The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-09
WRECK AND RUIN,
Powder Plant Blows Up Near
Hull, Quebec.
At Least Fifteen Persons Killed
and so Injured.
GIANT TREES BROKEN.
Everything Within a Mile Torn
and Shattered.
Plate Glass Broken in Ottawa
EOnr MiIoS AWau
GIANT TREES BROKEN.

others.
The force of the explosion was ter
rife. The country for miles around
was laid waste and many small dwell
ings in the city OF Hull, on the side
nearest the scene OF the explosion,
were flattened to the ground. A
oasepall game was in progress short
distance from the powder works. The
teams were playing the last inning
ana when fire was seen in one of
the small buildings OF the powder
plant the crowd began to swarm up
the hill to get better view of the
blaze.
Warning of the danger came to the
onlookers in two minor explosions
soon after the fire got well under way.
shower of sparks and fragments of
the wrecked building fell among the
spectators and there was a Scurrying
out of what was considered the danger
zone Some men in the crowd, aware
of the possibilities of the danger when
the mine magazine was reached plead
ed with the crowd to go still further
back and many of them needed the
warning. Others. apparently enjoy
ing the element of danger in the spec
tacle, stood within 1000 yards of the
burning buildings. They were kept on
the Qui vive by detonations that sent
showers of burning brands in all di-
rections.
The baseball game broke up and the
rest of the spectators and the players
rushed up to join the crowd at the
fire.
1t was then that the main magazine
exploded. There were two stunning
detonations. Everything within a ra-
dius of a mile and a half was torn
and shattered Giant trees were snap
ped off close to the earth, barns and
dwellings were converted into kindl-
ing wood and even in Ottawa. four
miles from the scene, hundreds of
plate glass windows were broken.
The scene where the crowd from
the ball field stood resembled battle
field. Headless, armless and legless
bodies were lying about among scores
of unconscious forms. To the few
who retained flicker of consciousness
it appeared as though over hundred
had been killed.
Thought 1t an Earthquake.
The silence that followed the final
death dealing. blast was more terribly
ing than the cries and means which
came with return to consciousness
of the badly injured. The terrible
shock brought thousands of terror
stricken people into the streets of
Hull. Some thought it was an earth
quake while others cried out that the
comet had struck the earth. Hundreds
of chimneys were toppled over and
there was scarcely a whole light of
glass left in the northeastern section
of the city.
The first call for aid from the hospitals
and the police came from the section of
the city nearest the magazines. There 1t
was found that fully forty small frame
dwellings had been shattered and that
many injured people were imprisoned in
the wreckage.
the explosion that word came into the
city of the disaster Ambulances and
and the seriously injured were carried
to the Hull hospitals until there was
room for no more and then others were
In this city. four miles from the scene
of the explosion, the terror inspired was
earth trembied. buildings shook and hun
dreds of windows We're shattered. The
great cloud of smoke that mounted in
column over Hull quickly indicated the
true cause of the terrifying shock.
Parliament Buildings Damaged
Rideau Hall. the official home of Earl
Grey and the buildings on Parliament
hill caught the full force of the explosion,
than in the main section of the city.
Every window on one side of the hall
was blown out and two great stone
the building. The parliament buildings
were also badly damaged.
Grey and his family. The Whole viceregai
establishment fled panic-stricken to the
street They were soon assured that
as Earl Grey learned the extent of the
disaster, he ordered a detachment of
troops sent across the river to help the
authorities.
The building in which the main ex-
plosion occurred was built of solid stone,
the walls being two feet thick. Frag-
ments of stone weighing up to a half
ton were shot through the air for
quarter of a mile, SCATTERING the frame
dwellings of working men which run TO
within eighth of a mile of the factory.
In a home just north of the works Two
sisters were killed while sitting at the
supper table. John Blanchfield was sit
ting with his wife in the door of his
home when fragment of rock killed
him but left her unframed.
The head of boy was cut clean from
his body Louis Mccain, a laborer. was
crushed by a falling fragment. He was
started for an Ottawa hospital IN an
automobile, but when 1t was seen that he
was dying the car was stopped in front
of the Roman Catholic cathedral There,
tered the last sacrament a few minutes
before Mccain died.
The electric light works were disabled
and the city of Hull was left IN dark,
ness. This added to the confusion and
the difficulty of locating victims.
The Ottawa hospitals are crowded with
injured and it is almost certain that
some of these are SO badly hurt that
the list of fatalities will grow.
The property damage is probably
within 100000.
The parish church of the Holy Reed,
half a mile away, contained an un-
usual number of statues. The head of
every one of these was shaken off,
while the bodies were left standing.
SET FOR THIS WEEK.