The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-07
Latest Report Says Fifty Are
Dead.
Ship Was Taking Cargo OF
Dynamite at Baltimore.
SHOCK THOUGHT TO Be QUAKE
Terrific Explosion Felt for
Miles Around.
Many of Dead Were on Other
Ships in HarbOr.

Baltimore, March 7.-Three hundred
and forty tons of dynamite exploded
this morning in lower Baltimore harbor
killing about fifty men and wounding
as many more many of them fatally.
The explosive was being transferred
from a barge to the British steamer
Alum Chine, when it went off from
cause as yet unknown.
The men killed were members of the
crews of the steamer and the barge
and vessels moored nearby
The Chine and the barge, together
with the tug Atlantic and the naval
collier Jason were either completely
destroyed or very seriously damaged. The
shock was felt as far away as Read
ing Pa, 100 miles from Baltimore. 1t
was recorded also at Atlantic City.
People at first thought an earth
quake had occurred. A school house
at Sparrow's Point, several miles from
the scene of the explosion, was partly
destroyed and several children hurt.
Baltimore itself was shaken as if by
powerful trembling of the earth and
tall buildings in the center of the city
rocked perceptibly. Scores of vessels
hurried to the scene of the disaster
to render what aid they could. The
explosion was so powerful that pieces
of steel weighing fifty pounds were
hurled through the air for a distance
of four miles
Cases of dynamite were thrown for
a great distance from the Chine and
exploded as they fell adding to the
damage and destruction. The injured
were removed as speedily as possible
to this city. The dock where they
disembarked was a scene of pathetic
effort on the part of women and chill
dren seeking to learn the names of the
dead and to identify the wounded.
The force of the explosion swept
away the upper works of the United
States naval collier Jason. killing
three men and injuring % others. The
Jason was about 700 feet away at the
time. She had just been completed by
the Maryland Steel company and was
soon to have had her government trial
trip. "--
lying alongside the Alum Chine, were
killed, and the tug practically destroy
ed. The latest report places the num-
at forty. OF the latter ten of the
Jasons people are said to be fatally
hurt. Forty steVedores are unac-
counted for. If they were on the
steamer it is considered certain that
they perished.
Scores of vessels hurried to the
scene of the disaster, floating bodies
were drawn from the wreckage and
some of the injured were rescued. The
brought to Baltimore hospitals.
The Alum Chine had been here
since March 1 and was finishing the
loading of a cargo of high explosives
for the Panama canal.
This morning a lighter with four
railroad cars was towed to the side of
the vessel and the work of loading
was expected to be finished in few
hours.
Nearby were the tug Atlantic and
several launches belonging to ship
chambers who were engaged in fur
nishing supplies to the steamship.
Suddenly puff of smoke came from
the hold of the ship and as many of the
crew as had time to escape from the
lower part of the ship ran to the
decks. Alongside the Alum Chine was
Chandler James H. Goodhues Into
this boat Ieaped Ia of the British boats
crew and Goodhues turned the bow
of his little craft away from the burn
ing ship and put off at top speed.
The first puff of smoke was follow
ed by clouds of great volume.
The explosion shook the ground for
miles around. Windows were broken
and chimneys knocked off houses a
dozen or more miles from the scene of
the disaster. At Sparrows Point
school house was partly destroyed and
several children hurt.
Baltimore was shaken as if by an
earthquake and tall buildings in the
center of the city were rocked by the
shock.