Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-03-10
Du Pont Powder Plant Of
Pleasant Prairie
Blows Up.
$50 TONS OF DYNAMITE,
105,0OO KEGS OF POWDER
Tears Village to Pieces-Hun-
dreds Injured-Shock Felt
in Chicago.

PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis, March
1o.-Hardly house in the thickly pop
ulated farming country in a radius of
fvA miles from here is hebitable To-Day
as a result of the explosion last night
of FIVE magazines filed with dynamite
and black gunpowder. One man, E. ).
THOMPSON, is known to be dead; one
was Seriously injured and several hun
dred were painfully hurt
The five magazines which exploded
last night contained 15O tons of finished
dynamite, 1870 tons of dynamite un-
finished 10000 kegs of finished giant
powder and $4,000 kegs of diminished
giant powder.
There are eight small cars Of dyna-
mite stored on a spur near the plant
TODAY. according to Sheriff Stani.
SSuperintendent Bumstcad, of the Chr
,cago division Of the powder company,
refused to state the amount of powder
in the buildings but said that three
wheel mills, one powder building ana
twenty smaller separate store buildings
all contain explosives In some guam
tity
Mr.. Bumstead said the exact cause
of the explosion could not be learned
but that it might have resulted from
a shark from a hammer blow or from
a broken piece of machinery flying
against the wall or floor of the glazing
or finishing room.
Explosion Felt for Hundred Miles.
The force of the explosion complete
1y demolished the houses on the Geneva
road, which were nearest the mill, ana
every house in the village was wrecked
: Almost equal damage was done In -Sris-
tol, four miles west.
The force of the explosion was fell
more than a hundred miles in every
direction, and that only one man was
killed and one dangerously injured is
said by officials of the powder com.
pany to be little short of miraculous.
m this town almost every house was
ruined All night long the country
roads leading to Kenosha from this
place. and from the town of Bristol,
were filled with carriages and farm
wagons carrying people whose homes
had been destroyed.
1t is feared that the list Of dead will
be made much larger when a toll is
taken of the farm houses. In many
of these the walls collapsed and mem
bers of the families may be buried in
the wreckage.
OF the 700 people living in Pleasant
Prairie. it is believed that fully one
half was injured by falling walls or by
particles of flying glass or stone.
The fire makes it impossible to search
the ruins Several attempts were made
by Sheriff Andrew Stahl, but on each
occasion he and his deputies were
.rxxl@ ,fA.aR ac fhn
reached packages of powders
The last attempt just before day
break was stopped by the heaviest OF
the following explosions, and the sheriff
said then that the fire must die cut be-
fore the ruins could be approached.
At that time Sheriff Stahl asserted
; that he was far from satisfied that tut
one body was in the ruins.
There are eight carloads of loose
black powder in a building still stand
ing" said Sheriff Gtahl
1T may let go at any moment"
There Is hole one hundred feet deep
in the ground where the dynamite
house stood.
Men Twice Blown Up.
The escape of Superintendent Clar-
ence Brady was remarkable. He was
in the soda house with Engineer Flynn
at the time of the explosion. The en-
were blown through the building and
) anded on the roof of the adjoining
magazine. This exploded instantly and
Brady and Flynn, the latter badly in
jured, were thrown a hundred feet
from the building. Flynn suffered In
ternal injuries and inhaled poisonous
fumes. His condition is precarious.
Brady escaped practically unscratched.
That the powder In the plant was
being rushed through on hurry order
from the government for use In the
Texan frontier was denied last night
by Superintendent Brady.
Superintendent Clarence Brady posi-
lively refused to make statement this
morning.