Geneva, IL Glucose Plant Explosion, May 1893 - An Explosion

AN EXPLOSION

In an Illinois Glucose Factory Wrecks the Works,

And Seven Lives are Crushed Out in the Ruins.

But One Man Could Have Explained the Cause of the Accident, and He is Dead - the Concussion Shattered Half the Windows in Geneva, Ill.

GENEVA, Ill., May 18. -- With a roar that was heard three miles away and a concussion that shook every house and shattered half the windows in the town the plant of the CHARLES L. POPE Glucose works blew up Wednesday afternoon. Seven men were instantly killed and only one other was injured, and he not so badly as to confine him to the house for more than a week.

The cause of the explosion is not known, and it is doubtful if it well ever be. It occurred in the third story near a quarter which is often used in the work of the plant, but which is said to have been lying idle Wednesday. The only man who could give any information regarding the explosion is lying dead beneath tons of mingled brick and masonry. This is AUGUST JANSEN, who had charge of that portion of the factory, and he was the only man in the immediate vicinity of the generator when the explosion occurred. His assistant, VICTOR ANDERSON, is also dead, having been blown through a third story window and his body fearfully mangled.

The mill was a substantial three-story brick structure, the boiler and dust room, being on the first floor far from the scene of the explosion. The explosion took out the entire western side of the building, hurling the bricks and heavy machinery fully 100 feet from the base line of the building. A wild panic ensued among the seventy-five employees who were at work when the accident occurred and several of them sustained serious bruises in the mad rush made for the open air. Many of those in the second-story concluded that the descent of a stairway was too slow a business for them and jumped from the windows to the ground and to the roofs of several sheds which stand close to the sides of the main building. A dense crowd was quickly around the wreck and the work of rescue begun at once. All the bodies save that of JANSEN were quickly recovered and removed to an improvised morgue in a planing mill across the street. JANSEN'S body is buried so deeply beneath the debris that it will be impossible to reach it before Thursday. Of the dead men STROM, VICTOR ANDERSON, EHMUND and KELBURG were unmarried, the others leaving families. JANSEN had been in the country but a short time, and his wife and family are in Sweden. CHARLES L. POPE, the head of the concern, said Wednesday night that his loss would be about $150,000, and that, while he was fully protected against fire, he carried no accident insurance. The mill will be rebuilt at once.

The Hamilton Daily Republican Ohio 1893-05-18
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!