Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1893 — SLAIN AT THEIR WORK. [ARTICLE]

SLAIN AT THEIR WORK.

SEVEN MEN KILLED BY A TERRIBLE EXPLOSION. Destruction of the Pope Company's Glucose Factory at Geneva, 111., with a Loss of 8150,000 on Property—Mystery of the Accident. Blown to Atoms. There was an explosion in the CharlesPope Glucose Works at Geneva, 111., Wednesday afternoon, costing the lives of seven men and a loss of $150',010 tothe owners of the plaDt. It will never be known how the accident happened. The only man who could tell the tale was buried beneath a mass of worthless machinery and timbers. His name was August Jansen. He hal an assistant in the person of Victor Andersen, but simultaneously with the powerful explosion Andersen was blown out of a third-story window, and when picked up was a corpse. The complete list of the dead is as follows: Alfred Anderson, married, and had four children. Fred Strom, married, and had two children. Lars Echutz, married, but left nofamily. Victor Andersen, unmarried. Christian Ehmund, unmarried. Andrew Kelbcrg, married, but left nochildren. / August Jansen, body not yet taken out;, was married; had been in this country hut a short time; wife and children still living in Sweden. In the face of this death list but one employe of the works suffered any injury of consequence. He was Andrew Pierson, and was struck on the side by a piece of wood and fragments of flying brick as he tried to escape through a window. His right arm was broken and his body badly bruised. The Cause a Mystery. It was about 2:20 o’clock in the afternoon when the explosion happened. The report was heard all over the town, and when it became known that the Charles Pope Glucose Works, the main industry of Geneva, had blown to pieces, the population gathered, in short order, to render all possible aid. That portion of the building which suffered was the southeast end, in which was all the machinery. The building was three and a half stories high, and the entire side was blown out on to a line of freight ears that stood on a side track. The village lire department was got out, but was not needed. The remaining seventy-five or eighty emplo3 T es of the works were armed with picks and shovels, and the work of re overin g the bodies begun without delay. These were all iound near each other and taken across the narrow little street to tho office of the local lumber company. Charles Pope, the owner of t':e plant, said that the works had been in active operation for twelve years and had never before met any accident of even the most trivial nature. He said it was almost impossible to place any estimate on h s loss. He carried a heavy fire insurance policy, but nothing on accidents. ItescninT the Victims. The work of rescuing was very dangerous, owing to the falling timbers and walls. The sight which met the gaze directly after the explosion was appalling. The mangled forms of the workmen were pinned to the walls and pieces of machinery in various portions of the wrecked building, presenting a most ghastly spectacle. The fact that so many workmen escaped is attributed to the lucky circumstance that nearly ail were employed on the lower floor at tho time. The explosion took place in the big copper boiler or reservoir known as the “converter,” located in the centra! portion of the fourth floor. In this copper boiler the first stages of conversion of the starch in the sugar of glucose into glucose takes place. A solution of muriatic acid and water is forced into the starch under a pressure of twenty-five pounds of steam. The boiler had been been in use for four years and was regarded as safe.