Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1904-04-20
29 Men ARE DEAD.
A Charge CT Powder Ignites Setting
Off 1900 Pounds
NAVAL DISASTER At PENSACOLA
TIE Presence of Mind and Prompt
Action Of Captain co&les Saves
the Ship.

Pensacola, Fla, special.-While on
the target range Wednesday after
noon 1900 pounds Of powder exploded
On tie battleship Missouri, killing
five officers and twenty-four men and
injuring number of others, two of
whom will die.
The Missouri was on the target
range with the Texas and Brooklyn
at practice about hoon, when charge
of powder in the twelve.inch left
hand gun exploded, ignited from gas
es, and dropping below. ignited four
charges Of powder in the handling
room, and all exploded, and only one
man Of the entire tufret and handling:
crew Survives: But for the prompt
and efficient work Of Capt: Cowles In
closing the handling room and maya.
zine, one of the magazines would
have exploded and the ship would
have been destroyed. Capt. Cowles,
completely overcome with the dis.
aster, referred all newspaper men to
Lieut.. Hammer, the ordinance officer
The latter gave but statement Of
the explosion aid its probable cause.
According to him, about rioon, after
the first pointer of the after twelve
ot, Lo<l CIV fpo .an
the second pointer had fired the
third shot of his string, the charge
ignited. The fourth shot was being
loaded and from all indications, the.
first half Of the charge had been ram
med home and the second section
was being ramnaed home, when gases
from the shot previously fired, or rpr'
tions of the cloth cover; ignited the
powder: The breech was open and
dull thud gave notice of something
unusual. No loud report was made,
but the flames were seen to leap from
every portion Of the turret. A few
seconds later another explosion, more
fierce, occurred. This was In the
handling room below, where 1900
pounds of powder, or four charges.
ready to be hoisted above. had .ig.
nitet.
Fire quarters were sounded, and
every man Of the ship responded,
eager to so into the turrets and res;
cue the crew. Capt. Cowles gave,
his commands, and but for his pres.
ence of mind, together with the ofi-l
GERS Of the ship, the Missouri would:
have gone down. The second ieXploi
sion occurred near one Of the maga::
zines s;and ! so b hotSWas the sfrest that:
the -brass-work of the magazine was
melted. Smoke and the fumes of the
burned powder made it almost I'M.
| possible either to enter the turrer CT
handling room, but officers and men.
with handkerchiefs over their faces,
made efforts to rescue the men inside
Leading the rescuing party was Capt
Cowlcs (th, officers endeavored to.
keep tim from going below, as men
fell unconscious as they entered, and
had to be pulled cut by their COM
rades) but, unheeding their advice,
the commanding officer rushed below,
followed by Lieut.. Hammer, the ordi-
nance officer, md Lieut.. Cleveland
Davis. Capt. Cowles caught up
dying b!ue-iacket Il. his arms and
transferred him to the deck The
blue.jacket, with two Others from the
handling room, had crawled partly
from their place Of duty when they
had been overcome. Before the
fumes Of the burning powder had
left the turret, officers and men were
in, lifting out the dying and dead
men. Three minutes after the explo.
SIGN all were on deck and the sur.
geons from the Missouri, Texas and
Brooklyn were attending to those not
dead.
The twenty-five men OF the turret
were found lying IN a heap. They
had started for the exit when the
first explosl On occurred and had just
reached there when the more
terrible explosion in the handling
room had occurred, which burned and
strangel them TO death. Lieut.. Dav-
idson, the officer in charge Of the tur-
ret, had evidently given some com.
mand to the men, as he was on top
of the heap of men, having fallen
there after he had allowed them to
pass him 10 get out oil the turret.
The bodies were hardly recognizable,
the terrible and quick fire having
burnt the clothing from the bodies of
the men, and the flesh hung from
them in shreds.
The faces were mutilated by the
smoke and flames. Only one man
was breathing when the turret crew
was rescued, and he died r moment
after he re..ched deck.
The dead: Lieut.. W.. c. Davidson,
In charge of the twelve-inch turret;
Ensign e. A. Weikert. u. 8. NJ. c.;
Lieut.. Thomas Ward, Jr., division
officer; J.. X. Peterson, boatswain
mate, second class; W. Bougard, or
binary seaman; J. Blexeputlan, Cox.
swain Charles Rice, Seaman J. c..
Hardy, apprentice, second class; K.
7. Kivlin; Seaman ]. Gadris; Ordin-
airy Seaman ]. F. Rolands; Electri.
clan (second class) H. B. Franks,
Coxswain J.. P. Starr, Ordinary Sea,
man ]. {. Mum, Seaman N. Soder,
Seaman c. H. Meyer. Ordinary Sea-
man P. r. CASTER. Apprentice (sec.
ond class) r. H. Allison. Ordinary
Seaman r. C. Tobin, Ordinary Sea.
man J. J. Mulligan, Landsman J. w.
Cole. Ordinance Sergeant A. Smith,
Gunner's Mate (first class) w. S.
Shipman, Private Marine P. j. Brown,
Chief Gunner's Mate J. F. Kennedy,
Ordinary Seaman j. M. Roach.
The injured are: j. E. Knight sea-
man, may recover; J. T. Donnelly.
ordinary seaman. dying; f. Starr. sea.
man, will recover; T. c. Schaub. ap'
prentice, second class, will recover
and man supposed to be o. B. Moe
apprentice, second class, dying.
The Burr Papers.