Evening journal., 1902-08-21
STORY OF TIE EXPLOSION
Shattered Clock Fixes Hour Of The
Calamity at =

This is the brief story Of the calam-
ity.
The instruments which brought death
to the fourteen workmen and serious
injury TO many others was a digester.
of heavy steel, in which ground pulp
was reduced to a paper-mal1ing sub
stance by the work OF chemicals, and
under enormous steam pressure. There
were ten OF these digesters in the bat
terry, each with a capacity for consum-
| ing one and a half cords Of wood. built
to sustain an enormous strain. The
digesters are massive in size and built
strong as a boiler. They were each
twenty feet long and six feet in diam
eter.
Under those appliances was a battery
Of boilers connected with them and de-
signed to furnish the requisite steam
pressure. In the paper-making process
the tanks are filled with wood pulp.
soda ash and lime. the tops buckled
down and then the steam turned on.
The mass is allowed to boil for six
hours.
A shattered clock ON the walls of the
engine room tells that the explosion
occurred exactly at ? o'clock First
there was a crash, then two quick re-
ports like the reverberating of heavy
lcannonading. Two of the immense iron
tanks sailed through the air. They shot
out az opposite angles. one plunging
into the Christiana river and sending
] tie water high into the air. and the
I other into six feet of earth 500 yards
from the place. where it had originally
stood Walls crumbled and fell with
the clash OF iron. The earth trembled
What men were not sent to instant
death through the air went down in the
ruins.
Scalded by Terrible Shower
over the CHASTITY pile came a shower
of ecalding steam, laden with the fumes
of potash and stacking lime, sMen moi
I in the direct path of deatlr were scald.
ed by the binding. suffocating shower
The groans of the living. doomed ia
death in the ruins. rose over the still
ness that followed the crash. A mo-
ment later flames broke out and tho
\ lsupplicatiOns were stiled forever.
! WCrkmen rushed like heroes TO tho
aid OF the stricken. and few were res
lcued. John c. Saunders, the mill su.
perintendent, sounded the fire alarm
and the Tolice emergency call. Ambl;-
lances. the patrol wagons and the sil
district fire companies responded.
But before Chief Black and his as.
sistants could get there, hundreds wer,
lcrowding over the ruins. Wives, moth
ers, children and sweethearts. whost
loved ones of a moment before wer,
charred and broken clay. sObbed anS
shrieked as the worlmen mined the
bodies from the pyre. The scene wal
lheartrending. Women tainted anl
strong men broke down and cried likl
children.
Alan and David Lindsay. Jr., sons o
4 David Lindsay, vice-president of tn
i Jessup e. Moore Company, took charg
of the work of relief Gently the sor
lrowing women and the curious crowd
were sent back a safe distance and fir
L lines established. The ruin was S
complete that there was little for IN
Il flames to feed on. The flreman's bat
tie was short. Ambulances being NOR
lneeded than engines, the hose cart o
lengine No. was fitted up to carr
laway the dead and injured.
Steam redOlent of the fumes o
chemicals made the work Of rescue diff
ficult. Bravely the firemen and work
) men pressed on. The bodies as the
were taken out presented horribl
,lsights. Men were burned and mangle
in some instances so that identification
was almost impossible. Sparks OF lif
aickered in one or two of the bodies a
they were taken out. but death was onl.
/ delayed. and conquered before h
3 bodies could be taken 10 a hospital
4 Confusion for a time marked tn
lscene. No one could tell pOsitivel,
how many men were in or near the di
gester plant when the explosion occur