EXPLOSION OF GIANT POWDER.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 321, 23 June 1875, Page 3

EXPLOSION OF GIANT POWDER.

On the Bth of April a terrible explosion of giant powder, and a succeeding fire at the warehouse of E. Y. Hathaway, occurred at the foot of Spear street, San Francisco. The explosion was fearfully disastrous to life and property. Of the employees of the warehouse, only a few escaped with life, and not one avoided injury. Mr Hathaway, proprietor of the establishment, was blown through a doorway and severely bruised. Adjoining the warehouse, on the corner, was a liquor saloon containing nine persons. The oar-keeper of this establishment and several visitors are known to have been killed. And, sadder still, three little frame houses near the warehouse were occupied by families largely composed of children. Pieces of thesehouses were blown far out upon the water, and of the inmates few can possibly be alive. Such was the confusion at the scene of the disaster, for the first hour or more, that few definite facts could be elicited. From a local watchman, who was early on the ground, the reporter learned that five bodies had been taken out, and several persons, including two women, were removed to the hospital for treatment, llegarding the entire number of victims, the watchman said, “From my own knowledge of the people in the warehouse, the saloon and the houses, I should say that not less than fifteen persons have lost their lives.” The warehouse, which was used for the storage of bonded merchandise, is nearly consumed. The total loss aggregates 650,000 dols.