Carrington - Mary Maddox - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

Source: Waveland Independent newspaper, Waveland, Montgomery County, Indiana April 14, 1899

A terrible accident occurred at the home of John H. Carrington, near Wingate, last Friday afternoon. Mr. Carrington was engaged in blowing up stumps in a clearing with dynamite. Some of the explosive was frozen and he placed a quantity of it, said to have been about 12 pounds under the kitchen stove to thaw out. About an hour later this exploded. The house, a log and frame structure, was torn to splinters. Mrs. Carrington's limbs were broken and she was terribly cut and bruised and died in a few hours. Her little daughter Nona, 17 months old, was instantly killed, her head being torn off. An older daughter escaped with a few slight wounds. The funeral of the unfortunate woman and child was held at Freedom Church on Sunday, the funeral sermon being delivered by Rev. LF Galey. The unusual circumstances attracted a crowd beyond the capacity of the house. The mother and her baby were buried in the same casket. Mrs. Mary Carrington was a daughter of Mrs. Hannah Maddox and her early life was spent in this vicinity. She was born in Clinton Co, Iowa in Nov. 1859. She joined the Presbyterian Church when 17 years of age and later united with the Baptist Church. She leaves a husband and four children. - kbz

Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal 9 April 1899

One of the largest crowds that ever gathered at Freedom Church was last Sunday to witness the funeral and burial of Mrs. John Carrington and child, of which church she has long been a member. We were pained to hear of that awful accident indeed, which caused their death. Mr. Carrington and family having lived in this neighborhood quite awhile made quite a number of acquaintances and friends. Mrs. Carrington was a woman of a kind nature to everyone whom she chanced to meet. This sad accident as was reported to the writer is as follows: “Mr. Carrington had some stumps in a field a quarter of a mile away from the house that he wanted out and when going out to the field he left some 12 pounds of frozen dynamite under the kitchen stove to thaw out where Mrs. Carrington was ironing with the child near by. While Mr. Carrington was blowing up these stumps the explosion took place at the house. A 7 year old girl was in an adjoining room and was pinned down by the falling timber, but was taken out unhurt. What caused the explosion exactly is not known, whether it was the jar from blowing up the stump, being a quarter of a mile away, or the collection of the nitro glycerin and heat while thawing out. The child was blown out of the house to the yard fence with the back part of its head blown away and mangled terribly otherwise. Mrs. Carrington was not killed instantly, having lived five hours, during which time she was conscious. Pieces of timber were blown into and through her body in a horrible manner. There was only one piece of the cook stove found and that was some ways off and buried in a sugar tree. Had the remaining forty pounds of dynamite exploded the accident would no doubt have been more disastrous. It certainly was frozen or it would have exploded from the jar of the other explosion. Mr. Carrington and family have the sympathy of this neighborhood in their sad bereavement.

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