Geneva, IL Glucose Plant Explosion, May 1893 - Six Lives Lost

SIX LIVES LOST.

Terrific and Mysterious Explosion at Geneva, Illinois.

GENEVA, Ills., May 18.-C. I. POPE's glucose factory was the scene of a most disastrous explosion by which six persons lost their lives and one man was fatally scalded.

The killed are:

VICTOR ANDERSON.
LOUIS SCHULTZ.
FRED STORM.
E. LUND.
ALFRED ANDERSON.
J. DANIELSON.

Fatally injured:

J. KALBERG.

Seriously hurt:

WILLIAM PRATT.

The factory was a large 4-story structure and there were 80 employes in the building at the time, most of whom escaped with only slight injuries.

The explosion occurred in a generator and scattered things right and left. The shock was a terrific one and was felt throughout a radius of three miles. That more lives were not lost borders on the miraculous.

The scene presented the usual one of devastation and the suffering of the scalded ones was indeed pitiful. People in the vicinity immediately ran to the rescue and the work of assistance was soon begun. Physicians were summoned, but the six unfortunates named were not in need of their services, and the doctors turned their attention to the injured. The cause of the disaster is not yet known. An investigation is being made.

The Marion Daily Star, Marion, OH 17 May 1893