Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-07-11
CARNAGE OF THE 4TH
MANY KILLED AND HURT CELE.
BRATlNG THE "GlORIOUS.-
Misguided Patriotism Makes n Long
Death Rolf-Deadly Lock Jaw Is
Next and Many of the Injured Are
Sure to Succumb

Lists of killed and wounded nub-
lished the day after the Fourth tell
only part of the story of slaughter
The dreadful after effects of hurts
slight in themselves, bat harboring the
tetanus germ and resulting in lockiaw
and death, are still to add horrors to
the grisly tale. Stray bullets did the
usual amount of killing Fools with
cannon crackers and other deadly
weapons used them where they would
do the most damage. The premature
explosion was much in evidence. So
the hospitals were crowded and the
procession to the cemeteries began.
From returns compiled ON the 9Th
the roster of dead throughout the corn-
try held rs victims of misguided pa
triOtism. The lists of the injured were
swelled largely when final inventories
of the wounded were taken, and the
totals received show that more than
$500 persons spent the 9TH in sorrow
and tribulation. The totals are far
from complete, for nearly every remote
hRhlACI III GllC NOllIIiIy 1ItiS 4lS MAJ >,
and months will elapse before the final
statistics are gathered. The expert
ance of former years has demonstrated
that the full death toll of the ''gl0ri-
ous' is never completed until several
weeks have passed.
Many Killed and Hurt.
Pittsburg heads the list of cities for
loss Of life, fifteen deaths being re-
ported. In Philadelphia there was only
one death, but the wounded numbered
hundreds. In the hospitals of the
birthplace of independence 64S persons
were treated for injuries during the
day Late reports from Los Angeles
show that four deaths occurred in that
city as the direct result of the noisy
celebration
In Chicago the death roll reached
seven. Several victims were claimed in
post-Fourth celebrations. With fire
works marked down, Young America,
and in many cases Old America as well,
simply couldn't resist the temptation to
buy, and the 9TH of July pyrotechnics
added a large number to the already
large list of injured, dead and dying.
At Peoria, Therrold Rogers, IS years
Did, tried to bore out the muzzle of a
cannon which. happened to be loaded.
When the steel bit struck the powder
the young man was hurled thirty feet
and seriously injured.
In, paJnif n who I1a1
been in the country only fifteen days,
was shot in the head by a boy who sup
posed he had only a toy pistol. The
man is expected to die.
Reports from Cincinnati were to the
effect that the entire business section of
the town of Moscow, Ohio, was wiped
out on the Fourth by a blaze that
started from the explosion of a tOrpe-
do near a 2OO-gallon tank of gasoline,
the tap of which was running.
Early in the morning a fire started
at Decatur City, Iowa, that burned
eleven business houses and other build
ings. The loss is $4,000 and the fire is
attributed to smoldering cracker stubs.
Many Fires Are Caused.
In many cities there were other
blaZes as the outcome of the fireworks.
In Pittsburg the O'Neil Building, at
SOC Fifth avenue, burned and several
persons were rescued only by spectacu-
lar heroism on the part of the freight
ers.
In a race riot in New York during
the final hours of the celebration Po-
lceman Edward Conrad was probably
fatally injured. The trouble started
when the officer seized q negro who
was discharging a pistol on the street.
At once hundreds of negro celebrants
rushed up, and, Selling the policeman,
slashed him with raZorS. 4 riot call
brought succor, and the fight that en-
sued lasted half an hour.
Lower Salem. Ohio, was the scene of
a pitched battle between two whole viii
lagos during a celebration of the
Fourth. A picnic had been arranged
at Salem, and the whole masculine pop
ulation of Elba turned out. Unfriend-
" rivalry between the two towns start
ed a row, the town marshal was I'M
able to preserve the peace and the me-
lee ceased only when the participants
sank from exhaustion. Hundreds were
hurt.
Another "joker" appeared at Glad
den, Pa. He gave a pound of black
powder to seven small children for
in hncT1ifaI
Dangerous fireworks are made to be
exploded. If their manufacture were
prohibited under penalty, if their sale
were made a serious offense, If harm
less substitutes for deadly toys were
generally used by sensible persons, the
Fourth of July soon would take on an
air of sanity and the pleasures Of the
dav would be multiplied. Public opin-
ion must deal firmly with this matter.
The slaughterous holiday must be re-
formed.
The noises of the Fourth drove Mrs
Johanna Evert to insanity, and after
frightening her neighbors she hanged
herself from a bedpost in her home IN
Jersey City.
At Waukegan, ILL.,, Henry Meyers, IL
years old, met death while returning
from a Fourth of July picnic. The
little boy stood on the tracks of the
st. Paul Railroad within 500 feet of
his home watching an exhibition Of
fireworks. when an express train bore
down upon him, killing him instantly.
Judge J. f. Anderson. a lawyer in
Manitowoc. Wis, and prominent in the
G. A. R., lost an eye. An unknown per-
son threw a cannon cracker into a
crowd, and it struck the judge in the
face.
Capt. Ottley, the naval British dele
gate. who is the inventor Of the subna-
rine mines now generally in use, appeal
ed to The Hague conference to abolish
the anchored mine. TO prohibit the use