The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1911-03-16
FOUR STATES ARE
JARRED BY FIFTY
TONS OF DYNAMITE
Five Hundred Houses
Wrecked by Dupont
Plant Explosion.
CHICAGO FEELS 1T

Sky scrapers There Swayed
by Shock and People Think
1t Earthquake.
Kenosha. Wis.-only two people
were killed when ffty tons o.
dynamite exploded in the Dupont
Powder Company plant here last
night, drecking the town of Pleasant
Prairie, Wis. The i3ss at the latter
town alone will be $l,500.oO0
Fully 500 houses We're RACED by the
force of the terrific explosion. The
shock was felt from Cleveland, Ohio
to Clinton. Iowa. In other words
the jar extended over Wisconsin, T..
linois, Indiana and part OF Ohio. In
Chicago the biggest buildings rock.
ed to and fro and the people thought
it an earthquake.
Pleasant Prairie. Wis.-Five pow
der magazines of the Dupont-DeNe-
.mours powder company. containing
eighteen hundred tom OF blast pow
der and dynamite, exploded at the
Headquarters of the here
last night.
One man. e. f. Thompson, is
known to be dead. Miss Alice Finch,
of Elgin. ILL.,. dropped dead of heart
disease, caused by fright. Two hun
dred and fifty houses were blown
down or were SO damaged as to be
uninhabitable, and buildings ten
miles away were wrecked.
The force of the explosion was felt
more than n hundred miles from
here. This effect was evident as far
away as Michigan City, Indiana, one
hundred aud nine miles distant. In
all the towns along the shore of Lake
Michigan, from Milwaukee to Michi-
gan City. windows we're broken and
smashed.
In this town, almost every house is
ruined. All night long the country
roads from Kenosha to this place and
from the town of Bristol were filled
with farm wagons, carrying people
whose homes had been destroyed. The
plant fortunately had been closed
down and only eighteen men were
at work.
Few Men In Plant.
All Of these escaped with minor in
Engineer Joseph Flynn was
blown through a window to the roof
of the powder magazine adjoining.
Clarence Brady was also blown to
the top of the same magazine. and an
instant later it exploded. Both men
were tossed high into the air.
Brady escaping unhurt. while Flynn
fatal injuries. How either
escaped instant death is unex-
plainable.
In many farm houses the walls col
lapsed, and members Of the families
were buried in the wreckage. OF the
700 people living in Pleasant Prairie,
it is believed that fully one-half were
injured by flying glass aud falling
stones.
The cause of the explosion is un-
known. The powder in the glaze
room, where the finishing work was
put on black powder was the first
to go and three powder mazagines
were next to 60, and a dynamite store
house, containing fully three carloads
of the explosive came last. 1t was
the dynamite that did most of the
damage, and the one which was felt
more than one hundred miles away.
One hundred deputy sheriffs have
been sworn in and are now guarding
the plant. 1t is known that consid-
cradle powder is still on the place
and no one but an employee Of the
company is allowed to approach with
in two miles of the site.
BUILDINGS IN CHICAGO
ROCKED BIZ EXPLOSION
Chicago.-The glare from the ex-
plosion at Pleasant Prairie was seen
in the northern and western suburbs
of Chicago. The vibration was felt
from end to end of the city, the force
Of the explosion being with a roar
such as that of a heavy wind. Win
dows were broken by the thousands,