Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-07-07
TERRIFIC FORCE OF
GAMBRILL EXPLOSION
Tons Of Powder Were Being Ground
for Fertilizer.
BODY HURLED 800 YARDS.
Machine Was Shattered to Atoms
Exact Cause Of Accident is Not
Known.

Known.
Two men were killed outright and
another seriously but not dangerous
ly hurt as the result of peculiar ex~
plosion of powder on the Naval Acad-
emy Dairy Farm, situated 10 miles
from Annapolis, shortly after o'clock
| Yesterday afternoon The dead are
John McLeary, u SeOtchman. 30 years
Old,address unlnOwn,who had been en-
pl0yed at. the. dairy for about two
months. His body was practically ere
mated by the burning powder.
Albert Addison. elOred, 81 years old.
who lived near GambriIl's,in this coun-
| ty. His body, which was badly man.
gled, was blown about 200 feet from the
scene OF the explosion.
| The injured man is Albert Sapping
ton, 80 years old living near Gambrill's
His injuries consist of superficial
burns. He was removed to his home.
II is not known whether McLeray had
any family. The colored man leaves a
wife and three children.
The dairy farm, which comprises
| about zoo acres. is near Gambrill's Sta
tion. on the Washington Baltimore &
Annapolis Electric Line The powder.
| several tons of which have been sent
here during the last few months to be
granulated and used for fertiliZing pur
pose on the farm, was of the smoke
less variety, manufactured ut the pow
der plant at the Naval Proving Grounds
on the Potomac river. below Washing
ton. 1t was condemned by the Govern
ment some time ago, but because of the
large quantity of nitrite of potash that
such powder contains, il was decided to
utilize il for fertilizer Most of the
powder was of the old prism, or disc,
form, and large grinding machine
had been used to reduce it to the size
of grains of corn TO be spread upon the
| fiilds at the dairy farm.
The three victims of the accident
comprised the operators of the ma
chine, and it was while they were
grinding on the last batch of powder
that the explosion, no cause for which
can be ascribed occurred.
The machine being worked about an
| eighth of mile from the barns. No
one other than the three men were in
the immediate vicinity at the time of
| the explosion, nor was any of the cattle
| injured. The explosion was terrific.
II could be heard within radius of
| about nine miles, and there was much
excitement until the cause of the great
| rumblings became known.
Plastering i'm several houses nearly
| two miles away was knocked from the
walls. and dishes were shaken from
cupboard shelves by the force of the
detonations The grinding machine
was blown TO atoms. Immediately af-
| ter the explosion, Mr.. Sears, the over
| seer of the dairy. telephoned the Naval
Academy authorities, and Paymaster
| Samuel Bryan the midshipmen's store
| keeper. who has supervision over the
| dairy farm, accompanied by Medical Di-
rector A VI. d. Mccormick. of the
| Navy, took the next car for Gambrills
In the meantime. DR.. Harry b. CAN'T
Jr.. and Dr. c. w. McNemar. who live
nearby the dairy farm, hurried to the
scene of the accident and rendered
temporary medical aid to the injured
man. Sappington. 1t was suggested
that Mr.. Sappington come to the naval
hospital the NavalAcademyf for treat
ment. but he refused. stating that his
| injuries were not so severe as to pre-
vent his returning to his home.
| The Federal Government purchased
the farm at Gambrill's for use as the
Naval Academy dairy nearly two years
ago, and il is a model of its kind. All
the milk used by the regiment of 900
midshipmen is supplied from the Gam
brill's Station dairy form.
For the past week, powder has been
crushed at the farm, and Paymaster
Bryan said that it was not considered
a dangerous practice. in that since the
work has begun, more than 100000
/ pounds had been crushed and scatter
ed over the land. 1t was about $50
O'Clock when the explosion occurred.
AT the time, the place was in charge OF
Assistan' Superintendent r. L. Raw
superintendent J. A. Conover being in
Baltimore on business. and Paymaster
Bryan being at the Naval Academy.
When the explosion occurred. Mr.
Ray, followed by the employees of the
farm. rushed to the scene. Just be-
fore they reached there several minor
explosions, presumably boxes of pow
der, that had not been crushed. occur
red. Flames were leaping high in the
air. but the employees, under Mr.. Raw,
fought through the FIRE until they
reached the side of McCleary. He was
pulled from the fire, but died a mo-
ment later. Addison was found dead
far from the place where the explosion
occurred. Sappington, despite his in
juries, rushed to render what aid he
could give.
Receiving order before $50 o'clock to
stop crushing the powder for the day
McCleary and Addison began the work
of cleaning up. The powder was raked
into pile and the men started 10
shovel it into the wheelbarrows. TO be
wheeled to the trench. During the
shoveling. according to Sappingtou.
who described the explosion to Paw