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Show POWDER ROCKS I FREEMAN GULCH 1 I Explsln Wrecks Houses and Throws I Forty or Fifty Families n-J n-J to Panic. Plnghvim gulch, to the west of here, with Its forty or fifty families, was j awakened at 7 o'clock this morning I (Christmas day) by the explosion of : one of the pov.d ?r magazines of Mey-I Mey-I er & Co., tunnel builders for tho new I Blncham & Garfield railway. I The explosion threw the residents i of the gulch into a panic, but no j j one was Injured. j The niagrtzino was close to the en-I en-I trance to the tunnel, fn which approxl-, approxl-, niately lOit men have been working, . nnd It was fortunate that the company ,' had laid off ih" workmen Saturday tight to give them a chance to enjoy j the holidays, otherwise the loss of life I undoubtedly would have been heavy, as Ihe force of the explosion tore i : great holes in the mountain side and I broke windows out of buildings more than half a mile away. The cause is unknown Tho explo-1 explo-1 stlem occurred Immediately after the jitjihtwau hinan left for breakfast. The m.aKiue was '.IjiiteJ by electricity, ' and' the theory of defective wiring ha-. been advanced, but this is rejected reject-ed "by the contractors. The accumu-1 accumu-1 laticn of gases is another theory ad-1 ad-1 vanccd. 1 Explosion Sweeps Gulch. The lniigazlno, within llifl feet of the turtnel being l.ulit from Freeman gulch fin Markham gulch, a distance of 1 If Ml feet, was situated high on the mountain side, overlooking Freeman gulch, and a background of solid rock caused Ihe force of the explosion to sweep tho gulch. j The shev'k awakened people and j wrecked houses. Doors and windows were burst open pictures and other similar articles were shaken from tho walls by the explosion George Collins, Col-lins, whoso home 1-- a little closer to The site of the magazine, was in bed. while Mrs. Collins was sitting In a chair, dressing, The force of the ex-, ex-, plosion threw Mrs. Collins from ihe 1 chair to the floor. I The windows, including the sashes, ' panes and frames , came crashing in as if they were pasteboard, and clocks, dishes, pictures and either similar sim-ilar articles crashed to the floor. The walls and the chimneys of the Col- lins home were wrecked. At the homo of John Delancy, the stove was toppled over and the chlm-( chlm-( ney and windows were wrecked. |