| Show That Wa H Caused by Chemical so i The cause of the explosion during the tha th fire re yesterday y morning I Is as a yet a mys tory ery ter The firemen believe belee that it was 8 powder while the te Mine Smelter Sup Supply Supply ply pl people maintain that they had no powder and that the explosion e was I caused by chemicals w which were wre stored stor l I in the basement by the vault vaul Among the chemicals which were stored in the basement were ere acid nitric acid hydrochloric acid ammonia bi hi bicarbonate bicarbonate I carbonate of soda and soda soda ash ah Ac According According cording to the statement of ot J Hin Up Hinton I Iton ton who had charge of the assay assa de department department of the store there were thirty barrels containing nitric and arid sulphuric acid in glass glas bottles bottes stored away in inthe Inthe inthe the basement between the vault and ami the north wall between een the Mine MineI I Smelter Supply store and Spencer store There Were also ammonia and soda ash he said saM I stored in the te same place and the Mine ine I Smelter Supply people maintain that these chemicals becoming mixed by a aI a I of the bottles from the heat i caused the explosion I I City Chemist Herman Hermaa r Harms s when whan Basked asi asked r In I regard to this I theory of the h explosion stated that those chemicals chemical under certain conditions could easily have caused the explosion explosion Of 0 those tose toseI I acids said he the nitric was ivas the most dangerous and when ammonia is Isi j i mixed with wih it i even in very cry ver small quail quati quanI i titles tte it is always attended by b an ex cx 1 and the evolution of ot great heat When heated those acids vaporize rap rapidly rap rapIdly 1 I idly and when mixed with sulphuric acid fumes ures in a a confined place as a they th y would woula be in the basement of the Mine in inI I Smelter Supply company compan they be bei become i come sufficiently explosive to wreck the strongest building I will w not say that those acids caused the explosion at the tose fire fre but they might have done doneso so easily under the conditions there I Mr r Harms Hams stated that an explosion dynamite always lor I of giant powder or 01 acted with a downward effect while I Ithe the entire entre wih force of exploding acids is I upwards It I was noticed that tat apparently I all al the effects of the explosion at atthe atthe atthe the fire were upwards tre t 1 Despite Despie this the four tour firemen fremen who T t were in the basement of the building at atthe atthe atthe the time of or the explosion and those who were injured declared that they detected the odor of or lowing the explosion and could coul taste tate I the powder smoke smoRe for an an hour or more I j afterwards When their theix attention was WIS of ot them called to the acid theory one I smiled and remarked I 1 guess I have hae handled a gun long enough to know powder handle smoke when I smell it it Then too if iC the acids had exploded there surely would have been some signs of or it where the acids were stored but the of the floor foor over where the acids were stored were not even een displaced Among those who examined the ruins It was wa the expressed belief f that tte the explosion had been caused by pow POv powder den der del either In the vault vaul or between it and the etter south wall The Mine Smelter Supply people strenuously deny that there ther was wa any powder of ot any kind stored in Ut tl build building buld buildIng book of or the fire ing The inspection tre department for a year shows that hat t fuse and caps were w re kept in the vault ault but does not nol that any an powder was kept about abu the place pace Warren C Bogue local manager of ot the company said in regard to having any powder in the store There has never been a pound d of powder of any nol kInd f atoned in our establishment e fg and We tre w t o l the th precautions p that science coul devise to guard gard against fire fre from the chemicals carried in stock We le I have have our powder magazine four tour miles mies from the city and there Is neither nether rea rca reason reasOn son nor Justice in the statements that are being made to the te effect that the explosion was Wt caused by powder The Themen Themen Themen men who said that they smelt powder at the tire fre dont know what powder smells like Uke Scon after our 01 place was started I went to the chief or of the fire tre department and told him about the acids in tore store and ask asked d him to send c men to look over the place This he did and the men expressed themselves as satisfied with wih the te precautions we were taking We carried cred nothing not per permitted permitted by policies the authorities and our in ia insurance insurance |
