Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1897-07-24
APPALLING ACCIDENT
In the Loading Room Of the VIM
chester Arms Company.
SEVEN DEAD, TwoFATALLY HURT

Among the Dead Was Sixteen-Year-
Ola Girl Who Had Been Married But
MONTPELIER Husband Escaped Se-
rious Injury.
New Haven, Conn, July 22.-An ap-
palling accident occurred yesterday in
the shell loading department OF the
Winchester Repeating Fire Arms COM
pany. Without an instants warning
six human beings lost their lives by an
explosion, and another victim died soon
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, blackened with powder
and frightfully mangled, almost beyond
recognition, were lying on the floor.
Near by two injured men we're with
ing in agony. and all about were men
bleeding from shet wounds, rnnliRaful
eff their Ansuriss, tssias 70 ASSIST aaA
Qgeil the ecEfWsi4n. Owfmg to the NUM-
Der OF girls, who were carried cut in
fainting condition, it was believed
that many of them were seriously in
jured. and there was great feeling Of
relief when it was found that in most
cases they were unharmed.
The dead are William r. Banner,
MTe. Navy Baumeister, Mss Josie
Brennan. Miss Ida Brown, william
Hill, Miss Tracy Conrcy and Edward
Bardorf George Barderf and Edward
Blair were fatally injured.
The explosion occurred in the load
ing room. Employed in this room
were 150 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 a 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 bis 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.
This explosion did not cause Are,
and the fire department conGned it's
efforts to aiding 1 the work of relief
The cause of the, explosion has not been
determined, and perhaps its cause may
never be known. Those at work in the
room at the time say that 1t was due
to the fact that cartridge in process
of loading had been improperly plaeed
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 80 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
OOAiSo cl1Ao d LLoCluIeu Shu1l ana his
legs twisted out of shape.
Mrs. Baumeister 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 so feet, and was
so crushed out of shape that it was al
most impossible to identify her. The
husband, curiously enough, was APP
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 mangIed
flesh that had been his wife.
Edward Bardorf died after being
taken 70 the hospital
ida BrovH, one of those killed OUT
figf4. came frera Detroit, Mich, in
which cSy her parents Feaide
q. G. Rsnnett, president ef the coma
pamS, Ss4d: I'VE have hAea r4naoAna
aHsefAassAs iesesae auad9ksnss evr ~
sEaRs ana tAis is tina frst tFn1e that
anyone has been injured in their use.
Since the adoption Of those machines
we have had no accident in the use of
black gHnpewSer."
Mr.. Bennett expressed the belief that
through the caresessness of the oper-
ator or The powder boy the machine
that eunloHad baat, y,