Matt Latshaw c1889 - 1895

LATSHAW, BJORNSTERN, BJORNSTAD, BJORSTEN

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 3/22/2021 at 10:59:00

Source: Decorah Republican Sept. 12, 1895 P 3 C 2
DEATH BY DYNAMITE.
An Explosion Near Dubuque Kills Five Persons
DUBUQUE, Ia., Sept. 9.—A terrific dynamite explosion occurred Sunday morning at 7:30 o’clock at Specht’s Ferry about 10 miles north of this city on the Iowa side of the river. The government is building wing dams on the opposite side of the river and stone is being quarried there for the purpose. Edward Latshaw had a large low shanty where the quarrymen are boarded and in one end of this shanty there were stored five boxes or 150 pounds of dynamite. After breakfast a son of Latshaw’s was firing at a target near the shanty and was told to stop by the foreman, but he went on and soon the explosion occurred. The concussion was terrible and was felt for miles. The shanty was blown into splinters and the Spechts residence and depot badly damaged.
Edward Latshaw, aged 35, and his wife, of Victory, Wis., their boys Ray and Matt, aged 12 and 6, and Hans Bjornstad were instantly killed. Latshaw was blown into the side of the bluff and nearly buried with sand. The clothing was nearly all torn from Mrs. Latshaw, and her daughter Grace, a little girl, was found unharmed caressing the cheek of the mother and asking her to speak.
The injured were Mabel Latshaw, aged 15, still unconscious, but may recover; Matt Faber, a quarry man, aged 35, of Wabasha, Minn., will die; Edward Bench, Lansing, Ia., left eye knocked out, will recover. There seems to be no doubt about the cause of the accident. As soon as the accident occurred a special train was sent from here, which brought the injured to the hospitals.
The force of the explosion tore a hole 15 feet deep in the solid rock, wrecked the building above it and damaged nearly every building in the place. The mother, two daughters and the younger son were found in the wrecked house, the infant girl lying across her mother’s dead and crushed body crying piteously for her. The dead boy was buried beneath the timbers. The boy who did the shooting was thrown over two high trees, falling near where he stood, a shapeless, unrecognizable mass, Hans Bjorsten's body was found 100 feet from the building, every bone broken and body bruised and blackened. The mother's head was crushed, while her body bore no marks of the explosion. The clothes and bedding in the house were thrown into the surrounding timber and the topmost limbs were covered with them. In Specht’s hotel every window was shattered and the building otherwise damaged, the side of a warehouse wrecked and a smaller building near it unroofed. Barges moored on the opposite side of the river were so much damaged by the concussion that it is feared they may sink. The hamlet has every appearance of being swept by a cyclone, there being scarcely a sound building left. The noise of the explosion was heard at Platteville, Wis., 10 miles away.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows they are all buried in Walnut Mound, Retreat, WI.
Mrs. Latshaw’s name was Charity
Edward Latshaw was born in 1853
Hans’ name is spelled Bjornstern according to Find a Grave.

See further report at http://iagenweb.org/boards/dubuque/obituaries/index.cgi?review=757157