The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-07-22
APPALLING ACCIDENT
In the Leading Room Of the Win
chester Arms Company.
SEVEN DEAD, TWOFATALLY HURT

SEVEN DEAD, TWO FATALLY HURT
Among the Dend Was Sixteen-Year
Old Girl Who Had Been Married Blu,
Month-Her Husband Escaped Sc.
rIous Injury.
New Haven, Conn. July 22.-An ap.
palling accident occurred yesterday ir
the shell loading department of this
Winchester Repeating Fire Arms com
pany. Without an instants warning
six human beings lost their lives by an
explosion, and another victim died soor
afterward at the hospital. A score OF
others were more or less seriously in
jured. but no further fatalities are an.
ticipated. More than $50 men and wo-
men are employed in the loading de-
partment, and that more fatalities did
not result from the conclusion is al
most miraculous.
The hundreds of people who gathered
about the gates Immediately after the
explosion witnessed a gruesome sight
Six dead bodies, backened with powder
and frightfully mangled, almost beyond
recognition. were lying on the floor.
Near by two injured men were writh-
ing in agony, and all about were men
running with their faces and arms
bleeding from shot wounds, unmindful
of their injuries, trying to assist and
quell the confusion. Owing to the num-
Der of girls. who were carried out In
q fainting condition, it was believed
Ipt % 10.
jured, and there was great feeling of
relief when it was found that in most
cases they were unharned.
The dead are William f. Baumer.
Mrs. Mary Baumeister. Miss josie
Brennan, Miss Ida Brown, William
Hill, Miss Tracy Conroy and Edward
Bardorf. George Bardorf and Edward
Blair were fatally injured
The explosion occurred in the load
Ing room. Employed in this room
were $50 hands, two-thirds of them
girls or women. Nearly all of the fe-
male hands are employed on the load
ing machines, each of which employs
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 q sickening manner.
A hurry call was sent for all available
physicians; the fire department, the
police, the ambulance and hospital
corps were speedily summoned, and the
work Of caring for the dead and In
jured was begun.
Perhaps the saddest scene was en-
acted when John Baumeister learned
that his wife was among the dead. He
lived in Hampton, and had but recently
married. At the time of the explosion
he was at work but few feet distant
from his wife.
The explosion did not cause a fire.
and the fire depurtment confined its
efforts to aiding / the work of relief.
The cause of the explosion has not bean
determined, and perhaps It's cause may
never be known Those at work In the
room at the time say that it was due
to the fact that cartridge in process
Of loading had been improperly placed
in the machine
The two Bardorf boys, working side
by side, were thrown at a tangent out
one side of the building They struck
the ground so feet away. Edward Blair,
working ten fet away at his machine,
was sent upward through the roof
He fell on an ash heap. with broken
bones and a fractured skull and his
legs twisted out Of shape.
Mrs. Baumester was but 16 years old,
and had been In the factory but three
weeks. She was married a little over
month ago, and she and her husband,
Fritz, used adjoining machines. The
girl was blown fully 50 feet. and was
SO crushed out of shape that it was al
most impossible TO identify her. The
husband. Curiously enough. was ap-
parently 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. and staggered to his feet
and fell across the mass of mangled
flesh that had been his wife.
Edward Bardorf died after being
taken to the hospital
Ida Brown, one of those killed out
right. came from Detroit, Mich, in
HH!SH Eity EGr pdrelilS ItSldc.
7, G. Bennett. president or the COM
pany. said: I'VE have been running
automatic loading machines for 20
years, and this Is the first time that
anyone has been injured in their use.
Since the adoption Of those machines
we have had no accident in the use Of
black gunpowder."
Mr.. Bennett expressed the belief that
through the careleesncss of the oper-
ator or the powder boy the machine
that exploded had been ovcrchargcd.