The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-05-16
People Of Pleasant Prairie Seek
ing to Stop the Storing Of
Dynamite in County
JUDGE PARISH HOLDS COURT
Attorney for the Great Powder Com.
bine States That the Companies
Seek to Have the Case Tried
on Its Merits

The big suit of Lafayette M. Stur-
devant, attorney general of the state
in behalf of the people of the vii
lage of Pleasant Prairie VS.. J. Amory
Haskell, The Lahin-Rand Powder
Company. The Dupont Powder Com
pany and Joseph Steinbach, the agent
for the combine at Pleasant Prairie,
began in the Circuit Court on Mon
day before Judge Parish of Ashland.
By stipulation Of the attorneys the
case is being heard by the court and
not by jury. The hearing of the
case drew to Kenosha large number
of the residents of the town of
Pleasant Prairie and while none of
the officials of the powder company
is here to make q personal sdefense a
large number of the practical men
employed by the trust in the manu-
facture of powder are here to testify.
In the opening statement of the case
the attorneys for the people of Pleas
ant Prairie made no statement beyond
what was contained in the complaint
in the action in which it was stated
that there was large quantities of
dynamite and giant powder stored on
the premises owned by the company
and that it was stored in such quaint
ties as to be menace to the lives Of
the people of the village. Attorneys
Randall and Taylor Of this city APP
peared for the state in the action and
FL. A. King and Albert Cole were the
representatives of the people of the
village of Pleasant Prairie. Attorney
James Cavanagh, who appeared for
the powder ompanies, declared that
while he questioned the constitutions
aity of the law under which the
action was brought by the state, he
would not raise any technical obiec.
tons as it was the desire of the
powder companies to have the case
tried on its merits and decided on the
evidence as presented. Mr.. Cava-
nagh stated that he would show that
there was positively no danger to the
people of Pleasant Prairie from the
storing Of dynamite and that the COM
panies owning the plant had taken
every precaution to eliminate danger.
He stated that it was absolutely nec-
essary for the company to store ex-
pIosives on the premises in order for
them to be able to do business. He
declared that the company would ad-
nit that 10000 pounds of dynamite
had been stored in the dynamite
magazine at the plant but that it was
being moved as rapidly as possible.
Charles Madden, a former employee
OF the company, was the first witness
called and he testified to the capacity
of the different magazines and the
amount of powder usually stored. stat
ing that the greatest amount of blast
ing powder he had ever known to be
stored on the premises was 2,225, 900
pounds. He testified that the ground
was covered with grass and weeds,
and that on two occasions there had
been prairie fires, in which the build
ings of the plant were threatened,
and that at one time the people of the
village had gone to the plant to aid in
fighting prairie fire. He was not
cross-examined. Other former en-
ployees of the company were called to
give testimony in regard to the
amount Of blasting powder, giant
powder and dynamite on hand at diff
ferent times and their testimony was
sin1ilarto that of Madden.
The Court took great deal of care
in the examina ton of witnesses and
nearly every witness was examined
by the Court as well as by the atto.-
neys. It is thought that the hearing
of the case will take up the time of
the Court for several DAYS.
From Tuesdays Dai1y.)
That dynamite is as harmless as
candy and that the people of Pleasant
Prairie and Kenosha are in no danger
from explosions at Pleasant Prairie
was the consensus of the testimony
given in the suit of the State VS.. the
Powder Trust in the Circuit Court
today. This evidence was given
by experts emu loyed by the Powder
Trust in all parts of the country and
without exception all the men gave
it as their opinion that there was alb
solutely no danger of an explosion of
dynamite at the Pleasant Prairie
plant of the Latin, Rand Powder
company. The witnesses all testified
that they were we'll acquainted with
the action of dynamite and the
methods employed by the com pany
in handling It. They cited examples
here there had been explosions of
powder magazines and showed that
while the buildings were hadiu