The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-01-06

The ryeXatious delay and examination are
most likely to negative the influence Of con-
gessmen in the line of patronage for polti-
cal PURPOSES ZETA.
The Havoc Caused by the Explosion of
a Dentists Preparatfon--FOur Per-.
SONS Roasted 40 Deatfl--Tsyo Rescued
by Hook and Ladder Company
Thrilling Scenes. ~
From the Detroit Free Press, December 81.
About o'clock Saturday afternoon a
young man named Stewart, employed in the
laboratory and wholesale drug store of Fred
erck Stearns, at No. SO Woodward avenue,
was instructed to carry into the basement
box containing twelve bottles Of rhlgolene,
volatile fluid used by dentists, and which
quickly explodes when brought into contact
with flame. In descending the stairs the
young man made misstep, it is supposed, as
he dropped the box on the stairs, and the
next moment the whole basement was sheet
Of flame.
TIE EXPLOSION.
1t was not an explosion as powder or steam
explodes, but it was terrible hiss--a noise
which was heard block away. The Yapor of
the rhigolenc reached the flames under the
steam boiler in the basement, and sheet Of
IldUlC CpfeICU CfCl ioiiSu w tiiI
stairs as if q mine had been sprung.
A NARROW ESCAPE.
| One of the employees was at the head of
the basement stairs when the box dropped,
and he had not time to turn away before the
flames lcaped up to him, smuggling his hairand
badly scorching his face. He states that he
heard no loud report, hut there was q
"s-s-s-ishl" slight cracking noise, and he
had only time to leap out doors, when the
flames swept up the stairs, up, up, and in
less than two minutes were in the laboratory
| in the fourth story:
THE ALARM.
| Some one ran and gave the alarm from the
| box ut The corner, and three steamers were
on band within five minutes, and the great
clouds OF black smoke pouring out brought
| hundreds Of people to the spot. AS the
flames burst out at the rear and front Of the
| long building almost at the same moment,
the french were puzzled for q moment how
to divide thcir force. As tie ladders were
being taken from the trucks,
LOUD SHREK
arose from the crowd as man, one James
Green, made his appearance at the second
/ story window: He could be seen fighting
away tie smoke aid flame which surrounded
him, and it was seen that he was going to
| lump. Shouting to him to wait moment, a
pilc of blankets was snatched from box in
front of Nails store, and thrown down for
him to alight on. He made the jump, and
cheers and shouts greeted the act Green
sustained quite severe injuries to his feet and
legs, but will not be crippled.
ANOTHER ONE. -
Green had hardly been carried of before
another employe named Mace appeared at q
third-story window; cloud of flame close
after him; and he leaned far out and held
by the sash to escape the heat and smoke.
s. He saw that the tremen would have ladder
to him in q moment, and coolly waited until
it came.
A THRILLING SCENE.
The smoke was now leaping from front
and rear, and the water from the steamers
was aiding to make the volumes of smoke
Z. denser and blacker, when q eroan was utter
ed by the hundreds Of men looking up. A
man in his shirt-sleeves made his appearance
Mt the front window in the fourth story,
With the flames above and below him, and
he acted az if determined to leap down.
"Don't jump-for Heavens sake, hold on r
shouted five hundred men, and they waved
their Eats and hands in hopes to add en-
/ phasis to their words.
The man, whose name is Lodge, heard the
shouts, and Us the smoke parted for mo-
ment he saw the tiremen splicing ladder.
The flames were seorching his back, the
smoke was sitting him, but he hung to the
sash, leaned out over the dizzy height, and
waited. The first splice was too short, and
shudder went through the crowd as the
tiHemen took the ladder down to put on an
| otl, JnlI loIl = ,,,N,,
Was the constant shout, and then the ladder
went up again. Would it reach? Yes-tlle
end struck at the mans feet, he sank down
and grasped it, and the next moment came
1 down through the smoke and fire to the
pavement, amid shouts which were heard
half mile away.
THE FOURTH STORY.
Mr.. Stearns, two young women, and two
or three men, were employed in the labeTa-
tory on the fourth floor when the flames
caught They heard the loud hiss, but had
scarcely time TO pass Z word Of comment
when the flames shot up through the floor.
Retreat by way of the staircase was imposs-
BILE, and Mr.. Stearnsi shouted for them to
make their way to the roof After the fire
which nearly destroyed his establishment
early last summer he constructed fire
escape to the roof, and up this they ali rush
ed, one Of the girls being pushed up and the
other drawn up by Mr.. Stearns. From the
roof they passed over to the roof OF No. 81,
and descended through the scuttlc. But for
the tire-escape some. il not every one, on the
fourth floor would have lost their lives.
,. ANExcITIEG RUMoR.
AS soon as Mr.. Stearns could reach tile
street he Immediately began searching for
his employees, to see if any lives had been
lost, and 1t was soon ascertaincd that three OF
the men had undoubtedly persisted. Patrick
Mcnamara, porter and engineer, was in the
basement attending to his duties, assisted by
young man named Alfred Boeninghausen.
! The young man David Stewart was last seen
on the stairs, and it was soon known that not
one of the three had escaped. The statement
of the man Joseph, who stood at the head OF
the stairs, was sufficient to show that the
moor victims had met an awful death even
before the alarm was sounded.
4 a THE CROWD WAS Wild
with excitement, and, forgetting that quar-
ter of m hour had passed since tina flames
FAf<E