Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-07-11
DISTRESSING EARLY
MORNING EXPLOSION
From Thursdays Daily

.I | - dDbul lc
years of age
Mr.. Covert was rendered uncon
scious. Both eyes We're blown out. the
lelt leg was broken above the knee
| and he was injured internally and
covered all over with cuts and bruises
Mrs. Coverts eyes were seriously
injured, so seriously that she may lose
one. and her face was badly burned
| and she had one bad brulse on the
right leg besides being cut and bruis.
ed in several places.
| The young man was the least in.
| 1ured of the three. his worst injury be.
ing the burning OF his eyes.
Mr. and Mrs. Covert were brought
to town, arriving about 2 this after.
noon. They We're placed in Mercy
| Hospital and are receiving every at.
tentlon possible.
Mr.. Covert is still unconscious
has not been conscious since the eN
| plosion. The chances for his recov-
cry seem very poor.
Mrs. Covert has been conscious all
the time, but is unable to talk, and is
suffering great pain
The explosion happened about G 6:45
this morning. Mrs Covert was get
ting breakfast and had it almost ready.
She had just started to cook some
eggs. when Mr.. Covert fixed the fire.
and it is presumed he got some giant
powder mixed in with the wood or
chips which he put in.
Just previous to the explosion Carl
Hendrickson, near neighbor, was
passing the house driving his cows
Mr.. Covert saw him and called for
him to come in. Mr.. Hendrickson
noticed that he had a pan of chips in
his hands, and the old man went into
the house and just as Mr. Hendrick-
son got to the door and started TO
enter the explosion occurred.
Mr.. Hendrickson says the kitchen
door was blown over his head. He
rushed in and found Covert lying on
the floor with his clothing aiire. He
dragged him out and eXtinguished the
fire. Mrs Covert and the boy had got
ten out at another door. The stove
had bursted into thousand pieces,
and the fire scattered and set the
kitchen TO burning. He turned his at.
tention to the fire and succeeded in
putting it out.
There are three boys and four girls
in the family, but only the oldest of
the children was in the room at the
time, the rest not yet having come
from their bedrooms for breakfast.
For this reason, none of the others
We're hurt. The children range in age
from years to is.
The kitchen was small frame
room. 1t and all the furniture in il
was demolished. The doors and win
dows were all blown out and the roof
and the walls loosened.
f. II. Sherman, the school teacher,
who lives about 90 yards from the
Covert home, heard the explosion and
looked out to see what it was. He hur-
ried to the scene OF the accident and
then jumped on his wheel and came
to town for doctor.
Doctor Lackeye was summoned and
hurried to the Covert home.
Ii Is located about six miles up
Lightner creek. The doctor set the
broken leg of Mr.. Covert there and
did what he could at the time. and
preparations were made to bring the
injured to town. Neighbors We're soon
notified of the accident, and two Gov
vered spring wagons were procured
and springs and mattresses laid in
them. on which the injured were
placed and brought to town. The
young mans injuries were not such
as to warrant bringing him. so he was
left at home.
Both Mr.. and Mrs. Covert present
horrible sights Their faces are black
and grlmy, as though ashes, fire and
charcoal Were ground into the flesh.
On the floors around their beds just
after they were taken in, quantity
OF charcoal and clnders had dropped.
which had stuck to either their bodies
or their clothing.
Mr.. Covert is 5S years old and Is
one of the od-timers of this section,
He was an Industrious and capable
ranchman, and had made a good home
for himself and his family.
No one can tell exactly how he
came to put the powder into the
stove, but 1t is presumed that he had
some powder in the woodshed and a
stick fell down among the wood and
chips, and when he scraped up the
pan of chips and small sticks OF wood
he got hold OF the powder and did not
notice II.
one Of the little boys in the bed.
room says he heard Eddie say as his
father went to put the chips in the
stove: My God, father, dynamite,
but it was said too late. Eddie had
seen the dynamite, but not in time to
| prevent his father putting it in the
| fire.
Mr.. Covert, when he first came to
| the southwest, located in the Farming
ton country, and in 1873. with Seth
| Welfoot. farmed the latter's place on
| the Animas river, a mile above the
mouth of that stream. In the fall OF
1879 he came to La Plata county
where he has been engaged in various
| enterprises, chiefly farming and stock
raising, occasionally prospecting in
the Needles and La Plata mountains
The powder he had stored in his wood
| house was some that he had purchas