FATAL GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXI, Issue 2606, 24 November 1865, Page 4

FATAL GUNPOWDER EXPLOSION.

It is our painful duty to report that a fearful gun powder explosion, attended with loss of life, took' place on the Blue Moiiiitnins, on Thursday evening jn&t. Ifc appears that a man inanied George Gamble, inthe employment of Mr, Kegan, of Penritli, was driving a team of six horse*, with a load of two and it-half tons of gunpowder, to Mr. Watkins's railway i works, ne'ar'Hftrtloy. At 7 o'clock' on 'that evening,' when about a mile beyond the, [Weathei board; lnn, the gunpowder exploded, producing a tremendous report, which was Matted to have been heard at Penrith, », distance of twenty-seven miles.' The unfortunate driver, Gamble, was killed on the, spot, and hi* remain* were ihortly afterward* discovered in a frightfully mutilated condition. A young man named Kegan who was driving another team, ' was also' seriously injured. Threu of the horses were killed, and one had two of its legs blown away ; and scarcely a, vestige of the dray, waa to be seen. The couch, from Bathurst came,' up to the spot shortly after the disaster occurred. 'At that time several of the telegraph ' posts wereonfire, the tree* were'blazinglh'Hlldlrebtioni/ the fire having been thrown a distance of four or five hundred yard*. The deceased Gamble belonged to Windsor, where his family are residing. It was laid that b,e bad been cautioned, respecting one of the casks, the head of .which, nqt being properjyiecured, allowed the powder to leak out, but that he had not paid any attention t6 the caution. The'eause of the explosion could not, 'of oourse,' be ascertained,' but it was supposed that the tires of the wheels had struok' fc* *k° s ' ones > 'gni'ing some loose powder on the ground,, and cotpmunioating the .flame to /the powder,** the ilray. 'There were several other teftms, —some loaded with powder— near at the time j but with the exception of Kegan, none of the driven were injured, although danger was apprehended from the fire that wa» flying about.— "Sydney Morning Herald," November 7.