Graham Daily News April 13, 1916
"One Graham resident, an eyewitness to the 3:20 a.m. blast said that the entire horizon was lighted up, and the house shook like it was going to fall in. Immediately following the explosions (a railroad tower-man in Bluefield, W. Va. reported four distinct shocks) "a thick black cloud of smoke lifted from the scene of the accident and hung in space as black as ink." Of the three persons killed as a result of the explosion, only one was at the plant site. Howard Mathena, a glazer at the plant was "literally blown to pieces" and two young boys, George and Roy Crawford (aged 16 and 14 respectively) were killed in their sleep. A stone weighing approximately 150 pounds was thrown from the plant site nearly one-half mile to the home of the two boys. It crashed through the roof of the house and crushed both heads of the sleeping boys. Another newspaper account of the disaster stated, "Mathena and Butt (Calvin Butt, a plant watchman) left the engine room at the plant where it was said they had eaten their lunches, and walked toward the glazing mill, amount one hundred and fifty yards distant. Butt, it is said, lagged along behind his companion for some unknown reason, while Mathena entered the glazing mill. Before Butt had entered the mill, and while, the evidence shows, he was within about 50 feet of doing so, the mill exploded. About 3,000 kegs of black powder went up in the conflagration, which totally destroyed all of the buildings of the complex, and hurled pieces of debris (some weighing as much as five tons) as much as a mile from the blast location.
"One Graham resident, an eyewitness to the 3:20 a.m. blast said that the entire horizon was lighted up, and the house shook like it was going to fall in. Immediately following the explosions (a railroad tower-man in Bluefield, W. Va. reported four distinct shocks) "a thick black cloud of smoke lifted from the scene of the accident and hung in space as black as ink." Of the three persons killed as a result of the explosion, only one was at the plant site. Howard Mathena, a glazer at the plant was "literally blown to pieces" and two young boys, George and Roy Crawford (aged 16 and 14 respectively) were killed in their sleep. A stone weighing approximately 150 pounds was thrown from the plant site nearly one-half mile to the home of the two boys. It crashed through the roof of the house and crushed both heads of the sleeping boys. Another newspaper account of the disaster stated, "Mathena and Butt (Calvin Butt, a plant watchman) left the engine room at the plant where it was said they had eaten their lunches, and walked toward the glazing mill, amount one hundred and fifty yards distant. Butt, it is said, lagged along behind his companion for some unknown reason, while Mathena entered the glazing mill. Before Butt had entered the mill, and while, the evidence shows, he was within about 50 feet of doing so, the mill exploded. About 3,000 kegs of black powder went up in the conflagration, which totally destroyed all of the buildings of the complex, and hurled pieces of debris (some weighing as much as five tons) as much as a mile from the blast location.
Graham Daily News April 13, 1916
"One Graham resident, an eyewitness to the 3:20 a.m. blast said that the entire horizon was lighted up, and the house shook like it was going to fall in. Immediately following the explosions (a railroad tower-man in Bluefield, W. Va. reported four distinct shocks) "a thick black cloud of smoke lifted from the scene of the accident and hung in space as black as ink." Of the three persons killed as a result of the explosion, only one was at the plant site. Howard Mathena, a glazer at the plant was "literally blown to pieces" and two young boys, George and Roy Crawford (aged 16 and 14 respectively) were killed in their sleep. A stone weighing approximately 150 pounds was thrown from the plant site nearly one-half mile to the home of the two boys. It crashed through the roof of the house and crushed both heads of the sleeping boys. Another newspaper account of the disaster stated, "Mathena and Butt (Calvin Butt, a plant watchman) left the engine room at the plant where it was said they had eaten their lunches, and walked toward the glazing mill, amount one hundred and fifty yards distant. Butt, it is said, lagged along behind his companion for some unknown reason, while Mathena entered the glazing mill. Before Butt had entered the mill, and while, the evidence shows, he was within about 50 feet of doing so, the mill exploded. About 3,000 kegs of black powder went up in the conflagration, which totally destroyed all of the buildings of the complex, and hurled pieces of debris (some weighing as much as five tons) as much as a mile from the blast location.
"One Graham resident, an eyewitness to the 3:20 a.m. blast said that the entire horizon was lighted up, and the house shook like it was going to fall in. Immediately following the explosions (a railroad tower-man in Bluefield, W. Va. reported four distinct shocks) "a thick black cloud of smoke lifted from the scene of the accident and hung in space as black as ink." Of the three persons killed as a result of the explosion, only one was at the plant site. Howard Mathena, a glazer at the plant was "literally blown to pieces" and two young boys, George and Roy Crawford (aged 16 and 14 respectively) were killed in their sleep. A stone weighing approximately 150 pounds was thrown from the plant site nearly one-half mile to the home of the two boys. It crashed through the roof of the house and crushed both heads of the sleeping boys. Another newspaper account of the disaster stated, "Mathena and Butt (Calvin Butt, a plant watchman) left the engine room at the plant where it was said they had eaten their lunches, and walked toward the glazing mill, amount one hundred and fifty yards distant. Butt, it is said, lagged along behind his companion for some unknown reason, while Mathena entered the glazing mill. Before Butt had entered the mill, and while, the evidence shows, he was within about 50 feet of doing so, the mill exploded. About 3,000 kegs of black powder went up in the conflagration, which totally destroyed all of the buildings of the complex, and hurled pieces of debris (some weighing as much as five tons) as much as a mile from the blast location.
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