Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1888 — That Earthquake Shock. [ARTICLE]

That Earthquake Shock.

Last Friday morning, about 10 o’clock, many persons in different parts of Rensselaer noticed a sudden jarring and shaking of buildings, with rattling of windows and banging of doors. A heavy, rolling sound, like a long|extended and far off peal of thunder, accompanied the concussion and was heard and noticed by many. The school building was jarred and shaken very perceptibly and £the first thought of many was that the derrick at the gas well, not far distant, had fallen down. Later it was concluded that the disturbance was caused by an earthquake shock. The phenomenon was noticed in many other buildings in the town, and also by many in the surrounding country. The daily papers Saturday morning, solved the mystery. The sound and the concussion were the result of thejaccidental explosion of a nitro-glycer-ine factory, at Miller Station, a smajl plahe on the Lake Shore Railroad,|in Lake Co. and almost exactly 53 mites from Rensselaer, in a direct line. Three men a| work in the building were killed. They were drawing the mixture into vats,|and the explosion is said to have been caused by friction in moving the vats.