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Show EXPLOSION AT HULL Miles of Country Laid Waste-Many Are Killed OTTAWA. Ont., May 8. An explosion explo-sion today wrecked the plant of the General Explosives company of Canada, Can-ada, near Hull. Quebec, killing 15 persons per-sons and Injuring 60 others. The force of the explosion was terrific, ter-rific, Tho country for miles around was laid waate. and many small dwellings dwell-ings In tho city of Hull, on the side nearest the scene of the explosion, was flattened to the ground. A basebail game was In progress a short distance from the powder works about 6 o'clock this evening. The teams were playing the. last Innings, and when a Arc was seen in one of the umall buildings of the powder plant tho crowd began to swarm up the hill to get a better vlw of the blaze, Warning of the danger came to the onlookers In two minor explosions explo-sions soon after the fire got well under un-der way. A shower of sparks and fragments of the wrecked building fell among the spectators, and there was a scurrying out of what was considered con-sidered the danger zone. Crowd Heedless, Bomo men In the crowd, aware of tho possibilities of the danger when the main magazine was reached, plooded with the crowd to go still further baok, and many of them heeded the warning. Others, apparently appar-ently enjoying the element of danger in the spectacle, stood within 1.000 yards of the burning buildings. They were kept cm the qui vlve by detonations detona-tions that sont showers of burning brands In all directions. Tho baseball game broke up and the rest of the spectators and the players rushed up to Join the crowd at the Are. It waa then that the magazine exploded. ex-ploded. There were two stunning detonations. de-tonations. Everything within a radius of a mile and a half was torn and shattered. Giant trees wero snappod oft close to the earth; barns and dwelling houses were converted Into kindling wood, and even in Ottawa, four miles from the scene, hundreds of plate gloes windows were broken. Bodies Scattered. The scene where the crowd from the ball game stood resembled a battle-field. battle-field. HeadlosB. armless and leglens bodies were Jylng about among scores of unconscious forms. Tho silence that followed the final death-dealing blast waa more terrifying terrify-ing than the cries and moans which came with a return to consciousness of the badly injured. Tho terrific shock brought thousands thou-sands of terror-stricken people into tho streets of the town Some thought It was an earthquake, while others cried out that the comet had struck the earth. Hundreds of chimneys were toppled over, and there Is scarcely scarce-ly a whole window left in the northeastern north-eastern section of the olty. The first call for aid from the hospitals hos-pitals and the police came from tho section of tho city nearest the magazines. maga-zines. There It was found that fully forty small frame dwellings had been shattered and that many Injured people peo-ple were Imprisoned In the wreckage. Rescuers Rush to 8eene. It was fully an hour and a half after the explosion that word came into the city of the disaster. Ambulances Ambu-lances and automobiles wero rushed to the scene, and the seriously injured in-jured carried to the Hull hospitals until there was room for no more, and then they were brought to Ottawa. Ot-tawa. In this city, four miles from the scene of the explosion, the terror inspired in-spired was scarcely less than that at Hull. The earth trembled, buildings shook and hundreds of windows were shattered. The great cloud of smoke that mounted In a column over Hell qnickly Indicated the true oause of tho terrif)lng shock. Bldeau Hall, the official homo of Earl Grey, and the buildings on Parliament Par-liament hill caught the full force of the explosion, being two miles nearer the powder plant than Is the main section of the city. Every window on one side of Rldeau Hall wan blown out, and two great stone chimneys toppled over on the roof of the building. The parliament buildings were also badly damaged. Earl Gray's Home. Rldeau Hall is still occupied by Earl Grey and his family. The whole vice regal establishment fled panic-stricken panic-stricken to the 6treet. They were soon assured that there was no further fur-ther danger. As soon as Furl Grey learnM the extent of the disaster ha ordered a detachment of troops sent across the river to help the authorities. authori-ties. The building In which the main explosion ex-plosion occurred was built of solid stone, the walls being two feet thick. Fragments of stone weighing up to a half ton were shot through the air for a quarter of a mile, shattering the dwellings of working men which run to within an eighth mile of the factory. In a home Just north of the works two sisters were killed while sitting at the supper table. John Blanch-field Blanch-field was sitting with his wife In the door of his home when a fragment of rock killed him, but left her unharmed. un-harmed. The head of a boy was cut clean from his body. Louis McCann, a laborer, was crushed by a falling fragment. He was started for an Ottawa hospital In an automobile, but when it was seen that be wa dying the car wad stopped in front of the Roman Catholic Cath-olic cathedral. There, standing on the steps, a priest administered tho last sacrament a few minutes before McCann died. The electric lights were disablod and the city of Hull was left in darkness. dark-ness. This added to tho confusion and tho difficulty of locating victims. The Ottawa hospitals are crowded with injured, nnd It is almost certain that some of tho?e aro so hndly hurt that the list of fatalities wlU grow. |