The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1909-08-14

NCOHNluueu from rage One-)
cupies $40 acres, thirteen since its |
establishment over thirty years ago.
McCnrthy's Presence a Mystery.
The explosion not only blew the
house in which it occurred a 20xS0
foot shack, to smithereens. but broke
all the windows in the surrounding
buildings and blew all the doors off
their hinges. A remarkable and mys-
FERROUS circumstance seemed to be the
finding OF the body of Mccarthy, back
of the ruined structure
1t lay twenty-five feet from the
ruins. There was no door in the rear
of the structure. and had Mccarthy
been inside at the time of the ex-
plosion, he would have been blown to
| atoms as was the head mixer. There
was no possible occasion for McCar-
thy to have gone to the rear of the
structure. and everybody seemed at a
loss to explain how the body came to
be in the spot where it was found, un-
| less through some miracle it had been
lifted above the roof and hurled down
tc the place in which it lay.
Powder House Was o. H.
No one has the slightest idea OF what
caused the explosion. 1t is known.
however. that the stuff that went off"
consisted of about 500 pounds of dyna-
mite On Saturday last. the regular
day for the men in charge of the diff
ferent houses. each OF which two men
are employed, everything in House No.
81. was reported O.. X on Sunday
Superintendent W. W Edwards put his
.. X. on Koldas O. K, after a thor
orgh inspection of the machinery
there This, Mr.. Edwards explained
was one of the pecularities of these
powder mill explosions. They happen
ed. he said when least expected and
after they were over. no one had the
slightest clew as to what caused them.
The men. he said were given strict
orders to hand in written reports re-
garding their machinery at the end
of each week. and In the mean time
II enything. no matter how trivial.
went wrong. they were instructed to
telephone the office Immediately. II
was his custom he said to make a
; subsequent inspection on Sundays. and
II a man had been found negligent in
reporting any detail that was wrong
he was given black mark Ten
! black marks meant his discharge II
. the oversight was fragrant. one black
= mark was sufficient to cause the mans
dismissal This practice Mr.. Ed
= wards said. was rigidly enforced. as
= safeguard against disaster. And ever
:. then the explosions occurred but nc
one could ever explain.
4 There are $50 men employed at tn,
powder mills. and they work two in
4 house. the houses being scattered a
O intervals throughout the Gao acre
:, tract occupied by the plant One pc
n cularity about these explosions Is tina
= one never seems TO excite another TO
j. sympathetic" explosion 1t wouI
\ naturally seem that the intense jar
4 ring Of the buildings. when suhlcien
n TO blow out oil the wondows and doors
might serve to so disturb the powde
r stored in the surrounding houses. a
70 to set It of. But this, Supt. Edward
q declared. never occurs
- The company's record of 13 death
in 80 years is regarded among me
j. familiar with the dangerous nature o
the work. as little short of miraculou.
70 While explosions are quite numerous
N they are not nearly so frequent a
~ might be expected. and seldom has tn
20 Aetna mill had the misfortune. 70 hav
them attended by any fatality. Tn
\ last death previous to those Of yes
10 terday. caused by an accident. at tn
: powder mill. occurred six years ag,
when one man was killed.