People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1893 — BLOWN TO PIECES. [ARTICLE]

BLOWN TO PIECES.

Five Men Killed and Five Injured by a Dynamite Explerion. Emington, IIL, Oct 18.—By the premature explosion of dynamite while charging the village well at 11:17 o’clock Monday morning five men were killed and five seriously injured. Out of the five injured only two have any chance for recovery. The explosion shook the buildings within a radius of 8 miles and not a whole pane of glass is left in Emington. The killed are: Chris Eyer, of the firm of Eyer Bros., well diggers, Dwight, HL ■ leaves wife and one child. Q E. Fowler, Emington, HL; leaves wite and two children. James Cromwell, Dwight; single. Fred Eyer, Olney, Hl.; cousin of the Eyer brothers. Tom Eyer, Olney, DL; also cousin of the Eyer brothers. The injured are: James Wyllie, William Wyllie, John Kennedy, John Brown and Chris. Sherer. The two latter will die. All are residents of Emington except Sherer, who lives at Olney. Wyllie Bro., of Emington, who are well makers, had contracted with the city of Emington to furnish a welL Having gone down to a depth of 305 feet their drill broke and they were unable to go any further. Hence they engaged Eyer Bro., to use dynamite in order to further their work. The latter arrived Monday morning from Dwight and began their labors. A two-foot piece of IJ£ inch gas-pipe was filled with dynamite. They had filled the tube and were capping it with solder, when the pipe exploded. A drop of the molten lead, it is thought, seeped through the joints of the dynamite’s tin casing. There was a mighty crash, followed by a strange stillness. In the fear of the ensuing moment no one thought of the workers at the village well. Homes lay half in ruins, as though marked by the visitation of an earthquake. After awhile the people went out on the streets. Shreds of flesh and bits of clothing lay scattered about a deep hole about 2 feet across and close by where drills and derrick once were. It was a sight that for a time deprived the onlookers of speech or emotion. Across the street from the well hole lay two blackened figures. They were those of the Eyer brothers. The intense stillness was punctuated by a moan from one of the injured recovering. With that sound came returning sensibility to stupefied bystanders. Rough improvised litters were brought out and the whole victims of the disaster were taken across to Wikoff’s drug store. Doctors were summoned. The killed and injured were near the place of the explosion and were thrown over 50 feet by the shock. They were mangled so badly that identification was almost impossible. Their clothes were completely torn from their bodies. Chris Sherer, who cannot live, has pieces of iron and wood driven into his body, which is the case with all of the injured. From the heaps of splintered timbers shreds of clothing and flesh were gathered and all were carried over to Newhoff Bros.’ undertaking establishment. While the bodies of the dead had been literally torn to pieces the faces in three cases were recognizable. The doctor on reaching the scene of the explosion with the help of others commenced to carry the dead and dying to the undertakers, Newhoff Bros. Fred Eyer’s left leg was entirely blown off and cannot be found. The shock was plainly felt at Campus, 5 miles away, and the entire city is more or less wrecked. The business portion is badly damaged, hardly a pane of glass remaining in the fronts.