Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1911 — TOWN WIPED OUT BY EXPLOSION [ARTICLE]

TOWN WIPED OUT BY EXPLOSION

Powder Plant Near Kenosha, Wis., Ooes Great Damage. SHOCK FELT HUNORED MILES Telegraph and Telephone Communlc*. tion With Pleasant Prairie, Wis., Cut Off and Nothing but Meager Reports Received.

Chicago, March 10.—An explosion which was heard more than a hundred miles away wiped the hamlet of Pleasant Prarie, Wis., off the map at 8:31 at night. The explosion was the most terrific in the history of the powder industry of America. The site of the great powder work? of the LaflinRand Powder company is marked only by a great hole in the ground. Early estimates of the dead place the loss of life at forty. That Is the number of men actually employed In and about the works at the time of the giant blast.

The shock was felt for many miles around. In Chicago many large buildings in the loop district were shaken. The Boston store, one of the largest buildings in the loop, was so severely shaken that large plate windows In the first and second stories were broken and fell on folks In the street below. The village of Pleasant Prairie is entirely wiped out and not a building remains of a once prosperous little town. It is estimated that the explosion did $1,000,0Q0 damage. Up to the present time it is impossible to say Just bow many lives, if any, were lost. Telegraph and telephone communication has been cnt off and nothing beyond the meager report that the town had been wiped off the map can be ascertained. A mild panic was caused at McVlckere’ theater, Just opposite the Boston store, when the glass began to fall and an alarm of fire was went in. The noise of the falling glass and the clanging of the fire gongs aroused the big audience and the more timid began to rush for the exits. They were quieted quickly. The shock of the explosion was felt in towns across the lake In Michigan and as far away as Rockford, 111., more than 100 .miles from Chicago, i

Pleasant Prairie has ISO inhabitants. Messengers have been sent by railroad ahd automobile to ascertain what has happened to the town. One theory advanced here is that it was an earthquake that caused the explosion. The first shock was felt at 8:26 and the second at 8:27.