Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1890 — TOWN BLOWN DOWN. [ARTICLE]

TOWN BLOWN DOWN.

Frightful Explosion in a Delaware Village jSeyerai startling explosions in quick succession—some counted five, others sev en—at 3:30 a. m., on the 7th. announced to Wilmington, Delaware, a disaster at the ; Dupont powder works on the Brandywine, j A rush was made for telephones, but • nothing could be learned beyond vague | reports of damage. An Associated Press reporter hastened to the scene, and wired that the whole section of the works known as the “Upper Yard,” is a complete wreck, and that at least six lives have been lost. One of the magazines went off first, and the drying mills near by, set off by the concussion, followed in rapid succession. There were at least seven distinct sue cessiveexplosions. Every dwelling in the neighborhood is reported wrecked or unroofed or more or less damaged. Tele phonic inquiries from Westchester state that the explosions were distinctly heard in that section. Rockland is a village on the Brandy wine, fully a mile above tbe scene of the explosion. It comprises a large paper mill owned by the Jessup & Moore Co., and about fifty dwellings iu which chiefly reside the mill employes. Its population is about 200. Evidence of destruction at that distance leads to the belief that the number of killed and wounded is not yet fully ascertained.

The Dupont powder mills extend along the Brandywine, chiefly on the west bank and close to tbe water for about two miles. They are divided iuto the “Upper,” “Hagley” and “Lower” yards. The former ia some three and the latter five miles from Wilmington. At th? upper was the office and business headquarters of the company. The report of damage done at Rockland proves incorrect as to locality, the name of Rockland being erroneously used foi; the buildikgs clustered around what is known as the upper yard. There are some fifty house:, inhabited by the employes of the powder mills, clustered here, and they are all wrecked. The damage to property can not be thoroughly estimated to-mght. The force of the concussion even broke windows in some parts of Wilmington, four oi five miles away. Twelve persons were killed and many injured.