Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1907-12-20
TERR|F|C.EXPLOS|ON
Nitro GIycerine Lets Go with Terri
BILE Force.


twelve feet deep and thirty feet
across marks the site of the magazine
of the Dupont Powder company, two
miles southwest of Bowling Green,
which blew up with terrific force
Monday evening at half past five
o'clock, says the Sentinel
So far as known no loss of life re.
suited though some safe cracker may
have been helping himself to little
| glycerine and set off the plant. This
| is simply surmise but the apparent
impossiblity of the explosion of the
magazine without help, and the pres
ence of piece of mans vest to
which no one claims ownership, pro-
vides food for the Imagination along
these lines.
The magazine contained about GOO
quarts of nitro-glycerine and was u.s.
ed simply as a store house by the
Dupont people to supply Shooter
Spencer Burden in this field.
Mr.. Burden was at the plant at
half after two in the afternoon and
made everything snug for the night
The magazine was equipped with
modern heating plant, hot water be-
ing run in and out of the building
from an adjoining structure where
the water was heated. AS water will
cnf off trlu
ed the magazine was absolutely safe
so far as being set off by heat.
The explosion created the usual
havoc to properties in the vicinity
and Bowling Green being directly in
the path of the force of the explosion,
because of the direction of the wind,
suffered more than it has from SINH
lar explosions in Wood county in ten
years.
Possibly four thousand dollars
worth of glass was broken in the city.
Glass was broken all over the city,
especially in the south part of the
town, while some of the business
houses today are boarded up in front,
the big plate glass having been shat
tered into bits.
Farm Houses Shaken.
In the country the houses of Wick
Constable, Clyde Wilcox, George Jol-
ly, Lincoln Loe and William Porter,
all in the vicinity of the magazine
were damaged by windows being
broken, doors being torn from their
hinges and general shaking up. "
At the magazine huge oak tree
was uprooted and a piece of wood
driven directly into it. A derrick
owned by Isaac Shuler close by, was
demolished and a power house and
tool shed were also badly wrecked.
John McLain, n pumper on the lease,
was in the tool house when the explo-
sion took place and miraculously es-
capped without a scratch though al
most suffocated by the fumes before
he could make his escape from the
building. -,
In the farm houses damaged as
well as in the city, several were
thrown down and suffered consider
ably from shock and bruises from
the fall and it will be some days be-
fore they feel all right again.
Knocked People over.
In town number of people found
themselves fiat upon their backs and
they got up in a dazed condition, not
realizing what had happened. Pc
culiar things occurred and many mar
row escapes from serious injury oc-
Cured. 1t seem to many people that
the explosion was almost beneath
them and those who had furnaces,
suspected that the furnace had been
blown up, and the house was falling
in upon them.
In the business section the rattle of
plate glass and the rumble following
the explosion made the people think
of earthquakes and everybody who
could collect his senses, ran into the
streets to see.