NITRO-GLYCERINE
Wheeling Intelligencer
November 28, 1900
Wednesday
November 28, 1900
Wednesday
FOUR LIVES GO OUT AND THIRTEEN INJURED
Can of Nitro-Glycerine Exploded at Lazearville Yesterday Afternoon With the Above Results
Can of Nitro-Glycerine Exploded at Lazearville Yesterday Afternoon With the Above Results
ALL WERE HORRIBLY MANGLED
Boys Built a Driftwood Fire on River Bank and Placed the Deadly Can in Burning Embers
Boys Built a Driftwood Fire on River Bank and Placed the Deadly Can in Burning Embers
SYMPATHY OF THE COMMUNITY
The Dead
•Harmon Finley, aged thirteen
•Robert Finley, aged twenty-one
•Willie Davis, aged nine
•An infant child named Durig
The Injured
•Harry Arbogast, aged eleven
•Harman Arbogast, aged seventeen
•William Nangle
•Will Blackburn
•Wesley Cusick
•James Jones
•Theodore Gilchrist
•Alex Gilchrist
•Charles Thomas
•Ralph Hahn
•Thomas Kenny
•John Bone
•John Webb
•Harmon Finley, aged thirteen
•Robert Finley, aged twenty-one
•Willie Davis, aged nine
•An infant child named Durig
The Injured
•Harry Arbogast, aged eleven
•Harman Arbogast, aged seventeen
•William Nangle
•Will Blackburn
•Wesley Cusick
•James Jones
•Theodore Gilchrist
•Alex Gilchrist
•Charles Thomas
•Ralph Hahn
•Thomas Kenny
•John Bone
•John Webb
A terrible tragedy was enacted in real life yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock in the industrial town of Lazearville in Brooke County, about two miles above Wellsburg, in which four young lives were lost and twelve boys ranging in age from nine to twenty years were injured, some seriously and others severely. It was another accident added to the long roll of tragedies in which the dread explosive nitro-glycerine has played a leading part.
A crowd of about twenty-five young men and boys had gathered on the river bank at Lazearville during the afternoon watching the progress of the flood and had built a large fire, using the driftwood that lined the waters edge for fuel. In the drift wood, one of the boys picked up a can filled with some unknown substance, and this was thrown upon the fire. Immediately here was a terrific explosion, the debris flying in every direction and striking down every one of the score or more of boys gathered around the fire. Harman Finley, the thirteen year old son of Widow Finley, was killed instantly, his brains being blown out. It is thought he is the boy who threw the can of deadly nitro into the flames. William Davis, a nine year old son of Mrs. H. C Moore was thrown a considerable distance by the force of the explosion and his neck broken, causing instant death. Robert Finley, aged twenty one years, a brother of Harman received such severe injuries that death ensued at 9 o'clock last night. Will Nangle and Will Blackburn, son of Prather Blackburn were terribly injured and it is feared both will die.
The other injured boys who without exception it is believed, will recover, are, Wesley Cusick, James Jones, Theodore Gilchrist and Alex Gilchrist (sons of Alexander Gilchrist, the Lazearville coal operator), Charles Thomas, Ralph Hahn, Thomas Kinney, John Bone and John Webb all boys ranging in age between nine and twenty years.
The news of the explosion spread through Lazearville with wonderful rapidity, and hundreds were attracted to the scene. A hurry call was sent to Wellsburg for physicians, nearly all in the town responding on the run. The injured boys were taken to their homes, and everything possible was done by physicians and relatives.
The bodies of the two boys, Harman Finley and Willie Davis were taken to their homes, where the scene was one of most bitter grief. Mrs. Finley is a poor woman, who depended upon her two boys for support, and with one dead and the other dreadfully injured and dying a few hours later, the case is indeed one to arouse the sympathy of the community. Harmon Finley was employed at the Frank glass house in Lazearville and had just left the works, first stopping at his home, where he gave his mother the check for his weekly wage, and then went to the river bank and joined the crowd of boys who were watching the rising river. Fifteen minutes from the time he left his work at the glass house he was dead.
The shock of the explosion, it is asserted, was the cause of the death of the infant child of Mrs. Durig, who lives in a house only a short distance from the scene of the tragedy. The child has been ill for several days, and died from the effects of the shock, which broke the glass in many houses in the vicinity.
There is a tradition that years ago a skiff containing a cargo of nitro-glycerine intended for the lower oil fields sank opposite Lazearville. For a long time steamboats would not land in the vicinity. It is supposed that the can that figured in yesterdays tragedy as a part of this cargo;
The injured boys had eyes torn out, noses cut and fractured, arms lacerated and bodies bruised.
A crowd of about twenty-five young men and boys had gathered on the river bank at Lazearville during the afternoon watching the progress of the flood and had built a large fire, using the driftwood that lined the waters edge for fuel. In the drift wood, one of the boys picked up a can filled with some unknown substance, and this was thrown upon the fire. Immediately here was a terrific explosion, the debris flying in every direction and striking down every one of the score or more of boys gathered around the fire. Harman Finley, the thirteen year old son of Widow Finley, was killed instantly, his brains being blown out. It is thought he is the boy who threw the can of deadly nitro into the flames. William Davis, a nine year old son of Mrs. H. C Moore was thrown a considerable distance by the force of the explosion and his neck broken, causing instant death. Robert Finley, aged twenty one years, a brother of Harman received such severe injuries that death ensued at 9 o'clock last night. Will Nangle and Will Blackburn, son of Prather Blackburn were terribly injured and it is feared both will die.
The other injured boys who without exception it is believed, will recover, are, Wesley Cusick, James Jones, Theodore Gilchrist and Alex Gilchrist (sons of Alexander Gilchrist, the Lazearville coal operator), Charles Thomas, Ralph Hahn, Thomas Kinney, John Bone and John Webb all boys ranging in age between nine and twenty years.
The news of the explosion spread through Lazearville with wonderful rapidity, and hundreds were attracted to the scene. A hurry call was sent to Wellsburg for physicians, nearly all in the town responding on the run. The injured boys were taken to their homes, and everything possible was done by physicians and relatives.
The bodies of the two boys, Harman Finley and Willie Davis were taken to their homes, where the scene was one of most bitter grief. Mrs. Finley is a poor woman, who depended upon her two boys for support, and with one dead and the other dreadfully injured and dying a few hours later, the case is indeed one to arouse the sympathy of the community. Harmon Finley was employed at the Frank glass house in Lazearville and had just left the works, first stopping at his home, where he gave his mother the check for his weekly wage, and then went to the river bank and joined the crowd of boys who were watching the rising river. Fifteen minutes from the time he left his work at the glass house he was dead.
The shock of the explosion, it is asserted, was the cause of the death of the infant child of Mrs. Durig, who lives in a house only a short distance from the scene of the tragedy. The child has been ill for several days, and died from the effects of the shock, which broke the glass in many houses in the vicinity.
There is a tradition that years ago a skiff containing a cargo of nitro-glycerine intended for the lower oil fields sank opposite Lazearville. For a long time steamboats would not land in the vicinity. It is supposed that the can that figured in yesterdays tragedy as a part of this cargo;
The injured boys had eyes torn out, noses cut and fractured, arms lacerated and bodies bruised.
