined
| its efforts to aiding in the work of re-
1 lief. The cause of the explosion has
,inot been determined and perhaps is
cause may never be known. Some OF
| those at work in the room at t. time
SAY it was due to the fact that q cart.
fridge in process of loading had been
improperly placed in the machine.
Il OF the injured, those able to talk
!remenbe nothing, except binding
flash. Some did not even hear the ex.
;plosion. The two Bardorf boys, work
ing side by side, were thrown at a
|! tangent out one side of the building.
They struck the ground 80 feet away.
iThev were 50 crushed and maugled that
they will die. Edward Blair, work.
iics 10 feet away at bis machine was
sent upward through the roof. He
fell on an ash heap with broken bones
land q fractured skull and his legs
!tWis!ed out of shape. The doctors say
:he, too, will die. Edward Bardorf
| died after being taken to the hospital.
T5a Brown, one Of those killed out
, right, came from Detroit, Mich, IN
which city her parents live. 7. G.
! Baalett, president OF the company,
isaid: 'We have been running auto
! matte loading machines for something
more than 30 years, and this is the
first time that any one hiss been in
! iured 10 their use. Since the adoption
:! Of those machines we have had no &C
ciden. in the use of black gunpow-
der"
Nr. Bennett expressed the belief
that through the carelessness OF an
Icperator or the powder boy, the ma
!c1ios that exploded had been over
charged