Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1875 — The Cleveland Powder-Mill Explo-Sion. [ARTICLE]

The Cleveland Powder-Mill ExploSion.

At about fifteen minutes after one o’clock Tuesday afternoon our entire city was startled by a succession of terrific explosions, by far the most severe ever known here. Three distinct shocks occurred within the space of less than a minute, followed by another tremendous report fifteen minutes later. The effect of the explosions was wonderful. Houses were shaken as if by the hand cf a giant, and tens of thousands of people rushed wildly into the streets, many imagining that the buildings were coming down over their heads. In some sections for a few minutes great consternation prevailed. The buildings of the Austin Powder Company were scattered over about eighty acres of land along the banks of the canal. The mills, of which there were ten, were frame structures, built as cheaply as possible. There were other buildings, however, that w r ere erected at considerable expense, for example, the large brick engine-house near the center of the grounds. The office of the company was a frame building constructed atffiut slight expense. The firm has had in its employ about thirty men, over half that number being generally engaged about the works. When the disaster occurred there were fortunately but twelve persons in that vicinity. The explosions originated in w T hat was known as the rifle corning mill, situated in a deep ravine, at a considerable distance from the remainder of the buildings, and it would seem that an explosion here would have been less likely to cause trouble than if the powder at any of the other mills had ignited. David Lamson, a man having a wife and* one child, and aged about forty years, was the only person employed in the mill, and as he was instantly torn to pieces it is impossible for anyone to learn the cause of this first explosion. From the corning mill the flames spread with a brilliant flash to the press mill, which exploded in a second, being followed by the glazing mill and five mixing mills, separated from each other by considerable distances.

Robert Shurtliffe, one of the men employed by the company, informed our reporter that he would never forget that dreadful day. He said he was a carpenter by trade and had been engaged for several days with John Trotters erecting a small frame building to be used for storage and other purposes. When the series of explosions occurred he was pounding nails into the shingles on the roof. He was deafened and stunned for an instant and when he came to his senses he found that he was lying on the ground with a heavy plank resting across his back. On extricating himself it was some time before he could see through the dense smoke sufficiently to escape across the canal on the ice. The force of the shock was indicated by the effect of the explosions on the railroad tracks of the company that ran from one section of the grounds to the other. The tracks were torn up and twisted in every conceivable manner, and rails w T ere broken from their fastenings and whirled in all directions, several being found on a hill a mile away. The head of a powder keg was picked up over a mile and a half from the scene of the explosions. The saddest sight witnessed on the grounds was the collecting of the remains of the men who had been blown up. In one locality hands and arms were found; a portion of a leg was discovered somewhere else; a ghastly trunk without legs, arms or head was found near one of the ruined mills; here was a piece of a man’s tongue, and there was to be seen a spectator, drawn to the place by curiosity, bringing a liver on a large chip to deposit with the other portions of the bodies that had been collected, Windows and sash were broken, among them being some of the finest lights in the city. The largest was that in the new City Hall, on Superior street, its value being $1,200. The next in size was the light in the front of Ryder’s art gallery. Both of these were insured. Hundreds of others were shivered in fragments. One in Rheinheimer’s, in the Standard Block, Euclid avenue; Rice & Burnett’s, in the Euclid Avenue Block; two in Garrett’s Hall building; two in I. E. Baldwin & Co.’s store, Superior street; one in the front of E. B. Hale Co.’s bank; one in the Striebinger Block, on Michigan street; and on Broadway and Woodland avenue glaziers will have work for several days. Besides the breaking of large panes in stores, many private dwelling-houses suffered seriously by the severe concussion. —Cleveland Herald , March 17.