The San Francisco call., 1899-05-05
AN EXPLOSION
THAT MARKS A
NEW DEPA Arturo
No Loss of Life at
Pinole.
MIXING HOUSE WRECKED
WARNED employees FLED IN
ALL DIRECTIONS.
A Minute After Their Departure the
Place Where They Had Been
Working Was Annihilated
by Dynamite.
MIXING HOUSE WRECKED
WARNED employees FLED IN
ALL DIRECTIONS.
Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
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When Foreman Wunderlick detected the
fumes of something burning in the mix
ing house at the California Powder Works
to-day he at once gave the order TO the
ten Chinese employees to run away. They
did not hesitate a second, but ran Ike
hares and saved their lives. Before they
had fairly reached u place Of safety d
terrific explosion threw some of them TO
the ground and the valuable plant and
mixing house was instantly reduced to a
heap Of smoking ruins
A few minutes after o'clock this morn
ing the sound as of thunder coming from
the bay shore north Of Oakland pro
claimed another explosion. People are 50
familiar with this sound that no one asks
The cause of it, but there is an immediate
rush to telephones to inquire how many
lives have been lost.
This mornings accident was one of the
most wonderful on record, for although
the damage was very great not single
life was lost, and the total injury TO hu-
man beings was a few scratches on q la
borer'S head. In this regard the explosion
has made a record.
When j. Wunderlick. the foreman, was
in the Westinghouse his pracuced nOStrllS
detected the odOr of burning wood pulp,
which is used in the manufacture of dyna-
mite He spent but a few seconds trying
TO determine the cause Of the smoke, and
then yelled TO the Chinese to fly as fast
a their legs could carry them. Wunder-
lick saws he doesn't remember Just what
he said but he believes that no Apache
WhOop could equal the yell he gave warn
ing the Chinese to flee. They had gone
several hundred yards when the place, in
the language OF powder works, went
up" The flame which the foreman had
seen in the main miNing-rOOm had reached
q tank Of explosive material and a second
later many of the flying Chinese We're
knocked of their feet and others were
lodging clouds of flying fragments.
Chris Fass. labOrer, was driving a car
on the track leading from the mixing
house TO the entrance to the works. The
loncussiOn was SO great that he was
thrown from the car and struck by flying
spliuters, which scratched his head, but
inflicted no serious injury.
The wreck is very complete, but the
damage will not exceed $1,000. A few min
utes after the explosion the employees sub
dued some flames which had spread to ad-
joining sheds and then proceeded to clear
away the mass of splintered lumber
tanks, broken machinery and maze or
pipewOrk. There is never any danger in
the ruins of an explosion at the powder
works for every one knows that nothing
explosive could possibly be found within
any reasonable distance of a mixing
house that has gone up. The building
was erected few months ago and was a
very elaborate plant 1t took the place
Of a Westinghouse that went up over a
year agO. The company has duplicate
dynamite plant. and Superintendent
Birmingham says that in a few days work
viii be going on as though there had been
no explosion this morning.