1907 Explosion Killed Two Men at Powder Works

This week's Historic Pinole takes us back to 1907, when one of the series of fatal accidents occurred at the powder works plant just outside the city. It is noteworthy for its dismissal of Chinese workers as something less than men. The victims' names are not mentioned, and they are described with the word "Chinese" as a noun, leaving out the word "men" but using that word for two white workers — who were named. Written by the Associated Press, the article was published on May 2, 1907 in the Los Angeles Herald.

EXPLOSION KILLS TWO CHINESE AT PINOLE

By Associated Press.

PINOLE, Cal., May 2 — There was a dynamite explosion at the powder works here at 8:45 this morning. Two Chinese were killed and one white man injured. Gelatin mixing house No. 1 was blown to atoms.

The building was a small one and only a few men were employed in it, and this is the reason why so few were injured. The company only allows 160 pounds of gelatin to be mixed at one time. Two Chinese were engaged in this work at the time of the explosion.

William McGee, a white man, who was passing the structure at the moment of the explosion, was injured by falling debris. The damage was slight. Foreman Harrington had just left the room and although only about twenty feet away, escaped without a scratch.

This article comes from the California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc. The collection has digitzed more than 400,000 images from newspapers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Images dated between 1846 and 1922 are in the public domain and not subject to copyright.