St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-12-28
A Terrible Disaster.
A SCORE OR MORE PEOPLE KILLED.

A SCORE OR MORE PEOPLE KILLED.
The boiler of the immense candy
mandatory of Greenfield g. Sons, five
stories high, on Barclay street and Col
lege place, New York, burst Thursday
afternoon little after o'clock, badly
wrecking the factory and damaging
other business establishments in the
building, and many of the employees of
Greenfield & Sons, besides other peo-
pie, have come out from the ruins
wounded, while there must be 90 and
perhaps 40 or so bodies in the debris.
1t was impossible to explore the ruins
last night, the building having taken
fire after the explosion, and the walls
are in dangerous condition.
The boiler was in the basement of
the rear end of the Barclay street wing
of the building, and its most conspicu-
Gus immediate effect was to blow down
the entire front scattering the debris in
all directions. A policeman on duty
near the buildings says he saw the front
of the building fall into the street, and
the street was filed with screaming
people. He rushed to the police sta
ton and gave a fire alarm at the box at
Church and Barclay streets.
Mr.. Greenfield, owner of the factory,
could give no idea of how many were in
the building at the time of the explos-
ion, but he thought about 120. OF these
so escaped by the COllege-place en-
trance, and small number got out
through the sky-lights, and walked over
the roofs and got down the sky-lights
of other buildings. Several girls jump
ed from the top of the building into the
fire, and several boys were blown
through the roof. The book-keeper,
who was on the Barclay street side of
the building, was blown out through
the window to the street, and badly
cut on the head. Several jumped from
the second story and escaped with
slight injuries, their fall being broken
by policemen and citizens on the side
walk below. The persons employed in
the factory were principally girls and
boys from 8 to 20 years old. Owing to
the approach of the holidays, double
force was employed, one working dur
ing the day and the other at night.
The force is changed at o'clock, and
the fact that the explosion occurred at
five minutes past that hour rendered it
still more difficult to know how many
or who are the victims.
The greatest sacrifice of life is among
the young girls, many of whom, from 8
to Is years old, are employed in selling,
asserting and packing candies on the
first floor over the boiler. None of
whom are known to have escaped
The news of the explosion spread
over the city very rapidly, and the
widest rumOrs and great excitement
prevailed. Some of the evening papers
got out extras with very exaggerated
reports of the extent of the calamity,
which increased the excitement, and
large crowds hurried from all quarters
to the scene. The police kept the crowd
blocks away from the place. Many
persons having children or relatives
working in the factory, as evening
wore on and they had not returned
home, sought the scene of the disaster
and the hospitals and police stations in
search of the missing ones, and their
anxiety and cries were most touching.
STATEMENTS OF EYE-wITNEssEs.
r. Klemm of So Leonard street states
that he was in the building about 10
minutes before the explosion, and to
the bestof his belief there were a great
many persons there at the time. He
passed in front of the building two min
utes after the explosion and saw in.
Most of the floors, as well as the front
wall, had fallen. He is positive that
he saw great many boys and girls
rushing about on the floors in an ex-
cited and confused manner, but they
became obscured to view by the smoke
and flames in very few seconds.
There seemed to be no possibility of
their getting out alive. The fire, he
says, was one of the quickest ever seen,
and in less than three minutes the flames
ascended completely to the roof.
Peter Stadtmiller gives vivid de-
scription of the affair. He is employed
with Rodgers g. Co., and was within 40
feet of the doorway when the explosion
occurred. 1t seemed to throw up the
whole sidewalk, and the front of the
building fell. A two-horse truck of
the Delaware and Lackawanna express
company was passing, and the walls
fell on the horses and driver. Stadt-
miller said he believed there were near
ly 200 persons employed in the build
ing at the time. There were not more
than a dozen girls employed on the
+ ground floor, most of the boys and girls
being engaged in the second and third
stories. Stadtmiller is positive that
not more than six girls and dozen men
came out alive through the Barcley
street entrance.
AN OLD AND UNsOUND BOILER, AND AN
INCOMPETENT ENGINEER.
The New York Sun says that the boil
er which exploded had been in use
, about five years, and several residents
J in the neighborhood say that Mr..
) Greenfield had been warned more than
: once that it was not sound. James
Gresham, who sat in the door of Green
& Sherrer's cigar store at 81 Barclay
l street when the explosion occurred,
told friend that he himself warned
! Mr.. Greenfield, not long ago, that the
2 boiler was unsafe, and mechanic who
8 overheard the remark exclaimed "Yes
E and you're not the only one. This will
teach people to hire engineers that
: know their business. told Greenfield
r that his boiler was rotten, and l knew
e his engineer did not know or attend to
D his business"
D w A precocious child should not be
taught to read before it is eight years
s old, and greater care should be taken
v to develop its body than brain. There
are thousands of children born with 8
t tendency to excessive development o.
!, the nervous system, who, if they coulo
s have physical development instead o.
i mental during the years of growth
t would make our brightest and best citi