July 2, 1863, Semi-Weekly News (San Antonio, Texas)
On Monday morning, about a quarter past 8 o’clock, the work house of the Powder Mill blew up, instantly killing a German, named Ernst Guenther, and a Mexican, named Ignacio Salinas, who were at work in it, at the time. Mr. Frederick, the superintendent of the mill, had left it only a few minutes before the explosion took place. The room was about two hundred yards from the mill and adjoining the packing room, which also blew up, thereby destroying about fifteen hundred pounds of powder. The mill itself received no injury. The cause of the explosion is unknown, but is supposed to have originated from some explosive or metallic substance, which accidentally got into the powder, and which the friction of the rollers caused to ignite it. This is the second explosion that has taken place there, and we are told that it is impossible to avoid them; that they frequently occur in the very best regulated mills, where every possible safeguard is used. How very uncertain, then, must be the lives of the operatives!