Omaha daily bee., 1911-03-11
PLANT NEAR KENOsHA WRECK
All Buildings Within Five Miles A
Uninhabitable.
ONLY ONE MAN IS KILLED
Several Hundred Persons Hurt, but
Only Few Seriously.
ANOTHER EXPLOSION PROBABLE
Plant Consisted of Forty BuiIdinEs,
Five OF which Are sim stand
inE-Contain Large Quanti-
ties Of Explosives.

PLEASANT PRAIRIE. wis, March 10
Hardly a house in the thickly populated
farminC country In a radius Of five miles
from here is habitable today as q result
Of the explosion last night Of five maga-
Tines filled with dynamite and black pow
der at the Hsl Pont De Nemours Powder
company plant.
One man. F. s. Thompson, was killed.
one was seriously injured several hundred
were painfully hurt and the greater num-
Der Of residents or this village. Bristol
and the surrounding country have packed
their remaining household goods and
moved away until their homes are rebuilt
There is still at the plant IN practically
open shape. liable to instant explosion,
sufficient Einpowder TO cause far greater
damage TO the community than the blast
last night
The five magazines which exploded last
night contained $50 tons Of finished dyna-
3 mite. 10 tons OF dynamite unfinished s0.O00
kegs Of finished giant powder and q OOo
kegs Of unfinished giant powder.
/ There were eight small cars OF dynamite
stored on a spur near the plant. acoordins
to Sheriff stahl The superintendent re-
fused to state the amount Of powder IN
the buildings but said three wheel mills
one for powder buildings and twenty
smaller separate store buildings ali con
tanned explosives In some quantity
Pleasant Prairie is ten miles west OF
/ Kenosha. wis. The powder mill is a mile
north Of the village, which has a popula-
ton OF about 100
Entire Village wrecked.
The force OF the explosion completely de-
molished the houses on the Geneva road
which were nearest the mill. and every
house in the village was wrecked
- l.
the hegirs of the entire population. Blown
from their beds and with their houses
tumbnng about their heads. the residents
OF the village loaded their half-clad fam
lilies on farm wagons and moved in a
long procession OF battered and shivering
refugees in search OF shelter in Kenosha
A special train was rushed TO Pleasant
Prairie from Keuosha over the North
western railroad TO remove the women
and the worst injured Az tsle arasiabls
doctors and nurses IN Kencsha accompa-
MED the train and attended TO the
wounded
That no greater list OF fataHtis followed
the disaster was due to the small num-
Der Of men at work in the plant.
Several attempts to search the ruins
were made by Sheriff Andrew Stahl this
morning. but on each occasion he and his
deputies were driven back by successive
explosions az the fire reached packages OF
, powder.
The last attempt just before daybreak
was stopped by the heaviest OF these ex-
plosions and the sheriff said the fire must
die out before the ruins could be ap-
preached
Another Explosion Probable.
There are eight carloads Of loose black
powder in a building stin standing" said
Sheriff stahl 1t may let go at any mo-
ment. There is a hole in the ground where
the dynamite house was, a hundred feet
deep
The shock was felt as far as Cleveland.
on the east and 10 the Mississippi river
on the west. In Chicago, fifty-nve miles
away. hundreds Of windows were broken
and buildings we're rocked. Kenosha, Nil
waukee and other important towns suffered
severely.
5 II is believed the first explosion took
place IN the glaze house. In this house
more than 100 kegs Of powder are dried
at a time in steel cylinders. Each cylin-
der holds about rs kegs OF powder The cyl
inders are about twelve feet long and three
e and one-half feet in diameter. They are en-
closed in steel Jackets, through which live
" steam is forced and as the cylinders re-
: volve the powder is dried and brought to q
= high heat There were nine Of these eynn'
ders.
The extent OF the glaze on the grains
- Of powder determines its great degree oi
expIosivsness When the powder is nearly
. polished and is dry and hot II is in q
p dangerous condition.
The initial explosion was followed by ths
! explosions OF the dynamite magazines.
Five Buildings Stiu Standing.
n The property occupied by the powder
( company is approximately 80 acres. Their,
}. we're forty buildings. according to Super
n intendent Bradley.
4 He said there were five main magazines