The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1905-07-21
Eight Men We're Blown Into
Fragments by an Explosion.
TERRIBLE ACCIDENT
I'm the Pennsylvania Railroad Ne a
New Cumberland, Pa, on Saturday
Morning. The Body of One
Man Picked Up Two Hun
drof V,.Jc A,
dred Yards Away.

~ AoS
explosion Of a big blast OF rock powder
on the Pennsylvania railroad improve.
ments near New Cumberland, Pa, at
7'30 O'Clock Saturday morning. The
accident occurred directly across the
Susquehanna river from the scene Of
the Pennsylvania railroad wreck on
May IL, In which twenty. three per.
sons were killed and many others in
iured.
All the victims OF Saturdays disas.
ter were employees Of p. S. Kerbaugh
u Co., incorporated, contractors, who
are building the double tracks for the
Pennsylvania railroad to connect with
the Enola yards. The bodies Of the
mon were terribly m%anaglcd and par
ticles OF flesh and bone were scattered
for 200 yards from the scene Of the
explosion.
The dead are:
James Wiseman, aged fifty, dyna.
mite boss, 90 Front avenue, Buffalo,
N. Y.
Arthur Green, colored, % years Of
age, steam driller, Harrisburg.
Robert Thomson, colored, % years
old steam drlllers helper, Harrisburg.
Frank Mullach, a Slav, 43 years
old.
Three Italians and one Slav, known
only by numbers.
The injured are:
William Reed, colorod, 20 years old,
a steam drlller, skull fractured and in.
jured internally. Reed is at Harris.
burg hospital.
g.. G.. Miller, So years old, Of Ida,
vile, Adams county, bruised about
body, but not seriously.
Not a trace of the two colored mon
who were killed can be found and it is
supposed their bodies we're blown into
the river, which is being dragged.
An i.queSt was held Saturday after
noon by Squire Coble, Of Lemoyne.
The jury rendered a verdict of prema.
ture explosion from an unknown cause
and no blame Is attached to the con.
tractors,
All the killed and injured were
laborers aside from Wlseman, whose
body was terribly mangled. What
could be found or 1T was identified by
the fact that he dyed his hair. His
scalp and q portion Of his head were
found on a hill, 200 yards from the
blast. WiSeman has been with the
Kerbaugh company for five years, and
had gone to the scene Of the explosion
to personally superintend the prepare
tions for what is called a big shot"
to be fired Sunday morning.
A big shot" consists of a ssriea @,
blasts, the holes having been drilled
In a row, and the charges being set
OH simultaneously by an electric
spark. Five Of the holes had been
Tiled with powder and the men we're
on the sixth when the explosion &C.
Cured. 1t Is supposed that a small
stone had cotton into the hole and
that the Iron bar with which the men
we're 'tamping'' down the charge,
caused a spark by scraping on the
stone and that this ignited the pow
der.
John Shelter, the fireman of a
'dlnky" engine, $50 feet away, was
thrown to the ground by the force OF
the explosion and slightly injured by
lying debris. Miller was sitting at
the door Of the shack were the men
bunk, 200 feet from the blast, and
was blown 20 feet and badly bruised.
one Italian escaped because a fel.
low workman had playfully snatched
his hat and ran with 1t. The owner
ran after the man with the hat and
had just got out Of the range of the
explosion when 1t occurred. An Ital.
ian water boy, - years Old, who was
on his way to the men with a bucket
OF water, was hurled so feet. Every
stitch OF clothing was torn from his
body. A leather bolt containing 1912
IN paper money, supposed to belong to
one or the mon, was picked up near
the scene OF the explosion. Pieces OF
flesh and bone were found fastened In
the telegraph wires over the railroad
tracks. The fragments of the bodies
we're placed In rough Baskets after the
c%oroner's Inquest, and they were
buried Sunday.
There were nc buildings in the i'm
mediate vicinity Of the explosion and
there was no damage except for the
destruction OF a few telegraph poles
and o large tool shed in a nearby,
quarry, which was torn clear out and
drawn fifteen feet toward the scene OF
the blast.
The explosion shook the country
FOR miles around and broke many win.
dows In Harrisburg and towns across
Inc river. Twelve hundred and fifty
pounds OF rock powder had been un
loaded Just before the explosion, but
1T was not disturbed.
Burglar Shot.