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Mason
Countians Shaken From Sleep By Terrible Explosion In 1854
Not A
Single Life Lost When 800 Kegs Of Blasting And Rifle
Powder Exploded Along The Lexington And Maysville Turnpike
Compiled
by Earl White - 2007
On the
evening of August 13, 1854, the residents of Maysville, Mason
County, Kentucky, and the neighboring communities were literally
shaken from their sleep. A person or persons unknown caused a
powder magazine, which was located on the Lexington and Maysville
Turnpike, to explode. The contents of that magazine, consisting
of 800 kegs of blasting and rifle powder, were burned, causing
a great explosion and destruction of property. The location of
the magazine was alongside the road that leads southward out
of Maysville and at the foot of the old Route 68 hill in an area
known today as Sleepy Hollow.
The explosion occurred at 2:15 a.m., noted an early extra edition
published by the Maysville Express later that same morning. That
edition stated that in the neighborhood of the magazine fired
were two other magazines containing powder, which also exploded
and burned, causing two distinct flashes of light preceding their
explosions.
According to this early newspaper report, not a house in the
city of Maysville, Kentucky, or Aberdeen, Ohio, across the Ohio
River, escaped damage. A stone weighing 43 pounds was found in
Aberdeen, one-and-one-third miles from the spot of explosion.
Miraculously, no one was killed. William Conwell was the only
person seriously injured, receiving sundry cuts and bruises.
Two large stones were found in the bed, in which he had been
sleeping. An unconfirmed report stated that a Negro was thrown
from his bed in Orangeburg, Kentucky, some ten miles away.
The Maysville Eagle, another Maysville newspaper, followed with
another article on August 14th. It reported that a Maysville
powder magazine fired a terrific explosion with 800 kegs of powder
and 13 houses were destroyed. One hundred thousand dollars in
property damage occurred and a $1,000 reward was offered for
information concerning the cause of the explosions.
The citizens were aroused from their sleep by the most tremendous
and awful explosion ever heard in their midst. The light produced
was intensely vivid, startling hundreds of citizens from a
sound sleep and awakening them to the sudden realization of the
awful judgment day. The noise and the terrible concussion confirmed
many hundred sinners in the conviction that Gabriel was blowing
his horn. Women screamed and children ran in terror. Desolation
and imminent danger were everywhere, and yet, in the special
providence of God, not a life was lost.
Glass, stones, and bricks lined the city's streets, and a sulfurous
atmosphere caused many to feel faint. A crowd of men carried
the body of William Conwell, Esq., one of the ablest and soundest
lawyers in Kentucky, from his residence and to the Lee House.
He was bleeding profusely and thought by some to be dying.
A reward was offered for the apprehension and the conviction
of the scoundrels who fired the magazines, believed to be five
in number. The Honorable Judge DeWalt ordered a special term
of court for the investigation by a grand jury.
A later edition of the Maysville Eagle described the lay of the
land surrounding the magazines which explained why so few injuries
occurred. Those at a distance and not acquainted with the localities
about Maysville will understand the reason why. The damage
is so immense that $80,000 cannot replace everything.
The powder magazines that were blown were situated in a narrow
hollow or gorge, along where the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike
ascends the hill south of town. The distance is less than one-third
mile from the courthouse and the heart of the city. If the elevation
of the site had not been 100 feet over the heads of the sleeping
citizens, at least 500 would have been killed or mangled in their
beds.
The magazines themselves were of tolerably thick limestone and
the walls of three-brick thickness with solid iron doors. A stone
weighing 102 pounds was thrown across the Ohio River, a mile
away.
Public buildings which suffered damages were the courthouse,
the lower city brick school, and Rand and Richerson's Seminary.
Professor Rand's dwelling next to the Seminary was damaged. Churches
damaged were the German Methodist, the Episcopal and Catholic
churches, the African Methodist Church, and the African Baptist
Church. Two other African churches, being nearer the center of
the explosion, both suffered great losses. The Christian, or
Reformed Church, lost a portion of its roof. The Methodist Episcopal
Church lost chandeliers and glass windows. The Presbyterian Church,
on Third Street, the finest in the state outside of Lexington
or Louisville, had nearly all sashes, shutters, furniture, and
walls damaged. (This church left a hole on its left outer wall
for many years as mute testimony of that terrible explosion.)
Businesses damaged were the Maysville Cotton Mills, Ryan's Hemp
Magazine, Pickett's Grain House, Shackleford's Storage Houses,
Frank's Tinware, and every store on Second and Market streets
suffered broken glass windows.
Dwellings suffered extensive damage too numerous to mention.
The Armstrong House had damages in the amount of $35,000.
The steamer, Huron, a Cincinnati packet, docked at the landing
place on the lower grade, was pierced by a number of stones,
one of which passed into the hull an inch above the waterline,
with others passing through the roof and cabin floor into the
Ohio River. One such stone went entirely through the stateroom
where the clerk, Rolla Cooper, and his wife were sleeping, hitting
less than four inches from Mrs. Cooper's head.
At the residence of William Wadsworth, Esq., on Second Street,
six or eight large stones struck the house. One pierced the shutter
and window and shattered the bedstead of Mr. J. J. Cartoon and
his wife and infant, who had arrived from New Orleans only four
hours earlier.
Many other accounts were told of the destruction and force of
the explosions that occurred in the early morning hours of August
13, 1854. Stories of broken windows and shaken citizens followed.
Yet, as described earlier by the editor of the Maysville Eagle,
the elevated site of the magazines above the city property caused
most of the propelled stones to arc over the top of most businesses
and residences. Not a single life was lost.
No suspects were ever brought to trial in regard to the firing
of the magazines. Local lore implied that it was the result of
a lark by some of the young men of the city. If so, it proved
to be an expensive lark.
Earl White,
1787 Brooksville-Powersville Road, Brooksville, KY 41004, shares
this article with our readers.
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