The Disaster at the Laboratory – List of Killed and
Wounded. – It now appears probable, from investigations made by the proper
authorities, that the terrible disaster at the Government Laboratory, on Brown’s
Island, last Friday, was caused by the accidental ignition of a friction primer,
in the hands of a girl named Mary Ryan, who possibly did not observe sufficient
precaution in the work upon which she was employed. The number of casualties, we
regret to say, is greater than at first reported, and many of the sufferers have
been relieved by death since Friday evening; among these is the Rev. Jno.
Woodcock, who died on Saturday morning at 4 o’clock, his tortures having been
augmented by the retention of his faculties to the last. Mr. Woodcock was a
local preacher in the Methodist Church, and a most exemplary man in all the
relations of life. His funeral took place yesterday afternoon, after appropriate
services at Trinity Church. Coffins for most of the victims were prepared at the
Arsenal, under the direction of Mr. Thomas J. Beal, master carpenter, and
hearses were likewise furnished by government authority. The Sabbath was
rendered gloomy by the saddening scene of many funeral procession, wending their
way to the various cemeteries.
The following list of the dead was furnished at the
Laboratory yesterday:
Females – Mary O’Brien, Martha A. Burley, (missing,) Martha
Dailey, Mrs. Ann Dodson, (sisters,) Julia A. Brannan, Nannie Horan, Mary Rowlin,
Catherine McCarthy, Mary Zegingham, Mary Whitehurst, Sarah Haney, Mary A.
Garnet, Mary Archer, Eliza Willis, Elizabeth Young, Mary Valentine, Maria Brein,
Ella Smith, Amelia Tiefenbach, Annie Davis, Alice Johnson, Mary Cushing, Alice
Bolton, Barbary Jackson, Mary Wallace, Louisa Ricely, Ellen Sulivan, Elizabeth
More, Adeline Myers, Mary O’Conners, Francis Blassingame, Virginia Page – 32.
Males – Rev. John Woodcock, James G. Curry – 2.
The following is a list of the wounded who were living
yesterday at noon, some of them in a critical situation:
Females – Mary Ryan, Delia Clemens, Bridget Grimes, Pauline
Smoot, Ann Drake, Margaret Alexander, Elizabeth Dawson, Mary Cordle, Lucy Wicks,
Mary Pritchett, Sarah Marshall, Catharine Cavanaugh, Annie Blankenship, Mary E.
Rouke, Caroline Zengingham, Mary J. Andrews, Ella Bennett, Sarah Foster, Mary
Manahan, Ellen O’Brien, Cornelia Mitchell, Mary McDonnell, Catharine Ricely,
Dolly A. Folkes – 24.
Males – Peter Fercron, Samuel Chappell, John H. Hampton,
Alonzo Owens, Wm. Barfoot – 5.
Making 34 dead and 29 wounded – or a total of 63 so far as
officially ascertained. It is reported that two others, Margaret Reilly and Anne
Petticord, lost their lives, but this may be an error. It is requested that any
one who knows of sufferers not included in the above list will report the fact
at the Laboratory on 7th street. Mr. McCarthy, on of the
superintendents, reported wounded on Saturday, received no serious injury.
The appeal of the Mayor in behalf of the victims and their
surviving friends, has been in some instances liberally responded to, and a
handsome amount has been contributed by the operatives in the Arsenal and
Laboratory.
