The sun., 1903-02-20
EXPLOSION OF SINGH SHELL.
FOUR MEN KILLED BY 1T IN FORT
LAFAYETTE.
Three Others lnJured-ExpiosiOn May
Have Been Caused Either by Grit In
the Fuse which Was Belng Extracted.
or by Tap Of wrench TO Loosen Screw

| Have Been Caused Either by Grit In
| the Fuse which Was Belng Extracted.
or by Tap Of wrench TO Loosen Screw
Four men were killed and five were in
jured yesterday afternoon by the explosion
Of an s-nch shell at Fort Lafayette.
| All of the dead and injured were civilians
employed by the Ordnance Bureau Of the
Navy Department. The dead are:
| GusrAvE DosER. 80 years old. Ninety second
! street and Fourth avenue, Brooklyn: ordnance man
4 of the fourth class.
| Jons MASON. 81 years old OF aSs Court street.
| BrookIyn. ordnance man of the fourth class.
| JOHN korHAI. IS years old of as Weirhed street.
| Brooklyn: ordnance man of the second class.
| FRED MUSDkR. 20 years Old, of Long Island city.
| ordnance man OF the fourth class.
| Doser, MaAon anu Kotham were killed
instantly by the explosion of the shell.
| Munder died Two hours after he reached the
military hospital al Fort Hamilton
These three men. all dang erously in
| jured were also taken to the army hospital.
JAMES CLANCY. isborer. a5 years old. Of Man
haitian -'left arm torn oil and left eye blown out
MARTIN THoRooRsES. - years o.d, OF Second
/ place brooklyn. ordnance man OF fourth class
| Right thisn broken and breast bone crushed In.
! ". II. VAN CUR 80 years old. OF iiB fit'h
avenue Broohlyn. ordnance man OF fourth class
| sight OF both eyes destroyed. burned from head
to loot.
llunder, who lived for two hours af er the
| explosion. had an arm and leg torn on by
| fragments of flying steel and he also lost an
| eye.
| T.. B. McMullen, an ordnance man Of l20
East 10th street, Manhattan, and Charles
| Lohnlilcr, i laborer. of 24o stockholm street,
| Brooklyn, escaped with slight injuries
| The injured men who were taken TO the
armory hospital at Fort Hamilton, had TO
submit to being photographed by ftashlight
and 10 being posed for an effective picture
| for the benefit Of morning newspaper.
| Gunner James McDcrmott, warrant
] officer of the navy, was in charge OF the
ordnance work at Fort Lafayette and he
| was the only man there who was not in
| jured. He telepnoned TO the. navy yard
| and TO Fort Hamilton Tor help and t.i.i,
| fought the fire and cared Tor the injured
| alone for over an hour until help could
| reach him.
| fort Iafaye'tes is on an island in the Mar
| roms, arout 200 ieet Of = Jri from the Fort
| Hamilton reservation. he 2OJ-foot ctiiinci
was so choked with ice yesterday that
| row boat ilicu with policemen ana two
| Civilian physicians who tried 10 60 to the
| rescue got hemmed in half way between
| the island and the mainland. A small
launch from the Fort Hamilton dock had
! no better luck. So McD-rnlott received no
reGniorcemeuts unit. att.r O'Clock, when
| tug from the navy yard forced her way
through the Ice and la'Ided at the burning
| fort.
| Capt J. b. Briggs, Capt. c, A. Adams and
| Surgeon Il. W Pfmmer and Capt. Creamer,
| Detective Quiilan and Roundsman Coffin OF
the Fort Hamilton police precinct weic
| aboard the tug.
| hose fighting tho flames in room fllcd
| with the remnants of the men who an hour
! before had been at work unloading shells.
! This room was so feet long aid IS feet wide.
The ceiling Of sheet steel had been III ed
bodily by the explosion and then had fallen
back on the walls. but far enough out Oh
! place leave an open gap overhead twelve
| ieet long and the width of the room.
| The Oiicn walls oi the room. two feet
! thick. had beel pierced in half dozeh
| placet by pieces oi the smell.
| Before goiLg TO worn with the hose
| McDermott had pulled the injured men
! outside Of the walls and then had ara gged
on, the bodies 4 the dead. He did not
| attempt TO save'the legs ald arms from
the fire until help reached him. II was
more important 10 fight the flames. because
| tons of guncotton and other explosives
! we're stored in another part OF the structure
| and the plucky McDermott knew that II
| the fire got beyond his control there would
be an explosion which would wipe old Fort
! LAFAYETTE off the Government maps. He
| had The fire almost out when the rescuers
| reached him.
The injured men were taken to the Fort
| Hamilton government landing on the tug
! and from there TO the military hospital in
! a police ambulance On her second trip
| the tug brought the bodies of the dead
| men and they were taken TO the Fort liam
| iiton police station.
| TIL, TOP Of Rotnam's head had been blown
| of as cleanly a. II it had been severed M a
| surgical operation and the top OF his shull
was found twenty feet away from Ids body
L. l..~ x,fafr n. nf N ND
| another to Doser, We're lying together near
! one Of the holes that a piece OF shell had
bored through the wall. Some Of the iron
| bars in ine harrow easement widows oi
/ the fort were twisted into spifals and
| monkey wrench which one OF the men had
been using was bent double.
The s-inch shell that exploded was being
handled by the three men who were Killed
outright. 1t contained sixty-two pounds
of canister powder. which tie men were
! about to take out Of IL. They and their
companions had been at work for the last
ten days emptying the shells OF the old
fashioned powder as preliminary to re-
filing with smo'c!ess powder. The -rro-
iectle had already been removed. Near
:he men were two ten-galon cans filed
with the old powder which had already
been removed from other shells. The
| powder in these cans exploded too.
The explosion must have occurred when
the men tried TO extract the fuse from the
| shell. II was caused either 10y grit or
! sand in the screw thread Ct the primer which
caused too much friction when the screw
was turned or by hammering on the primer
| TO start il.
Capt. Briggs said last night that as nearly
| as he could make out the accident war
caused by one Of the men tapping the screw
| with a monkey wrench. The report Of the
| accident sent to the Navy Department
! al Washington by Rear Admiral Barker
| last tight was:
While extracting fus., from m s-ipch shell
| ut Fort Lafayette the shell exploded. killing
! four civilian employees and wounding others
| seriously. Board OF officers now investi-
| eating.
After the naval officers had reached the
| hospital with the injured men Capt.
! Adams wanted a fuller report OF the acci-
| dent and teephon, { to Fort Lafayette for
| McDermott to come ashore 10 be ques-
| toned. The gunner replied that his post
! was at Fort Lafayette ard that he wouldn't
| leave there until ne got orders to do so
direct from Washington. Capt Adams
| didn't insist.
| The names OF the dead and injured were
! given out at the hospital by Capt. Adams
| Of the navy, but he and the other officers
refused - tell any Of the details of the acci-