EXPLOSION IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5393, 10 July 1878, Page 3

EXPLOSION IN AMERICA.

The following details of a terrible explosion at Minneapolis,; Minnesota, whereby fourteen lives were lost, have been received from New York The occurrence happened on May 2, at seven o’clock in the evening. The city was shaken as if by an earthquake, by a terrible explosion, which was promptly traced to the group of great flouring mills in what is known as “ The Platform,” just above St. Anthony’s Tails, where the entire flouring district of the city is concentrated. The explosion 'came from the great Washburn Mill, .from which a column of flame was seen to shoot up several hundred feet, ‘ followed by a shock, which crushed the immense structure as though! it were an eggshell. A second explosion instantly destroyed the Thompson and Hoyt and. the Humboldt Mills, and flames immediately burst out, communicating to the GalJxy Mills, the mills of Petit, Eobinson, and Co., Cahill, Ankeny,‘and Co., L. Day and Sons, Dayiand Holies, Buell, Newton, and Co., Gorton, Hayward, and Co., the Washburn A aud B Mills, and lesser, structures down the banks of r the river nearly to the Minneapolis and St. Louis railroad shops. The ' destruction caused by the explosion extended much furthers glass. being broken for several squares, and the buildings throughout the city shaken. It is believed' thHtbthe explosion whs that of gas, .generated in, the patent raiddlings purifier process. Tho explosion occurred,at the hour of changipg day .for night hands, and many .of both were in the building. There were many thrilling‘incidents and narrow escapes. One poor fellow, who could not. be recognised, had escaped alive from the explosion,, and was observed crawling through the flames towards the track of the Minneapolis and St! Louis railroad directly in the rear of the Washington Mills.; He managed to reach the rail, and there evidently became exhausted and fell back' into, the raging fire behind. t The,loss of property Is enormous. A rough calculation; places it at 1,500,000d015p of which 1,000,000, dels, will fall upon, the, milling interest. The. loss [throughout the city by the breaking of

glass, &c,, is 10,000dols.; Five flour and one planing mill wore destroyed,-' beridea adjoining property, inchi-lio,/’eighty-.‘•even out of the 197 runs of stone in city. : Among the .English insurance companies said to be affected are the Liverpool, London, and Globe, 65Q0d015.; the Scottish Commercial 7500d015.; British America, 3600d01y,; Phcenix, 13,500d01a.; North British and Mercantile,. 18,000dola.; and the Lancashire, 9OOodola.—Exchange.