The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-03-14
BLOWS UP THE TOWN
DYNAMITE SHOCKS WRECK VII
LACE IN WISCONSIN.
Nearly Every House in Village of 200
Inhabitants Carried Down by Force

Smouldering ruins and the wrecks
of cottages strew the site OF the
little village of Pleasant Prairie, Wis,
where Friday night the magazines OF
the Dupont de Nemours Power Com
pany exploded, killing at least one
man, injuring 200 persons, causing
damage of s1,500,000 With al radius
OF 100 miles, and rocking seven
States. ...a, E.- ~.
While the officers of fhe company
assert that all the employees except
E. S. Thompson, a. foreman, were ac-
counted for, three of the men could
not be found after the explosion.
Pleasant Prairie is ten miles west
of Kenosha, Wis. The powder mill is
a mile north of the village. The force
of the explosion completely demol-
.ished the houses on Geneva road,
which were nearest the mill, and
every house in the village was wreck
ed. Almost equal damage das done in
Bristol, four miles west.
Blown from their beds and with
the wrecage of their houses tumb-
ling about them the residents of
Pleasant Prairie loaded their half
clad families on far. wagons and
moved in a long procession in search
of shelter in Kenosha.
The escape of Supt. Clarence Brady
was remarkable. He was in the soda
house with Engineer Flynn at the
time of the explosion. The men were
blown through the building and land
ed on the roof of the adjoining maga-
zine. This exploded instantly, and
Brady and Flynn, the latter badly in
jured, were thrown hundred feet
from the building. Flynn suffered
internal injuries and inhaled poison
GUS fumes. His condition is precari-
Gus. Brady escaped practically un-
scathed.
Brady's wife Of tn, months In
his residence mile from the works,
was badly cut by broken glass and
bruised by falling debris. That the
powder in the plant was being rushed
through on a hurry order from the
government for use in the Texas
frontier was denied Friday night by
Supt. Brady. When dsylight gave q
clear view of the ruins it was seen
that the fire was out.
/ Three holes marked the sites
where three of the magazines haa
stood. The holes were each more
than fifty feet across and as deep.
One had broken into spring and was
half full of water. Part of the en-
gine house and the hundred foot
brick chimney of the plant still stand.
The village was almost completely
deserted by women an the men here
went hungry. Not only are most of
the stores blown down and broken :ip,
but the supply of food is so scattered
as to be of little use.
The district school house near the
village was wrecked. 1t was not nec-
essary to dismiss school, however,
for Of the As pupils all but half
dozen either were too injured to at
tend or had moved with their parents
during the night to PAGES Of safety.
A steel cylinder, thought to have
been used in the glazing room, was
hurled through the air and crashed
through the roof of the general store,
two miles away, tearing hole five
feet in diameter through the roof,
the first and second floor and into
the earth. II. A. King, in an adjoin-
ing room, was thrown to the floor
unconscious by the shock. Roads and
fields in the vicinity are strewn with
boulders, some Of which weigh scy-
eral hundred pounds.
In spite Of tremendous force Of the
explosion and the fact that nearly
every one who was within ten miles
of the factory when it took place was
hurt, in no more than a half dozen
cases were the injuries severe.