Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1905-09-10
BUH. DlNGS WIRE ANNlulLAfED
Big Hole Where Magazine Stood All
Tha, Remains to Show Powder Mill
Stood Thcrc-smaII Pieces of Hu.
man Bodies Picked Up From Amid
Observation-Disclosures Difficult.
Try Assncintcd rrcss.l


The Rand powder mills at Fairchancc,
siN miles south OF 'Uniontuwn were
entirely wiped ont by an explosion ut
?:n5 O'Clock today. or the 80 men
who went to work IL the mill this
morning ~ are known 10 he dead
OF the dead IL have been Identified.
Nine mon, including G. NJ. Rand man
ascr of The plant, were seriously in
jurch.
Scores of people in the town of
Fairchancc, within half mile of The
powder mills were more or less pain
fully injured.
The shock of the explosion was dis.
tncily feI. i'll Conncllsvillc, twenty
miles away, buildings being rocked.
AT uniontown hundreds of pancs of
glass were broken. In the town Of
Falrchance there is scarcely Il house
that did not suffer damage. The
sides were battered as though axes
, had been used. iaystacks were ton
pied over in the fields and live stock
was sunncd.
The rails of the Baltimore & Ohio
railway and the West PENNSYLVANIA
Traction railway were rooted from
he road bed and traffic was delayed
from four TO six hours.
Trains Narrow Escape,
Train No. 80. on the Baltimore C
ONO had n narrow escape from ami
hilation. II had just passed the Rand
mills when the explosion occurred.
The windows in the passenger coach
rs were shattered and the passengers
were thrown into Il panic. Had the
train been IL few seconds later il
would have been blown up. as the
mills were within few rods of tile
tracks.
street car on the West I'cnnsyl-
vania Railroad had also passed lust
few seconds before the explosion
and was far enough away to cscape
damage. though il was dcrailc,l.
There were seven explosions in all.
Every one Of the ten buildings were
totally demolished. Not vcstigc of
them remains tonight The debris
that Was strcwn over the ten acres
OF ground where the plant was locat
cd took fire soon after the cxplosion
ami a conIlacration added its tcrrors
to the disaster
The dismcmbcrcd parts of the dead
bodies were burned in many instances.
Identification of many was made bv
parts Of clothing alone.
The first three explosions were not
so serious as the last four Then the
packing house. pressing room and
magazine blew up. followed by two
cars of dynamite standing ON u nearby
railroad siding, which were sci ofr
by the concusson from the powder
mill explosions.
TWO Cars Escaped.
Two other cars remained intact oud
anu ii was with difficulty that thcy
were moved to Il place of safety after
the explosion.
When the bodies were recovered
The work Of Identification was very
difficult. Small pieces of bodies were
picked up all over the place. These
were no! collected together, but they
were so manglcd il was diiIicult 10
collect enough fragments of any one
body To make Identification possible.
Almost half Il mile mountain.
ward from the place where the plant
stcqd an olIiccr'a ovcrslccye wet with
blood, was picked up.
The hole where the magazine ey.
pioded is about Is feet deem and so
yards square. The earth, black and
soggy, is thrown up in huge chunks,
some OF them weighing a hundred
pounds. Under the high banks of
earth thrown up at this place work
men are working with picks trying
10 get trace Of more bodies.
Manager c. Mortimer Rand was
taken to his home at Uniuntown on