Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-08-11
Hundred Persons Are More or Less
Seriously Hurt.
BLAZE STARTS IN FREIGHT DEPOT
1t Soon Spreads to Storehouse Con.
tanning Explosives.
.oSS QUARTER OF MILLION
Thirty Cars of Valuable Merchandise
Destroyed beside BuiIdings--Car
of Dynamite Removed from
Dangerous Position.


started at l o'clock this morning in the
Colorado & Southern freight depot here,
destroyed the depot with a vast quantity of
freight and spreading a distance of 100 feet
snveloped a powder house containing 100
pounds Of dynamite which exploded with a
tremendous shock. iniuring perhaps 100 per-
sons and breaking the plate glass in every
business house In the city as well as IN
hundreds of residences. 1t is believed that
two of the injured will die. The properly
loss Is estimated at $3.50, 600 The fire oriGi-
mated from some unknown cause and 1t be-
lieved to be inccndiary. It was placed
under control at $3.50.
Twenty-Five of the injured were taken to
local hospitals The others were either re-
moved to their homes or were able to 30
there themselves.
The fatally injured:
Roy Lafavre. volunteer fireman, Boulder.
Ike o. Wilson. volunteer fireman, Boulder.
Among the others injured are:
Jack Livingstone. Denver; a machinist:
blown fifty feet against the side of a build
ing three ribs broken, clothes burned of.
Edward Cook. side and arms badly
Alexander Sparten, blacksmith clothes
burned off; badly burned about body
Erbie Miller carpenter, badly hurt by
Family named Ramsey, living in small
house near the station; house wrecked over
their heads four members of the family
badly injured.
Firemen Ignorant of Explosives.
When the alarm was first turned in only
small blaze was visible at the west end
Of the depot. The hremen. handicapped by
low pressure of water. fought bravely, In
utter ignorance that half a ton OF explosives
was stored nearby. No warning was given
and when the sheet iron shack containing
the dynamite split open with a dull roar
the men manning the hose and every person
within a radius of 100 pards were hurled to
the ground.
Roy Iafavre and Ike O. Wilson, who were
nearest the store house. were frightfully
mangied. Lafavre's left leg was blown
of above the knee. Wilson, cripple
with an artificial leg. suffered his right
leg blown away, The wooden limb was
shattered and fragments Of It were driven
into his body Across the street from
the freight depot a big two-story brick
warehouse had great cracks riven in its
walls and It's roof blown of. Several
shacks along the tracks. occupied by
squatters, were reduced to splintere.
In the business section great sheets OF
heavy glass fell in splinters on the side
walk, following the explosion. Not a whole
pane of glass remains in the center OF the
city. Guards Of armed men were thrown
about the banks and mercantile establish
ments to prevent looting.
Eight Tons of Dynamite Removed.
On side track at the platform of the
burning depot stood a car containing eight
tons Of dynamite. Despite the fact that
cinders were falling on its roof and that
little fiickers OF flames were apparent on ITS
walls, a switching crew backed down and
coupled TO the smouldering car. and while
the brakemen beat out the sparks, the
engine pulled the car two miles into the
country, where It was left on side track.
The Boulder clubs weekly reception had
Just ended and many men and women
were standing on the sidewalk few blocks
away waiting for their carriages. A half
hundred Of them were blown of their feet
by the force of the explosion. All OF the
windows in the university building were
blown out and the plaster fell from the
walls and ceiling OF the main building.
Windows in several houses on university
hill, a mile and half from the scene OF
the explosion. were shattered. A brick
house occupied by J. j. McCabe half a
block from the freight house. was totally
wrecked.
Thirty freight cars were completely
destroyed with their contents, consisting
of valuable merchandise, The fact that
dangerous explosives were stored so near
the depot and that few persons were aware
OF the fact. will be made the subject of a
rigid inquiry by the city authorities. Rail-
way officials explain that the storage was
only temporary, the explosives being under
shipment to the mines.