The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-10-26
INDIAN HAD EXPLOSION.
Government ISt 45.OoO Pounds of
Powder andlfuch Ammunition.
several nuss. Damaged.


Washington. di. si-At O'Clock this
morning Admiral b'Nsln. chief of the ord
nance bureau MY department. received
a telephone mdragc from the p-ovins
ground az Indit Head. reporting that
about % O'Clock bet uight nre ana sew
cral explosions oscurued IN one Of The nl.-
ing houses and magazines. No other
damaee was doie and no one was In
jured
Lieut. Strauss. eonmandant At Indian
Head. came on naval tug and At once
went TO the Nav department whore he
made a lengthy YerbA report to Admiral
o. Nem. The latkr tlen gave out The fol
lowing details presented by Lieut.
Strauss
The explosion occurred in small mag
aEine Of the pruslug ground and this IN
turn set ire to az adjacent huilding whore
ammunition was sto,ed. both the maga-
zine and the dher building being d,s-
troyed. The mlgakine was opened az %
O'Clock yesterday morning TO take out
quantity OF powder. At that time its
temperature was taken at q degrees.
which is quite loN. the temperature in
ship magazines 5eiig a. high as - degree.
Il was then closed for tho day. Al 43)
D. m. q watchman lmadc his usual rounds
OF inspection and found everything about
The magazine in gfoper order AZ SD ..
m. the watchman,again made his round
and turned IN a re3ort showing everything
Ia proper order 81 l0.ib y. ~. the eN-
plosion occurred Without warning and
without the sIighftst clew as TO what o.
casioned a. Therd was IA the magazine
al the time Of thf explosion 500 POUNDS
OF black powder, ag0o pounds of smoke.e =
powder ana q lot II brown powder prob
ably about 7.0co sounds. After the hrst
explosion the fre found It's way 10 thc
ammunition. and this caused successive
explosions lasting until after midnight
Most 81 the powder was destroyed. nut
some of the smokeless powder lies scat
tered about in heaps. not having been ig-
nited Many Of the shells and smaller pro
iectiles also are lying about unexploded,
although showing the effects of heat
Loss Was About s3o.oOo.
The loss il estimated by Admiral o'Neil
at between $500 ard 5000 on powder
and ammunition. The loss TO the build
ing Is considered trifang. small photo
graphing pant also MAS destroyed The
damage was ENnNHtN 10 tilN HhHfAf " tAtt 70
Is n rAvlne. Isolated from the main build
Ing on the high grounds.
The officers quartefs and those used -
workman and their @miles were consid-
erably shaken up. many windows being
broken and the plasinri0g Of ceilings be
ing shaken down. There was naturally
much eNcitment. but az no time anything
ike a panic The wives OF the officers
and workmen were assured that there
was no danger to the dwelling quarters.
and maintained thei' composure through
OUT the fire and EXPLOSIONS.
The cause OF the explosion is com
plete mystery. Lieat Strauss reported
that there were 10 Fabrics IN the maya
zine except a few powder bags. 50 that
the theory OF spontaneous combustion Is
not entertained.
The low degree OF temperature during
the morning also Is an assurance that all
was right Ia that particular The maya
zine had all the modern appliances OF
safety
Admiral O'Nel directed Lieut. Strauss
to assemble a board Of inquiry from
among those az the station. who will con
duct thorough investigation and make a
formal report On the subject The Admiral
said that this was the usual and necessary
course and involved no reflection on those
In charge