Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1886 — CHICAGO SHAKEN. [ARTICLE]

CHICAGO SHAKEN.

One Hundred Thousand Pounds of Powder and Dynamite Struck by Lightning. All the Houses in the Vicinity Demolished by the Explosion Which Resulted. One Girl Instantly Killed and Four Persons Injured So They Will Die. Five Others Badly Hurt—Effects of the Explosion Felt at a Distance of Seven Miles. [From the Chicago Daily News.] As James Duhnitock was beating his way ■through the rain on Archer road Sunday morning a lightning bolt shot out of the black northern sky, having seemingly selected him for the target of its wrath. The blinding sensation was instantly followed by a withering crash, and before he could breathe the prayer which rose insensibly to his lips he fell to the ground stunned. At the Brighton Park drug-store, a mile away, the tall clock careened to the floor, and smashed into fragments among the debris from the shelves. Its battered hands marked the time, 9:20. Two hundred yards west of where Dubna took lay a community of houses was in ruins of splinters and flames, entombing dead and dying, while ten miles distant, in the heart of Chicago, French glass windows were strewn over the sidewalks in pulverized pieces. Mystified men, women, and children ran hither and thither, wondering if this was a new Pompeii without a Vesuvius, and wildly speculating on the causes and results of the earthquake shock that had swept along the lake shore. Not until two hours later was it learned that the dynamite magazine of Laflin & Hand had been exploded, causing great havoc and desolation. The destructive forces of 1.5J0 pounds of dynamite and 3,000 pounds of black powder were discharged by the electric fuse. Houses, trees, and fences went down before the mighty blast like grass before the scythe, and pe jple for miles around were stricken insensible with wounds or speechless from terror. The dead and injured are : Dead —Carrie Earns worth, 14 years old. Fatally Injured—John Kann, 3’> jears old; farmer, of Auburn Station. John Gugl. 40 vears old ; driver for the Laflin & Rand Powder Company. Mrs John Gugl, 24 years old; wife of the former. Mrs. Eliza Devine, 03 years old; widow. Peter Ham, 28 years old, gardener; has wife and one child. James Shannon, 16 years old; parents reside on Joseph street and Pearson avenue Seriously Hurt—Two Kelly brothers, 14 and 16 years old respectively; parents residing on Western avenue, near Thirty-sixth street. Madden, a small boy, whose parents reside on Thirty-eighth street, near Pearson avenue. Philip Bbwler, cabinet-maker, 722 South Union street; arm crushed by flying stone, and amputated. John Lorden, Jr., 17 years old, of 165 Canalport avenue; leg badly crushed. Lesser Casualties—John Jung, 52 years old, gardener; resides south of Archer road. Mrs. Jung, 46 years old; wife of the former. Miss Kennedy, 18 years old; parents reside on Johnson street, a quarter of a jnile from the scene. At Brighton Park Archer avenue takes the character of the regulation country road, tolerably well graded, but muddy in rainy weather, and proviued with deep ditches on either side. The road cuts through a portion of the Town of Lake, and in the triangular piece of tho town which adjoins the Town of Cicero stands, or rather stood, Justice Tearney’s residence, once a handsome frame structure. To either side of the road, within several hundred yards of the Tearney homestead, extends level prarie for miles. A few small market gardeners t.ll little patches of cultivated soil; otherwise the country around wears a rather desolate aspect. Besides the few human habitations scattered on the prairie, nine queer-looking structures attracted the eye of the passer-by. They do so in a greater degree now, because with the exception of one they are wrecks. Built solidly of brick, about 50 by 30 feet in dimensions, and of two-storied height, they would look like so many small jails were it not for the fact that there are no windows to admit light. A huge and massive iron door is the only means of egress and ingress. They all have a sort of sinister appearance; one that makes the observer look twice as he passes by and wonder what they contain. What there is stored of blasting powder, dynamite, nitro-glycerine, and other terrible explosives for the Chicago trade is in these houses. One of the nine belonged to the Laflin & Rand Powder Company. STIIUCK BY THE LIGHTNING. Many passers-by, perhaps, have time and again imagined the havoc that must follow snould one of these magazines of destruction belch forth its contents. It happened yesterday. A thunderstorm had been raging at intervals during the early morning hours. It subsided somewhat toward 8 o'clock, but an hour later the elements broke loose with renewed fury. The rain fell in torrents, and vivid flashes of lightning cleft the dark skies, followed by roars of thunder. About that time John Kann, a young farmer from Auburn Station, stopped at McLarney Brothers’ grocery and saioon to avoid the drenheing rain. He had two stout horses attached to his heavy farm wagon and was nound for hoine. When the heaviest gust of rain abated, seemingly subsiding into ’ a regulation aJI-day .drizzle, the farmer wrapped himself up in a Ihorse blanket and started his team off on a jog down the road. He had to keep a sharp eye on 'his bays, because the lightning came in flashes which succeeded each other rapidly, as if all the electricity of the sultry and oppressive atmosphere had been concentrated upon the spot where the immense stores of explosives were scattered along the roai near by. In the short intervals between the lightning the lurid sky overhung everything with almost absolute darkness. Suddenly , one of the electric flashes was followed by a terrific crash, as if the earth had been cleft asunder by some unknown gigantic force. It was the death knell of the lone traveler on Archer road. Rocks were hurled through the air, trees rent to the roots, fences blown down for miles, houses unroofed and reduced to splinters, and torrents of mud showered around for hundreds of yards. The terrific force of the explosion made the thunder of heaven appear insignificant. The powder magazine of Laflin & Rand had been struck by lightning and 1,500 pounds of dynamite and 3,000 pounds of powder went up, creating a havoc as it old Vulcan had split the earth from within his subterranean abode. The ground seemed to rock and sway under the terrific force of the concussion, and the country for blocks around was wrapped in clouds of stifling smoke. Mr. Kann was hurled through the air for a distance of over a hundred feet, his mangled body being found half an hour later. The base of the unfortunate man’s skull was blown off, and the brains were oozing out upon the muddy field. Pieces of wood and iron had penetrated his back and caused horrible gashes all over his bo ly, from which tho blood was flowing, gathering in pools. All of the clo'hes of the man, except those covering the lower extremities, wire as if cut off from his back, only a few shreds hanging loosely around the lacera ed form. He was suffering untold agonies at the County Hospital last night. His death is almost a certainty. Of the wagon, only a few scattered pieces gave witness that the vehicle bad been paint, a a bright re 1. Both horses were stripped of the harness, not a vestige of leather remaining on them. The one < n tho side of the exploded magazine was killed instantly, the carcass being hurled into the’ ditch on the south side of the road; the other horse escaped unharmed, scampered off into tho field, and was later on caught and stabled. FREAKS OF THE DISASTER. The force of the explosion was terrific. It toio down or wrecked every house within a quarter of a mile of the magazine. The surrounding magazines were unroofed, and several of those nearest had their walls demolished. Hous; s which withstood the shock of the concussion were a second after treated to a perfect

shower of stones and huge bowlders. The magazine wa« built over a bed of tough blue clay. The dynamite, as usual with this terrible explosive, went downward. It tore out a hole twenty feet deep and thirty feet in diameter, shaped much like the bott> m of a huge punch-bowl. Into this • natural mortar the brick walls and huge foundation stones were tumbled, only to be hurled out the next instant. The principle was exactly the same and the force of the monster missiles as great as if the huge hole of clay had been a mortar of chilled steel and loaded with all the giant powder'it would hold. Huge stones, weighing fully 100 pounds, were sent sailing through the air like solid round shot, while a perfect cloud of broken bricks and splinters of stone swept over the surrounding country like a volley of canister and grapeshot. Fences were obliterated and sidewalks uprooted for half a mile around. POTATOES THROWN OUT OF THE GROUND. Just east of the exploded magazine there was a field of potatoes. The concussion caused by the shock jerked every potato out onto the surface. It saved the man who owned them a lot of trouble, and yesterday they lay on the damp earth already to be taken up in bags and carried to market. The big field in which the mangled body of Farmer Kann was found looked like a Vermont hillside, so thick was it strewn with rocks and pieces of brick. A stone weighing not less than a hundred pounds was shot across the field at just such a height that it left a narrow black furrow in the short grass. Away to the other side of the field, almost two blocks away, directly in the course of this huge stone, stood a small tree. The tree was cut off six inches from the ground, and through the picket fence close by a big, round hole showed where the stone had glanced off on its course. A trail of tom and uprooted cabbages led to the spot wnere the terrible missile had at last stopped. It was almost buried in the loose soil of .he cabbage field, a quarter of a mile from its starting point. FEEAKS OF THE EXPLOSION. The freaks of the explosion were as wonderful as they were unexplainable. John Gugl’s house was tom to pieces and set on fire, while only 100 feet away the house occupied by Justice Tearney had one side cleared off as neatly as though carpenters had worked at it a week. A horse in Justice Tearney’s bam, a little way back of the house, was tom and cut by a shower of stones, which came through the board siding as though it had been card-board. Another horse, close beside the wounded animal, did not receive a scratch. John Jung, a Hollander, lived in a little one-story-and-attic cottage, nearly opposite from Tearney’s, on the other side of Archer road. He was sitting near a window, looking out at the rain, when he suddenly heard a crash and a whole pane of glass was driven into his feet. His wife was knocked down, and his two sons and a daughter tossed to the other side of the room. Almost a quarter of a minute after the affrighted family heard a terrible crash over their heads, followed by another still louder, which shook the little cottage from top to bottom. Jung and his family threw themselves to the floor and gave themselves up for lost. As no more shocks came, the grown-up son arose and helped his father to a chair. Then he climbed up a ladder leading to the attic and found two holes in the roof big enough to let a man’s body through. There were also two immense stones in the attic. They had been a part of the foundation of the powder magazine five minutes before, and had been shot out of the big clay mortar with such force that they cut through the roof as clean as a cannon-ball could have done. DAMAGES AT A DISTANCE. The shock was very severe at the bridewell, and a panic among the prisoners was narrowly averted. The windows on the south side of the building were badly demolished, and glass and pieces of the sashes were hurled fifteen or twenty feet into the rooms and broken on the opposite walls. The door casings on the lower story were splintered into kindling wood and the locks broken. The plastering on the ceiling of the main hall was all loosened, aud a large crack extends from one end of the hall to the other, a distance of 200 feet. An iron door in the attic, which weighed 200 pounds, was broken from its hinges and hurled half way across the room. A large joist four inches thick was broken squarely in two. In the laundry and kitchen much damage was done. The carpenter shop and many of the outhouses were badly shaken up. The damages to the building and grounds are fully $2,000. Col. Felton was lying on the sofa in front of a window when the shock occurred. The window was broken by the concussion and the Colonel was completely buried beneath a pile of broken glass and kindling wood. He escaped injury, but was badly stunned by the shock. Mrs. Armour, the matron, was prostrated, and for a time was considered in a critical condition. She revived later in the day, and last night was considered out of danger. The prisoners were greatly frightc ned. The ignorant among them imagined tnat the end of the world had come, while the more intel-1 gent ones thought they were about to be swallowed bylan earthquake. They were soon quieted, with the exception of a few of the most guilty wretches, who -will probably continue to shake for days to come. SIMULTANEOUS SHOCKS THROUGHOUT THE CITY, The southwest portion of the city seems to have received the brunt of the shock, although damage is reported as far north as Evanston. The windows on the west side of McCormick's reaper factory were nearly all broken. The same is true of those on the south side of W. W. Kimball’s piano factory and the building occupied by the Chicago Malleable Iron Works, both of which are situated in that neighborhood The water in the river near McCormick’s factory was greatly agitated by the disturbance, and lashed over the banks for many feet on either sides. A water pipe burst in front of the Malleable Iron Works and flooded the street before it could be repaired. Many builings in the vicinity of the Twelfth street police police station were damaged. At the Jesuit Church, at the corner of Blue Island avenue and Twelfth street, a regular panic occurred. Over two thousand people, mostly women, were crowded in the basement at the time. Some one yelled fire at the moment of the explosion, and instantly there was a rush for the door. The weak were knocked down and ruthlessly tramp’ed upon, while many of the stronger ones jumped through the windows and escaped. An alarm was turned in and the fire department responded to the call. No one was seriously injured. PEOPLE SCARED OUT OF THEIR WITS. The business portion of the city did not escape . The shock put out the gas in the Grand Pacific Hotel, and caused a lively scene among the guests. Many of them rushed down-stairs minus shoes and stockings, while others, clad in scant raiment, huddled in the halls and corridors. No serious injury was done to the building. Two windows in the east corner of the Board of Trade were demolished. Three windows on the north and east side of the Government building were also broken, and a large plate-glass in Spiegel’s furniture at the coiner of State and Jackson streets was destroyed. On the West Side considerable damage was done to dwelling houses. In many places on Ashland avenue and Washington boulevard chandeliers were knocked down and dishes were smashed in the closets. Tn one -h6use on Morgan street not a chandelier was left hanging. 811 L’AUD BALLS HURLED FROM THE TABLE. A rather amusing, incident occurred at the Union House. A number of young men were enjoying a game of billiards. One young fellow had succeeded in placing the balls to suit him and was leaning over the table preparing to shoot, when the shock came and every ball was hurled from the table, much to the chagrin of the player and the amusement of the lookers-on. A block of stone of about one hundred and fifty pounds went through the wall of the Grand Trunk Roundhouse, about a mile north, and another dropped through the roof, smashing in the cab of an engine. FATAL CONVULSIONS. A negro woman living at the corner of Leavitt and Hinman streets wuh so badly frightened that she went into convulsions and is not expected to recover. A driver on the Blue Island avenue line was standing in the front door of the car bams. When the shock came he was thrown backward onto the floor aud stunned. When he came to he was suffering from convulsions. He was reported better last night, Joseph' Fester of 119 Brown street, was walking along Blue Island avenue, near Twelfth street. He was in front of Apollo Hall when the explosion occurred, five miles to the southwest of where he stood. The concussion shivered a pane of plate-glass in a window in the second story of the building. A falling piece cut a gash over his left temple. Four stitches united his severed scalp, and ho went home to wonder how it happened. “The shock was so great,” said Warden McGnrigle of the County Hospital, “that the windows on both sides of the main building were broken. The whole immense structure shook from cellar to garret in such a maune: that dishes on the tables rattle.