3-034-578 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene of the gun-cotton explosion at Stowmarket, 1871. '...twenty-four persons were killed and seventy-two others injured...The scene of the accident is one of perfect ruin. The only thing that appears intact is the...brick chimney shaft. At the base of this lies a confused mass, extending over a wide area, of broken walls, rafters, tiles, slates, masses of half-burned cotton, iron rods and beams, twisted into the most fantastic shapes...The site of the magazines is the most telling of all the strange and horrible spectacles...the only thing to be seen is a huge chasm,...more than 100 feet in diameter...Scarcely a brick or tile, or vestige of any building is to be seen near this centre...and the fragments scattered around, affording testimony of the awful force which dug out in an instant the huge pond-like hole where the magazine had stood...Mr. Trotman, manager of the works...was in his office when the explosion occurred. He heard a heavy thud, and at that moment found himself standing amid the ruins of the building. He at once ran to the shattered sheds by the river side, and calling out to know if anyone was there, he was answered by moans. He dragged away the bricks, and discovered two men, whose lives he was instrumental in saving'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.