Dating back to the beginnings of America, gunpowder was a necessity. Colonial Massachusetts required men to be armed to protect their farms, their homes, and their families from Native American or French attacks, as well as for the necessity of hunting. Powder magazines were built to store gunpowder, usually in remote locations away from points of civilization, so that any explosion would reduce damage or injury. By 1880s Omaha, a powder magazine stored powder for military purposes and for civil engineering.
(section from Everts & Kirk atlas map of Omaha, 1885) Steele and Johnson Powder Magazine, located close to where Kenefick Park is today at Lauritzen Gardens
There were several magazines in Omaha, two located in northwest Omaha, another in south Omaha, and one in what was known as “Duck Hollow” in Council Bluffs. In April 1882, the Council Bluffs Nonpareil reported that the Duck Hollow powder house had been struck by lightning, scattering ruin and destruction across the area. In fact, it was only a nearby tree struck by lightning. The World-Herald reported that “the fact is that the powder house is located in the center of a five-acre piece of ground of its own; is set in a hollow, far away from everything, and is much less dangerous than other powder houses which have not been complained of at all. (OWH, April 25, 1882).
Several days later, an Omaha Bee reporter made an examination of the
powder magazines, reporting that the buildings were made of brick and the doors
covered with light sheet-iron. There were houses in the vicinity of each, “but
not very snug to them,” and possibly would not suffer damage from an explosion.
However, the reporter noted that the door of every powder house had been used
as target for shooters to practice, with each door “riddled with bullets,
giving evidence that there are at least a few folks who are so destitute of
fear as to fire bullets at a powder house. (Omaha Daily Bee, April 29, 1882). To
make the point, the reporter recounted an explosion in Oskaloosa, Iowa when two
boys fired a new gun, hitting the powder magazine, causing considerable damage,
and killing several people. Ever ready to fan the flames, the Omaha Daily Bee
reported a year later a letter signed by several women calling for the Duck
Hollow powder magazine to be “removed from such dangerous proximity to so many
homes.” (Omaha Daily Bee, April 27, 1883).
This was the backdrop to the events of Wednesday, February
27, 1884. At half past three in the afternoon, residents of South Omaha and as
far away as Council Bluffs were started by a huge explosion, which many took
for an earthquake and was said to be felt upwards of a mile away. At first, a rumor went around that a boiler had exploded at
Boyd’s packing house, resulting in an explosion and a huge fire. Others
suggested it was a fertilizer plant which was on fire. Shortly afterward, a
message was sent from Boyd’s packing house to W.T. Kent, the coroner, informing him that
the Steele and Johnson’s powder magazine in south Omaha had blown up, and
requesting that he go down for an inquiry. (OWH,
February 28, 1884)
An Omaha Bee reporter immediately proceeded to the scene,
“which beggar[ed] description, and which, in horribleness, the imagination
cannot depict.” (OWH, February 28, 1884). The magazine was built in a dense
wood, nearly a mile and a half east of the Union Pacific depot, near the bank
of a small ravine. It was here that four boys, Chris Madsen, William Abney,
William Mallus, Jack Stitts, were most likely hunting rabbit and somehow
ignited the powder magazine.
Hundreds of residents began arriving at the scene, and even before reaching the site of the magazine, they could see the tops of trees torn off, branches, torn from trunks, and entire trees leveled for 15 to 20 yards around the magazine. Partial remains of the boys were discovered around the site, which the crowd collected into three little heaps.
As facts emerged, it was reported that the four boys were
seen at about 1 pm about a half mile up the river and were combing the woods in
search of game. The exact cause of the explosion remained unknown, but
witnesses heard shotgun reports in the area. The powder house was full of holes
and burrows, and some speculated the boys lit a fire to smoke animals out.
Others thought one of the boys may have fired a shot into the magazine,
igniting the powder.
All
four boys lived on Pierce Street, between fourth and sixth streets. “The sobs
and wailings of the mothers for the loss of their sons were heard for blocks
distant,” the World-Herald reported. Chris Madsen and William Abney were nearly
17 years old, William Mallus was twelve, and Jack Stitts was only ten.
It was nearly impossible to separate the remains for
individual graves. The boys were interred together at Prospect Hill Cemetery
with a monument memorializing the instant. It was said that the four columns
were of different sizes, representing the different ages of the boys.
The explosion lived on in the collective memory of Omaha for
many years. Forty years later, in 1924, Hamline Barnes, one of the pallbearers,
recalled the funeral of the four boys who played hooky from school that day in
1884. “I’ve told that story over time and time again to Sunday school boys,”
Mr. Barnes recalled. “It’s ever a lesson to them of the folly of playing
truant.” (OWH, February 29, 1924).
The monument at Prospect Hill Cemetery has been known as the Four Boys monument ever since and is the only mass grave at the cemetery. Over the past 140 years, vandalism and age have nearly destroyed the Four Boys monument. Prospect Hill Cemetery is in the process of erecting a new monument to remember the Four Boys. Donations are gratefully accepted to help defray the expense of the new monument. Click here to support the new monument.
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| The Four Boys monument at Prospect Hill Cemetery |
