The Paonia progressive and the Paonia newspaper., 1911-07-20
; men KILLED
IN POWDER MILL
NITRoGLYcERIN STORED IN pu
POINT POWDER PLANT AT
LoUvIERS ExPLoDEs.
SEVERAL ARE INJURED
DENVER 20 MILES AWAY, Is
SHAKEN BY TERRIFIC
CONCLUSION.
western Newspaper Union News Service.


miles south of Littleton, three men are
known to have been killed and many
others injured at the plant of the E. |.
Dupont de Nemours Powder Com
pany, when two nitroglycerin build
ings blew up.
The explosion was followed immedi-
ately by fire, and the death list may be
much larger than was at first reported.
The detonation was heard for miles in
every direction and was distinctly felt
in Denver, eigheen miles from the
scene of the accident The bodies of
the three men killed were torn into
shreds and no trace Of them has yet
been found.
1t was thought by many that the
terrific noise, followed by vibrations OF
the earth's crust, was caused by an
earthquake, and panic ensued in Lit
Teton and other nearby points, many
persons leaving their homes in early
morning negligee.
The men who met their deaths in
the explosion are: Augustus Hoppe.
William Humple and Hans Lervig.
Lervig leaves a wife and six children,
while Hoppe and Humple are single.
This is the second explosion which
the Dupont people have had at this
plant. The last one. in which one man
was killed, occurred about three years
ago.
The force of the explosion wrecked
some of the smaller buildings near the
nitroglycerin building and broke win
dows in structures for miles around. II
was feared at first that the detonation
would cause other buildings, stored
with powder to blow up also. The
greatest danger. after it became appar-
ent that the vibrations had not set off
any of the other storage houses or
mixing buildings. vas from fire.
In spite Of the danger. employees OF
the company Immediately began TO
fight the fire in order to keep it from
spreading. The main buildings are
separated from one another so far
that the flames could not spread d.
rectly from one 10 the other. but Il
was feared that sparks and burning
brands would set off more of the eN-
plosives scattered around.
Cars stored with soda and other
combustible materials used in the
manufacture OF giant powder and nj
troElycerin were moved away from the
scenes as soon as possible.
A. ID. Chambers. superintendent of
the plant, was al the scene directly
after the explosion and superintendent
| operations He vas unable TO ascribe
a cause for the setting off of the dan
gerous explosives in the nitroglycerin
building. but said it might have been
caused from any one Of a dozen
l things.
The men killed were the only en-
! ployes in the building at the time. Be
cause of the always constant danger,
only a few men are employed in any
Of the buildings at any one time, and
/ these men are selected for their work
! because of their known carefulness.
They wear felt shoes, and every pre-
caution is taken to prevent the eNplo
sives from being set off by accidental
conclusion. None OF the employees Is
allowed to carry matches, or smoke
within the danger zone. They are paid
from SO to So per day.
The manager. William c. Howard,
whose office is in Denver, is out Of
the city at present and the offices are
in charge of J. f. Havens. The first
intimation Mr Havens had of the ac-
cident was when he was notified by
phone. Later ne received report
from the plant.
The accident is not as serious as II
might be-" said he. "Of course. an
accident in which three men are killed
is serious enough, but we are glad that
more men did not lose their lives.
Every possible precaution is taken to
prevent such accidents,
Three men only were killed, accord |
Ing to the report | received. The diff |
ferent buildings Of the plant are widely |
scattered. in order to prevent an acci- |
dent in one building from spreading |
to the other buildings in which explos.
ives are manufactured or kept. The |
storehouses are located in hollows, |
separated by hill. l don't know aow |
much glycerin was stored IN the |
building which went up. as the guam
tity varies at different ZINES "
After making an investigation of the |
ruins, Superintendent Chambers gave |
out statement saying that only G.000 |
pounds of nitroglycerin were in the |
building destroyed by the explosion.