Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1911 — RENSSELAER FELT SHOCK OF POWDER EXPLOSION. [ARTICLE]

RENSSELAER FELT SHOCK OF POWDER EXPLOSION.

Dupont Works at Pleasant Prairie, Blow Up and Shock is Felt 800 Miles Away. At about 25 minutes after 8 o'clock Tuesday evening windows and doors in Rensselaer rattled noisily and many people jumped to their feet to ascertain the cause. Many thought it to have been an earthquake and others thought it an explosion of the Aetna powder mills in Lake county. The real cause was not / discovered until this morning, when city papers told of the explosions at the Dupont powder mills at a little village named Pleasant Prairie, Wis. The town whs almost entirely wrecked and the vibration of the earth was felt for three hundred miles, from Cleveland, Ohio, to Clinton, lowa. In Rensselaer about half of the people seem to have been attracted by the shaking of doors or windows. In several cases people thought that some one was trying to force an entrance to their house, and in two instances calls were'made for the nightwatch. In many other homes the men of the house went out and made an investigation to try to ascertain the cause of the noise. At the Presbyterian church the doors rattled and many who were attending the revival service thought some one had fallen against the door at the'main entrance. C. W. Duvall went to the outside to try to ascertain the cause of the commotion. Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Brenner and Elmer Wilcox were on the third floor at the Makeever house and there the vibration of the shock was plainly felt One woman called for the nightwatch, saying that some one was trying to get in both the front and rear doors and another man was looking in at the window. Messages wer** received from the country surrounding asking the cause of the earth’s commotion. , The cause of the explosion at the powder mills is not known. The ruin of the plant and of the town is complete, and the loss is estimated at a pillion and a half dollars. While only two shocks were felt here, there were five distinct shocks at the powder plant. Several injuries resulted and one death is reported. Chicago is 55 miles from the powder explosion but there the shock was very perceptible and people in the down town district were certain that an earthquake had occurred. At the Boston store a large plate glass window was shaken from its place on the second floor. John Eger, the Rensselaer groceryman, was in Chicago and happened to be coming by the Boston store when the glass fell. The taller buildings in Chicago shook violently and in some of the theatres and churches people rushed’for the exits.