The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1911-03-18
BLAST WREGRSTOWN
PLEASANT PRAIRIE, wls., WIPED
OUT BY TERRIFIC POWDER
EXPLOSION.
DEATH LIST PUT AT ONE
surrounding Country Shaken, People
Fly From Homes, cItIes Rocked ~
II by Earthquake--Thousands Of
Windows Miles Away Smashed.


when the Laflin-Rand powder mills at
Pleasant Prairie. near Kenosha, Wis.,.
exploded and were destroyed One en-
ploye Of the powder mills was killed.
rs more injured. and the property loss
IL estimated at 100000.
Though the scene Of the gigantic
blast was 81 miles away, II threw q
city Of 100000 Inhabitants into an
uproar. The explosion was felt In all
Of the surrounding towns, miles away.
1t was felt across Lake Michigan,
along the Michigan shore of the lake.
Elgin. Aurora. Joliet, Rockford, BEN
ton Harbor are only few Of the
cities and towns that were shaken as
was Chicago.
With the first shock men, women
and children fed from their homes In
terror. Some Of them had reached
the open air when there came the sec
ond rocking of the buildings and the
Quivering Of the earth beneath their
feet Then 1t was that terror took
possession Of hundreds of thousands
of people. They were sure that Chi
cago, the suburbs-Michigan even
Indiana, or whatever part of the sur
rounding country they happened to be
In was to be visited by an awful catas-
trophe.
The sickening, swaying, Quivering
motion Of the earth ceased a. sud-
denly and as mysteriously as 1t had
come, and then self-possession re-
turned to most Of the frightened ones.
In one instance at least, In the case
Of an aged woman in Elgin, the shock
was fatal. Her weakened heart ceased
beating forever just as the explosion
shock swept over that city. Fright as
much as anything else killed her.
The principal damage done. as far
as could be learned last night-always
excepting the havoc wrought by the
explosives in the immediate vicinity
Of the wreck of the powder mills
came from broken windows. Panes
of glass innumerable were shattered
in all sections Of the city. Windows,
picture glasses, china. glassware and
other things fragile and breakable
were smashed to atoms.
In Pleasant Prairie scarcely one Of
the 700 inhabitants escaped injury and
some of them may die. Buildings were
swept to the ground almost like q set
Of dominoes and the first of the res
cuers found the streets filed with half
crazed women and children, while the
men worked furiously to release 9TH
ers from the debris Of their devasta-
ted homes.
Nearly the same conditions obtained
at Bristol, the force of the explosion
sweeping across the prairie like ter
rife gust Of wind, before which build
ings and trees bent, broke and fell.
In Evanston, on the north, and In
Hinsdale on the west the fash that
came with the explosion 80 many
miles away was plainly seen by a
number Of persons.
A remarkable feature Of the explo-
sion is that its effects were distinctly
felt In Indiana, even as far south as
Indianapolis, and in many Of the In
diana cities the shock seemed to be
Just as severe, II not more severe, than
It was in the immediate neighborhood
Of Chicago.
In Michigan City many windows
were broken, buildings were rocked
and people rushed to the streets as
they did in Chicago and In the sub
urbs. Meetings In churches and audi
ences In theaters left those buildings
and. could not be induced to return. A
number Of young women telephone op-
orators tainted from fright and tele-
phone service was demoralised for
time. In the districts Of the city pop
ulated largely by people Of foreign
birth. there was general exodus from
homes, and policemen were sent into
those districts to induce the frightened
women and children to return.
Twelve hundred prisoners in the big
Indiana state penitentiary were also
badly frightened. A smoker in the
Elks' club was broken up summarily
when the balls on the billiard and pool
tables began to play queer pranks, and
when gas and electric light globes
fell with loud crash.
South Bend and Goshen were two
other Indiana cities In which the
shock OF the explosion was distinctly
felt. In Gary a woman in the Orpheum
theater was injured when some per
son cried ''firel" and rush was made
for the exits. The big steel plant Of
the United States Steel corporation
was shaken; glass was broken and
number OF lodge and church meetings
were broken up. In East Chicago and
Indiana Harbor telephone operators
ran from their Offices. thinking there
had been an earthquake.
Beer Money"
A roytc ~ Tho tivvna xyhovx - -.