People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1894 — FATAL EXPLOSION. [ARTICLE]

FATAL EXPLOSION.

Three Men Killed at a Quarry Near Boston. Mass. Boston, Jan. 4. —Three men were killed and others injured by an explosion at Townsend and Washington streets, in the Roxbury district, Tuesday morning'. Those killed are Thomas Black, Patrick Huse and Thomas Hardeman. Cornelius Leary was fatally injured and two others were badly hurt

The scene of the accident was a ledge from which the city has been taking stone for several years under contract. Tuesday morning several holes had been bored preparatory to receiving the blasting powder, and Thomas Black was sent to the street, some 20 feet below, to procure the explosive. As he was reascending the hill with a keg of forcite on his shoulder he slipped on the icy surface, the keg falling and exploding with terrific force. Foreman Hardeman and others were standing at the bored holes. Some distance behind Black stood Leary. The concussion tore up the ledge, filling the air with flying pieces of rock, earth, boards and tools.

Hardeman and Black were instantly killed. The former’s body was thrown several hundred feet against the jagged walls, breaking every bone in it. Black was terribly mangled, and Huse, who was standing near the foreman, was thrown several yards in the air, his injuries resulting in death in a few minutes. Leary is at the city hospital so badly hurt that the physicians do not expect his recovery. Gately and McDonald are at the hospital and will probably recover. The noise of the explosion was heard 3 miles and window glass for a long distance was shattered. Missouri’s state treasury shows a balance of $447,302, according to the report just filed.