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Show .THREE KILLED, FIVE INJURED h PENSACOLA, Fla., April 9. A disastrous dis-astrous explosion occurred on the battleship Iowa today while the j vessel was at target practice in the gulf. The forward port 12-inch gun ' burst from a premature explosion of a , shell, twelve feet of the piece outside the turret being demolished. Three men were killed and five injured, two i seriously. The Killed. First Class Seaman Kiele. Ordinary Seaman Purcell. Gunner's Mate Berry. The injured: First Class Seaman Gercht, Ordinary Seamen Tuesdale, Brown, Rothschild and Parrucker. The men killed and injured were on the second, or gun deck, at mess. Three pieces of the exploded gun, each weighing weigh-ing over a ton, passed downward through the spar deck, falling upon the men at mess, instantly killing the three named. Horribly Mutilated. All of the men were horribly mutilated. muti-lated. The heavy missiles, after pass- j ing through the gun deck, continued clown to the third deck, where they came in contact with the armored deck, the heavy steel bringing them to a stop, thus saving the engineers and firemen who were at work below. Although the upper decks were covered with men, none was seriously injured. The explosion occurred just as the mess had been sounded. The firing was to have ceased after the shot for the dinner din-ner hour. The range had been set, and the Iowa was steaming along at a speed of twelve knots an hour when the officer in charge of the 12-inch turret tur-ret gave orders to load and fire. The time fuse was set, the piece charged, the breech closed and the word given to fire. Shell Exploded in Gun. Following the report of the gun there was a smothered noise as the shell exploded ex-ploded midway in the gun, and pieces of the bursted gun and shell were scattered scat-tered broadcast. Three great holes w-ere torn through the deck. The Massachusetts, Mas-sachusetts, six miles distant, was signaled sig-naled for aid, and one of the cutters put off with a surgeon and assistant . surgeons. The injured men were taken to the hospital and their injuries I dressed. The dead were brought to i Pynsacola. Some claim the explosion : was caused by a defective shell, and others think that the frequent firing of the piece at Culebra during the winter, added to the work done here during the past ten days, so strained the piece that the force of the charge burst the gun. |