FIVE DIE IN BLAST AT FAYVILLE, ILL.; THREE OTHERS HURT WHEN HIGH EXPLOSIVE DEMOLISHED BUILDING (75 YEARS GO)

Tuesday, May 29, 1923; page 1

Special to The Missourian

FAYVILLE, Ill., May 29. -- Five men were killed and three others were seriously injured when a terrific explosion of nitro-glycerine in the gelatin house of the Hercules Powder Company here completely demolished the building at 7:30 a.m. today. The blast occurred 30 minutes before the night shift was to be replaced by the day workers, and was the second explosion here within three months.

The dead:

Harry Gammon 35, Thebes, Ill.

C.I. Gammon, 21, Thebes, Ill.

Lawrence Ginter, 23, Whitewater, Mo.

Wade Griggs, 23, Fayville, Ill.

The injured:

John Pearman, superintendent of plant.

John Hinkle, workman.

Fred Bersche, workman.

The explosion came suddenly and without warning, according to Superintendent Pearman, one of the injured men. He had just left the building to go over to the mixing plant when the blast occurred, he told reporters here, and was injured when he was hit on the head by a flying piece of timber from the wrecked building.

"I had just left the building and had hardly closed the door behind me when the blast came," Pearman, whose condition is serious, said. "I left all the men working in there, most of them getting ready to `knock off' for the night. There was a sudden explosion and the earth seemed to quiver underneath me. That's all I remember."

John Hinkle, another of the injured men, (was) pulled from beneath teh roof of the mixing house, it collapsing when the blast came. He sustained several injuries and is believed to be hurt internally.

Body in Tree

Fred Bersche, who was found by rescuers more than 100 feet from the gelatin house, with his body partially wrapped around a tree, had not retained consciousness and was taken immediately to a Cairo hospital for treatment. He is not expected to recover.

At least three of the dead men have been employed at the powder mill for several years and have been in other blasts which wrecked buildings here. Griggs and the Gammon men had worked here for more than five years.

One of the first to reach here from Thebes was Mrs. Roy Gammon, Thebes mayor, whose husband is an employee of the company. He, however, was not working. But Harry Gammon, his brother, and a nephew, C.I. Gammon, were killed.

Relatives Search Ruins

Hundreds of persons -- including wives and children of the dead men -- hurried to the scene of the explosion within a few moments after the blast occurred. Women and children wept as they found the fire which swept through the demolished building, and cried softly as they searched the ruins. Volunteers from Commerce, Thebes and Olive Branch reached here within a short time after the blast and aided the searchers in extricating the wounded from the debris.

Every man in the ill-fated building was killed, it was stated at the office of the company after a check had been made. The injured were workmen in other buildings who were hurt by flying debris or when the roof of the packing house collapsed.

Cause of the blast was unknown late this afternoon. Officials said that nitro-glycerine, the highest explosive known, was stored in the gelatin house there to be mixed with the substance to make it safe for shipping and that the lightest jar would have set it off. It is thought that some heavy timber dislodged and fell to the floor making enough jar to set off the explosive.

Windows Shaken Out

Windows in Fayville houses were shaken out by the blast, while other towns nearby felt the tremors from the explosion. A heavy barricade around the gelatin house caused the effect of the blast to go upward and prevented serious damage to property, it was explained.

Last Explosion

The last explosion occurred late in the afternoon of March 14 last, when nitroglycerine in the packing house, one mile from Fayville, exploded, totally demolishing the building. No one was in the house at the time, workmen leaving only 20 minutes before. It was believed then that a can of the explosive falling from a shelf caused the blast. Damage was estimated at $50,000.

John Mullen, a night watchman, was the last person, prior to today, to have been killed by an explosion at the plant. He was killed on the morning of July 10, 1920, when a blast wrecked the scale house.

The plant has been opened for business only for about five months, it being closed for more than a year. The buildings in which the explosive is made are widely separated and one blast rarely sets off the explosive in another.

Shocks from all of the explosions have been felt in towns within a radius of 30 miles, varying with the intensity of the blast and weather conditions.