The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-01-18
COUNTY SHAKEN
Giant Decorations Wreck Houses For
Miles Around.
Hundred worhmen in Powder Plant at
Halifax, N. z. Had just Left Building
F.
When First Burst Came. .

Halifax, y. Y.-Detonauons like the
~discharging OF heavy guns shook this
city the other morning, and hundreds
rushed from their homes. believing
that a disastrous earthquake was ap-
preaching. Only after several our
was it discovered that the supposed
seismic disturbance was the. result or
the blowing up of a part OF the Acadia
Powder Company's plant in WaVerly'
ten miles away. The whole county
was shaken.
Evidences of the terrible force of the
fifty or more explosions are visible Tor
twenty miles in every direction. Great
chaslns were torn in the ground by the
giant force. Window panes were SHAT
tered and houses shook as if about to
topple from their foundations. The
marvellous feature of the terrible acct
dent is that nobody was injured, al
though there were hundreds Of harrow
ing experiences. Fortunately the pow
der magazine did not blow up. There
were hundreds of tons Of powder stored
in it, and the loss Of life and damage to
property would have been appalling
had it exploded.
In the home of Robert Layton, SUPER
inteadent of the plant. the devastation
wrought was the worst. 1t stood a
quarter Of a mile from the plant, but
there is not enough of it left to put to-
gether. Margaret Layton. daughter OF
the manager. was sitting on the second
floor when she was lifted bodily and
hurled through two rooms and out of a
rear window. Part of the rear extern
sion was blown 200 feet away from It's
original position, and on this the young
woman landed. escaping serious In
jury. When she recovered conscious
ness it was found she had only q few
bruises and scratches.
The powder plant is a mile outside
of Waverly, and there were 100 men
employed in the place. There were
twenty Of them in the dry house at
1890 in the morning, but they had left
the building to go to n of the other
small houses of which the plant con-
sists when the dry house blew up. The
men were thrown with terrible force to
the ground and lay stunned. III.
Then the explosions began in rapid
succession, parts Of: the stock in the
twelve buildings affected blowing up
at different times. It was. ingthe first
explosion that the home of Superinten-
dent Layton was demolished The
town of Waverly felt the full force of
the conclusions and shattered glass fell
from the windows of every house in
the town.
Women and children ran screaming
into the streets and many tainted from
fright. They had expected the danger
Gus place would go up in the air some
day. but none were prepared for the
terrible shaking up they experienced
for about fifteen minutes. So heavy
were the detonations that many per-
SONS in Waverly and towns further re-
moved from the powder plant were
deaf for hours after the last explosion.
When quiet fell upon the plant again
there was a rush of men and women to
the place, for hundreds had relatives
employed there. Their joy was IN
bounded when they found that nobody
had been hurt. 81
The effect of the explosions was felt
in this city with much force. Fright
ened persons fed from their homes in
panic, fearing they were to be en-
quilted by an earthquake, and for hours
they refused to be treasured. When
the truth was made known messengers
were sent to Waverly to offer relief
and medical aid, but their services
were not needed.
In several instances locked store
doors were burst open by the force Of
the conclusion. The doors Of one Of
the Fire Department houses were
forced open and wrecked. In many
houses books were shaken from library
shelves and articles were dashed from
tables.
Inranyalmost similar amer the
towns Of Bedford. Renfrew and Old
ham suffered. In Bedford a small
house was thrown from its foundations
and almost buried a crowd Of merry
makers. .
President G. R. Cue. of the Acadia
Company, said the thermometer in the
dry house registered $50 degrees just
before the accident. and that that was
normal temperature. The heat must
have been increased suddenly through
some unknown agency. he thought, to
cause the two tons of powder in the
building to blow up. He said the COM
pany's damage would not exceed $25,-
600. The, cost Of replacing thousands
Of window panes in the surrounding
towns will be great. but Mr.. Cue said
the company could not bear that ex-
pense.