The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-12-23
IN DILLON.
A Mysterious Explosion Came Near Re-
suiting Fatally.

| had a close call for her life yesterday
| morning. Mrs. Mason runs boarding
! house at which a number of the young
| lady students of the state normal make
| their home. About Z o'clock Mrs. Ma
son started the kitchen fire and began
| getting breakfast. Some 10 minutes
| afterwards she put a couple of shovel
| fuls of coal on the fire and turned to
| her work. AS she did so there came
| the sound of an explosion and she was
| knocked down by the concussion, fall
! ing on her face The steel range had
| been sha tered and small parts of the
| broken pieces of steel were thrown to
| all parts of the room, a number Of them
| striking Mrs. Mason on various parts
of the body and bruising her most sore
ly. The plaster was knocked off the
walls and the ceiling broken; the win
sion and her little daughter. Grace,
who was in an adjoining room, was
quite severely cut about the head by
the flying fragments of iron. Tho
stove had a water back" the pipes
leading to a tank in the second story,
and the flowing of the water released
by the explosion is all that saved the
house and contents from catching fire.
With many other curious ones, your
correspondent inspected the place
where the explosion occurred, but none
could find a clew to Its cause, nor could
the inhabitants of the house advance
any satisfactory explanation. By many
it is thought that a giant cap had got
mixed among the coal in some un-
known manner. Others think that,
Diamondville coal being used, the
handiwork Of the striking miners could
be seen, but this theory is not gener
ally believed in. Considering the havoc
| wrought in the kitchen and to its walls
| and ceiling, Mrs. Mason's escape from
| serious injury may be looked upon as
| almost miraculous.
| A smar-sized smallpox scare was on
! in Dillon for few hours last night. A
| man named Ed Mccoy was discovered
| to be ailng with some of the symptoms
| Of the dread disease and the impression
soon got abroad that he was a victim
| of the malady. A number of physicians
| made an examination Of the case as
soon as practicable and pronounced the
disease not smallpox. Then Dillon
breathed easier. The scare, however,
| has started a revival in the vaccina
! ton industry.
| An attempt was made to destroy the
| town by fire last night. About II
| o'clock bunch Of rags and paper, sat
urated with coal oil, was thrown
Through rear window of the Fyhria
| Grocery company's storeroom and had
started quite merry blaze when John
| Times, in passing by discovered 1T and
gave the alarm. A few buckets of
water extireuished the flames and 10
damage of any consequence resulted.
| This is the second attempt in the past
year to e!tart fire in Dillon. the last
one being made in the fall of '9S when
a blazing box, saturated with coal oil,
was found in the rear room of the Dill
| lon Furniture company's store. The
| city of Dillon is woefully in need of
| fire protection, has not even bucket
| brigade" organized. All its water comes
| from wells and, with the wind blowing
| as it did last night the town would
| now be in ashes if the fire had not
| been discovered in its incipiency.
Tomorrow the Christmas holiday Of
| the state normal will begin and will
| continue until Jan. g. Quite a number
| of the out-of-town students will enjoy
| the holidays at home, among whom
! will be Miss Elmo Jaquelste Of Butte,
Miss Clara Wigelestein Of Granite and
Miss Montana Hawthorne Of Livings-
| ton, who will leave on Fridays train
for Butte. All Of the Madison county
contingent, except Miss Mabel Bowers,
who will spend the holiday with her
aunt Mrs Fayette Harrington OF
Butte, leave for that county Friday
morning to spend their holidays On
Jan 27, 1900, the commencement exer-
cises will be held. There will be six
graduates in this class-Misses Edith
Cashmere Harrietta z. Waldorf. Kate
P3Xtt0E anu EStelfa M. Etlcn VI LlllDH.
Miss Alice Chambers of Livingston and
Mary F. Lewis OF Bozeman. The class
which graduates in June Is composed
of only one member Miss Edna Squire
of Dillon.
Will O. and Albert Metzel, youngest
sons of thu late Senator Metzel Of Mad
ison county, left Dillon few days ago
for the Northwest Territory. where
they will look up a location for a cattle
ranch, and if they find a place to suit
them will locate in the Canadian
northwest The young men are cat
tlemen of experience, having been en-
gagged in the stock business since child
hood.
The appropriation of the school
money in this county was made few
days ago by Miss jamie V. Carter coun-
ty superintendent. 1t amounts to
about s1217 per each census child,
there being 1853 children of school age
in the county.
The Christmas Standard met with a
warm reception in Dillon and was
praised by all fortunate enough to see
copy. The supply ordered by the local
newsdealers was quickly taken up and
the opinion was voiced that the Stand
ard excelled even itself in the produc
ton of last Sunday. The color work
especially came in for words of ad-
miration.
Bank fl"arirgs.
New York Dec 22-The following ia