The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-21
Evidently Several Sticks of Dyna-
mite Were Suspended.
THE WORK OF fIENOS
No Motive IL Known for b Horrible
Explosion That Came So Near KILL
ing Ars. Downey. Her Baby
and Another Child.

were Mrs. Daniel Downey. her infan.
child and her cousin. a little girl naned
Mary Leary, who live or did until yes
terday morning at 1853 Gray Rock Ter
race, just back of Center street. ,dr.
Downey was at work at the Mountain
Con mine, and Mrs. Downey and the
two children were. alone at home and
asleep. when about 100 o'clock yes.er-
day morning an explosion occurred
that wrecked their house. nearly threw
them from their beds n smashed the
OF every house within 4 i:un-
dred yards of the residence. Ii seemed
X a miracle that the three persons
were not killed. but they escapes with
out injury. though Mrs. Downey sur
fered terribly afterwards from the
shock.
The explosion was so terrific hat it
awakened half the people of Center
vile, n a few minutes after 1t a
occurred several hundred people had
gathered on the scene and found Mrs.
Downey and the two children in the
street in their night clothes and ter
ribly frightened. They were k to
a neighbor's house inc cared for un-
til morning. and were hen removed to
the home of Mrs. Leary on Center
street. The cause of the explosion was
at once apparent. 1t was at first sup
posed that the dynamite had been
placed under the house. which stood
bou IS inches from the ground, but
later investigation by the sherif's off,
GERS demonstrated that the explosive
had evidently been suspended from the
bed room window on the outside.
Among the first to reach the Sense
was Deputy Sheriff Sidley. who lives
a short distance from the Downey resi-
dence. and he at once started an inves-
tigation. but was unable to find the
slightest clue to the perpetrator of the
outrage or discover a motive for II. A
messenger was sent Ia the Mountain
Con mine for Mr.. Downey. who reached
his home about half ar hour after the
explosion. He was as much in the dark
as anyone as to who could have at
tempted to kill his family or for what
reason.
II never wronged a man in my life,
and have not an enemy on earth that /
know Of" he said.
Mrs. Downey. i'm telling of the affair.
said she was asleep with the children,
and when the explosion occurred, the
house seemed to be lifted from its
| foundation, and then the window glass
and other debris was thrown over the
bed and she sprang out with her child,
with the little girl following. and ran
from the house., which was still tremb-
ling from the force of the explosion.
She saw no one in the vicinity OF the
! house and her first thought was of an
earthquake. Owing to the darkness no
satisfactory examination or investiga-
ton could be made at the time. but
later in the morning Under Sheriff
Murphy and Mr.. Sidley visited the
place again and made a thorough ex-
animation. The house is a square. ne-
story frame building, with four rooms,
facing to the south. The bed room oc-
cupied by the family is at the south
east corner the bed being located about
sly feet from the south window and
gains the middle wall. The ground
nder the house was not disturbed,
neither were any Of the timbers under
the building broken, indicating plainly
that the dynamite had not been placed
under the house. The ground in front
of the building was not torn up, but
was loosened 1t a point right under the
bed room window, which also was con-
elusive to the officers that the explo-
sive had not been placed on the ground.
but more likely it had been some dis
lance above the ground when 1t went
off. This theory was further supported
by the nature of the damage done to
the house. n sill of the house, a
timber six by six inches, was broken
directly under the window and smashed
inward. The n sill and several
pieces of siding were torn OFF n 9TH
prS cruS0eQ In. Inc WlnuOW 1tStll was
smashed in and thrown clear across
the room and the cornice on the south
side of the roof was torn off. The whole
front Of the house was loose and could
have been pushed out with very little
effort, and the floor of the bed room
had dropped Town. Every ndo in
the house was smashed and the whole
building loked as IL it might tumble
down. From the condition of things
and the nature of the explosion, the
officers and others familiar with the
force of explosives, came to the con-
clusior that the dynamite. evidently,
at least several sticks were fastened TO
a fuse.
The sticks of dynamite were fastened
to a fuse and suspended from the sill
of the bed room window. The force of
the explosion seemed to be upward and
inward. but owing to h fact that the
dynamite was not confined. its great
est force was spent in the air, to which
is due the fact that woman and chill
dren were not instantly killed. An idea
of the volume of the explosion may be
gathered from the. fact that two win
dows were broken in the residence of
Ed Rowe, about 100 feet southwest of
the Downey home. and with a large
barn located between the two houses.
Every window in the residence of Dan
Sullivan, which Is directly east of Dow
ney's. was broken. In the house of
John Foley. the second one on the east,
not a piece of glass an inch in size was
left in the windows. Two other houses
in the neighborhood were similarly
damaged.
The sheriff's officers were working on
the case the greater part OF yesterday.
but without discovering any tangible
clue to the perpetrator of the outrage.
though they incline to a belief gener-
ally held by the neighbors of MIR. and