A KEG OF POWDER

Exploded, Causing Serious Damage in Bellaire --Two Persons Hurt

At about 7 o'clock yesterday morning Jacob Wagoner, an employe (sic)
at Pelky's coal mine, in Bellaire, went to the mine office on Twenty-
fifth street to start a fire in the store. He arranged the fuel and applied
a lighted match.

A keg of powder, which was standing in one corner of the room, took
fire from the match and a loud explosion followed, which completely
wrecked the building and buried the occupants beneath the debris. A
large crowd gathered and sympathetic hands assisted Mr. Wagoner
from the ruins. He was badly burned about the upper part of his body
and his clothes nearly torn from his person. He was also badly injured
about the head and breast and his hands painfully blistered.

A 15-year old boy named Cummins, who entered the room about
the time the accident occurred, was found some feet from the building,
where he had been blown by the force of the explosion. He sustained
a severely sprained ankle. The injured men were taken to the home
of Mr. Pelkey and Dr. Piersol dressed the burned and bruised bodies.

The shattered building took fire and had nearly burned up before
the First ward hose company arrived on the scene. The loss on the
building will amount to about $100, including all of Mr. Pelkey's
books and accounts.

The Wheeling Register, Wheeling, WV 21 Mar 1896
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Transcribed by Connie Anderson. Thank you, Connie!