Evening Star Newspaper, July 18, 1926, Page 18

20 ONCE DIED HERE 1N ARSENAL BLAST . Gl Victims of 1864 Dis- ; aster Buried in One Grave s at Congressional. y_un.ray that the bodles of the inidentified victims of the Lake, Den- mark Naval Arsenal expigsion will be Brought to Washington and buried in a single grave at Arlington National Cemetery. has directed attention to the Congres- partms plans for the interment of the un- fied bodies now at the scene of the New Jersey blasts. The check-up still showed six persons missing, but naval officials were unwilling to de; dlare that the remains in thelr cus tody are those of the persons they are unable to locate. Informal overtures have been made to the department that in the event positive identifica- tion mnever is established the bodies should buried in one grave at Am lington and a monument erected over it. The bodies of the identified dead have and will be buried separately in @ccordance with the wishes of the relatives. The fire and explosion here, fro; the standpoint of the tragio deaths i inflicted, takes over the naval arsenal explosion. Without & word of warning, 19 young women ‘were consumed in the firetand blast in a onestory brick bullding then: situ- ated near the site of the present . Washington Barraeks. Eight never were identified, and these, with six whose identity had been estab- £ lished. were buried in the single grave onal Burying at_the then Co Grounds. The following year, on the anniversary of the disaster, a beauti- ful monument was erected over the grave by public contribution from the citizens of Washingt ment now is in excellent condition and ranks in beauty and solemnity with the other outstanding tributes in the cemdtery. ¢ ‘Altogether, 20 women “lost their Mves, either being killed or burned: to death outright or succumbing to in- juries a short time later. The six not buried in the common grave were in- terred privately. 3 The June 17, 1864, edition of The ‘Evening Star oontains the following fccount.of the disaster: |1‘ribugéwn;‘ evected In_ Conigredsional first anniversary of the 18 Whiom mover wers lasuiied: on. This menu- | tridges, where the girls were at work, the disastrous results above Heroes Save, Some. *The scenes while the fire was in 3 “At 10 minutes of 12 o'clock today | were em & terrible catastrophe occurred at the Arsenal which cast a gloom over the whole - community -and rendered sad many a heart that was buoyant a fow thoments previous. “While 108 girls were at work. in the main laboratory making cart- ridges for small arms, a quantity of fireworks, which had been placed on the outside of the building, be- came ignited and a piece of fuse fly- fng into one of the.rooms in which were seated about 29 young women get the cartridges on fire and. caused an instantaneous explosion. . “The buflding in which the explo- sion took flplwo is a one-story brick, divided off into four rooms and runs east and west. B *-Those girls who were employed in the east rooms of the'laboratory escaped by from the win- dows and through the doors 11 mell,- but those in- the room K:munz on the east did not fare so well and ‘it is feared that nearly all)] of them were killed by the explosion or-burned to death. s “The explosion did not occasion a foud report, the roof being raised from the building about a foot, but the building immiediately caught fire and was completely destroyed. s “The news of the accident spread e wild-fire, and in & few minutes ndreds of anxious parents, brothers d sisters flocked to the scene of the disaster, but owing to the con- fusion no one was allowed to en gr leave the grounds.” < . Sparks Fell in Powder. A later edition of The Star on that 8ay gave the following additional cts: “The cause of the explosion is sup- posed to have been the “ignition of some fireworks stars which had been Prepared for fireworks and were in & pan near the southeastern window of the bullding. - Several persons who were nearby at the time concurred in the . statement that the stars took fire and in burning flew out of the pen, some of them falling in ‘and catohing ‘the loose powder where the girls were making “MaJj. Keeper, Hme wi ¥ and states that after the powder on the benches caught, the fire sgread down rapidly, blinding the girls.and Setting fire to their clothing. -Many 3t them ran to the windows wrapped flames and on their way communi- ga-e the fire to the dresses of others. Fortunately there were no completed rtridges in the room, those in hand &m. ready to pinch. y “Maj. Stebbins was in a position fo assist the unfortunate girls in thaking their escape and to him and others who' were near and to the soldlers and workmen. Who were promptly on the spot, many of them owe their lives. » i“Some three or four of those who their escape from the building, ‘but who were quite badly burned, ran own to the dock and were placed on of a Government steam tug, These T veng iy o parties ‘were conve; Sixth street whart, from whence they i * fives and friends, and others “motives of curfosity, but a the Reserve Corps was circle around the remaints, H i i i i t ifii e i b gia i fane, e el b i i & & dress all in flames, and was at ‘once seized by a gentleman, whd in order tp save her, plunged her into the iver. He, however, burned his hands up the hill, and the upper part of their clothing' torn off by two gentlemen , who thus prob- ably sa the from a ‘horrid death, but in the effort they, too, were badly injured. Thirteen girls ran upon & tug at the arsenal wharf and were burned than those not thus. :':velnpod in hoops, and it is probable that the expansion of the dress by the hoops afforded facilities for the flames to fasten upon them with fatal effect. ‘We would suggest in this connection that operatives, working in such dan- gerous localities, should by all means ‘wear non-combustive clothing. Cloth washed in alum water is said to be fireproof.” . Funeral services for ' the victims were held at the arsenal Sunday aft- ernoon, June 19, 1864, and were at- tended by ldm?fl and Sec- retary Stanton. Services of all denom- Inations were conducted over the bodies of the unknown, and then the procession moved out to. the Congres- sional Ground. There were 16 coffins in the m, each one, alternately, being in a hearse and an ambulance, as there were not énough of the former available. Two of the caskets-were buried in private graves, and the remaining ones in the plot selected close to the west wall of the cemetery and now' at the ‘intersection :‘f'eevnnmnth and D streets south-. Monument Bears Names. .The monument is a Square shaft, and each of its four sides bear in- scriptions. On one side this appears: “Erected by Public Contribution by 5 \ the’ Citizens of Washington, D. C., June 17, 1865.” The ‘opposite side bears a carved reproduc- tion'of the one-story building in flamés and these words: “Killed by An Ex- plosion at the United States ‘Washington, D, C., June 17, 1884, {The remaining two sidés are over to the names of the victims, as a Baird, Kate Brosna- Adams, Emily Collins, Rebecca Hull, Annie 8. Bache, Mary Burroughs, Sallie Mo- Eilfresh, Pinkey Scotf, Ellen Roche, Julia McEwen, Bridget Dunn, Mar- garet Horan, Johanna Copnors, Susan’ Harris, ' Ligzie - Brahler, ghrm C. Yonson, Beftle Branagan and Eliza The monument is listed in the ord books of Congressional as “property pf United States.” i Sty DEATH CHEATS ALTAR. Guests, Asked to Girl's Wedding Get Funeral Notice. CHICAGO, July 17 (). ot trionds. of Mise Bother Dors, 31, 3 < Shop, when it wcomes to buy- ing things elegc- * trical. [ by the citizens| ‘and ~ Furniture Values Are o . Datficult to Appraise b | ‘Frniture ' values ‘are difficul ttoapprmse? The fine automobile that stands in front of ~ the better homes, likely gained prefer- ence because it bore the name of a quality builder. - ‘Likewise Lifetime Fumiture 1s' the choice of many people who realize the assur- ance of perfection given by our Lifetime It 1s often hard to tell, on first ‘examina-- ~ . tion, how honestly a piece is made. tTobesmeoffunflurethatwillagegxace- fully, purchase from a house noted for its . superior collection of fumiture-—like the - .~ Lifetime Fumiture House on Seventh betweenDandE.