The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-07-30

the first to go up. followed immediately
 by the gunpowder in the three teams. and several seconds later by the second
 magazine. To those who heard the
 crash it seemed as if there were two
 distinct explosions, with a continuous
 roar between them. There are, how
 ever, five holes in the ground, which
 seems to clearly indicate five explo-
 sions.
 The entire catastrophe, however, oc-
 cupied the space of scarcely five sec
 onds, but in that time the surrounding
 property was swept as if a small vol-
 eano had broken forth in it's midst
 Every house within two hundred yards
 collapsed. Trees were blown down,
 the grass within hundred yards now
 ed as if by lawn mower, while bricks
 from the two magazines were hurled far
 across the river and all over the neigh
 borhood. .-s.-.~3 ~e. x 4
 For several minutes afterwards the air was completely filled with smoke
 and dust, illuminated by the glare from the already burning houses. Those who
 survived dragged themselves to what seemed a place of safety, only to be re-
 called by the shrieks of those less fortu- nate.
 The work of rescue at once began, but in many cases the flames had already gained full sway over the crumbled ruins, and, despite the energetic efforts of those who were not seriously hurt, several persons were burned to death before the debris which covered them 1 could be removed The property is sit ! uated just over the Lowell line in Tewksbury, but the Lowell fire depart ment at once responded and did noble
 work in caring for the wounded. Be- i fore stream of water was started from the engine the hose from all the wag- 1 ons was flung to the ground and the bleeding bodies of the wounded were placed tenderly in the wagons and hur- ried to the hospital. Ambulances soon appeared on the scene and assisted the l firemen, and all sorts of vehicles were l pressed into the service. Nearly two l score of persons were conveyed to the 1 two hospitals within an hour, while 1 many more. who. suffered merely from | slight cuts from flying glass. had their I wounds. bound up and remained on the scene, where they also assisted in car ing for the less fortunate. l The explosion shook the city and with I in half an hour there were at least 5000
 people on the scene of the catastrophe,
 badly hsndering the work of caring for the wounded so that the acting mayor of Lowell sent out call for the militia
 10 assist the local police. Two of the Sixth regiment and one of the Ninth regiment companies responded and three hours later had thrown a cordoil
 O. men around the district and cleared
 the place of everyone except those im-
 nediately engaged in ouenching the
 flames and searching for other victims of the explosion.
 I Two hundred yards further down the river from the second magazine the
 Bremen suddenly came across the bod
 lies of four little boys who were just
 about to have swim. A fifty member
 of the party was, fortunately, in the
 river when the explosion occurred, and
 escaped without injury
 It was a singular freak of the explo-
 sion which killed his companions.
 Apparently the force from this second | hldsd1HS WdS eApeilueu HI two SulteC- tions, north and south. On the north it completely demolished the house of Will liam Riggs, about fifty yards away, al- most burying Mrs. Riggs. and badly in ' turing her little son Mrs. Riggs was
 subsequently, removed, but died before
 being taken to the hospital
 I On the other side of the magazine was a grove of trees. through which the ex- tplosion tore path fifty feet wide for a distance of nearly 300 yards. The four little boys were caught in the center of this path and three were instantly kill
 ed. The body of one of them was Ifrightsully mutilated, the head being completely blown off. The fourth was alive when he was discovered by the | police and firenen, but he did not long survive his injuries.
 l Most of the property destroyed con-
 sisted of small buildings, constructed of
 wood and at comparatively small cost
 The property loss, therefore, will be
 rather small.
 The selectmen of the town of Tewks-
 bury. in which the explosion occurred, stated this afternoon that they thought that s75,0OO would cover the entire loss. | s.g5 --------------- # ss5#