Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1907-08-16
TERRIBLEEXPLOSTON
BUILDER, COLORADO, POWDER
MAGAZINE CAUGHT AFTRE.
Inree People Killed and rs Injured
WnIle Property Damage viii Be
over a Quarter of a Million, Depot
Rad Caught Fire and Spread to
Powder House.

Boulder, Col, Aug. 11.-Fire origin
atlng from an unknown cause in tbe
western end of the Colorado e. Soutb
ern freight depot Saturday mornine
destroyed the depot, with a vast ouan
tlty OF freight in half an hour and
spreading a distance of 100 feet envel
oped powder house containing 1000
pounds of dynamite, which exploded
with tremendous shock, throwing
nremen and hundreds of spectators to
the ground, fatally injuring two men
ana breaking the plate glass in every
business house in town, as well as in
hundreds of residences.
The loss is estimated at S25OO0O
The Boulder police report that 100
persons were injured by the explosion
and that rs are being cared for in hos
pitfalls.
The following were fatally injured:
Roy La Favre, volunteer fireman,
Boulder; Ike o. Wilson, volunteer,
fireman, Boulder.
When the alarm was first turned in
only a small blaze was visible in the
west end of the depot. The firemen.
handicapped by low pressure, fought
bravely, in utter ignorance that half a
ton of explosives was stored within
100 feet of the burning building. No
warning was given, and when the
sheetiron shack split open and with a
rear every person within a radius of
100 yards was hurled to the ground.
Roy La Favre and Ike Wilson, who
were nearest the storehouse, were
mangled. LaFavre's left
leg was blown off above the knee.
Wilson, a cripple with an artificial leg,
had his right leg blown away and the
wooden limb shattered, and fragments
Of it driven into his body.
Across the street from the freight
depot big two-story brick warehouse
had great cracks driven in the walls
and its roof blown off.
Several shacks along the tracks oc-
cupied by squatters were reduced to
splinters.
In the business section of the city
great sheets of heavy glass fell in
splinters on the sidewalk, following
the explosion. Not a pane of glass is
left in the center of the city Guards
of armed men were thrown about the
banks and mercantile establishments
to prevent looting.
Scarcely had the smoke from the ex-
plosion drifted away when a band of
rushed into the powder
house and, fighting their way through
the choking mist and flames, located
several kegs of giant powder which
had failed to explode and which were
carried to a safe place.
On a side track at the platform of
the burning depot stood a car con-
tanning eight tons of dynamite. Des-
pite the fact that cinders were falling
on it's roof and that little flickers of
flame were apparent on it's walls,
switching crew backed down and
coupled to the smoldering car, and
while the brakeman beat out the
sparks the engine hauled the car two
miles into the country, where it was
left on a side track.
All the windows in the university
building were blown out and the plas-
ter fell from the walls and ceilings of
the main building. Thirty cars were
destroyed with their con-
tents, consisting of valuable goods.
The fact that dangerous explosives
were stored so ear the depot, and
that few persons were aware of the
fact, will be made the subject of a
rigid inquiry by the city authorities.
Railway officials explain that the stor-
age was only temporary, pending ship
ment to the mines.
Claims Fire Was Incendiary.
1--WE have proof that the fire in the
lepot of the Colorado & Southern at
Boulder was of incendiary origin" said
Vice President A. D. Parker of the Col
1rado & Southern. "The miscreants
nay not have looked for the awful re-
suits that followed through the explo-
$40 of the dynamite, but upon their
heads the blame Of the catastrophe
must rest, will not say whom l sus-
1ect,
Victims Reach Five.
The four men arrested on suspicion
If having been implicated in starting
he fire are still held in jail. One more
ieath, that of Albert Weeks, a laundry
employee, brings the total up to five.
Six Hundred Are Homeless.
r7iro in Manila Saturday afternoon