THE GYMPIE EXPLOSION AND FIRE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 238, 8 October 1877, Page 4

THE GYMPIE EXPLOSION AND FIRE.

The following account of the explo Bioo of dynamite at Gyrapia recently is from the Brisbane Courier Queensland : — "About 5 o'clock on F.i.iay morning i a the inhabitants of G-ympie ~~~were startled from their slumbers by the cry of fire. The hell of ihe Bom -n Catholic Church also proclaimed the dreaiful tidiiijjs. Doose columus of flame and smoke were soeu issuing . frpra the ex!eo3ive store hHoniiimr to •Mr William Scott. Crow.la of "excited persona were eobn upon ilm B pot ami commenced to save the uioveuhlee. The horses were taken from thostnultjs in safety, and the property coutisiuod in the adjoining premises was hastily beiog taken away, whan a tremendous explosion occured. Men - were stuoueil by the shock «nj many not hit by the splinters were actually blown yards away. About 20 persona

were more or less JDJured by the debris. One youth, the son of Mr Stuckey, still lies in a very precarious state, and but faint hopes were held out of his recovery, The poor fellow was cut and geehed frightfully. Roofs, sides, and ends of buildings were blown out ; windows and sashea half-way up the town smashed ; furniture scattered and and completely destroyed. So terrific was the shock that the people who bad not, beard the alarm-bell were suddenly awakened by the fearful noise. Out at the Monklaud, men sprang from their beds, and women screamed in terror. Not only was the shock itself terrific but the peculiar noise that accompanied it was appalling. Some believed that a fearful enrthquake bad happened; others in their half - awakened state imagined the end of the world bad surely arrived. People residing 10 miles away were awakened by the shock. Whilst the wounded were beiug cared for, and people in the neighborhood of the fire bad somewhat recovered from the fright, Mr Woodrow, proprietor of the adjoining store to Scott's, warned the people not to approach, as there was a quantity of combustibles stored upon his premises. After tbe warning had beeu given, the people withdrew from the neighborhood of the fire. Fortunately tney did so for soon after another dreadful explosion took place, which was fully equal to, if not more terrible thnn the first. More property was destroyed in the neighbourhood, and more people frightened, but uoue, so far as I could learn, were injured. The strange sound following upon the report of each explosion was more fearful than the report itself. Tb.9 noise seemed as if some internal commotion had occurred in the eartb, by which it was rent and torn asunder, as if some mighty volcauo had burst forth in our midst. After the second explosion, the people began to draw near the scene of destruction. It was discovered that the shock, instead of contributing to the spread of the flames, had, by blowjng down the out-buildings, and thot purt ol Woodrow's store that had already caught, otherwise so deadened the flames, that instead of spreading, as was previously anticipated, tbe fire was confiaed to the block on wnich Scott's store and Robinson's house and shop ware aituated. Fortunately it was a dead calm, not a breath ot air to fan and extend the flames, thus allowing those who were there to render assistance to confine their effects to extinguishing burning material that had been blown about by tbe explosion. The fire "burned slowly through the course of the day and following night; at last it subsided altogether. Considering the manner in which articles for a good distance surrounding the fire got smashed and knocked about by the explosion, it seein3 almost miraculous Chat the destruction was confined to such a limited area.