The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-12-23
Finding the Body of the Engineer
in the Ruins.
WHAT CAUSED THE DISASTER.
Some Statements That May Lead to a
Solution Of the Mystery.
CONDITION OF THE WOUNDED.

unucd Yesterday with undated energy. Thousands
OF people assembled near tho fire lines, attracted by
tho horrible fascination which . great calamity hke
ihe terrible ono OF Thursday always exercises upon
lhe masses and Is required forcc Of thirty police
men, under tho command Of Captain Saunders, Of the
rwenty-seventh precinct. Keep out all intruders
having no pressing business the Of the
runs However, despite all the vigilance Of the
police, many of wnom were guilty OF much uncaed-
for rudcness several irreprcssbe s'ghseers slipped
In through the Ines and gazed with morbid delight al
the heap OF bricks. cindcrs, ashes and dirt. which
formed the principal spectacle until they were again
driven back. The Sixth and Eighth avenue cars were
prevented until evening from passing through College
place tunnel 10 vesey street, and the broadway
were also kept of their ordinary terminus IN Bar
clay street (Which was utterly mpassabe all day and
had 10 convey their passengers through Park place
Broadway This alone would have led con-
tuson but what with the presence OF thousands of
,poctaors, the occasional falling oil remnants Of the
ire-scathed walls the pufng OF the fire engine the
hauling OF immense ladders and the bustc OF The 1y
work men digging among the ruins, the sight was one
of extraordinary interest Many who could not pene-
,rate the fro lines for OF badge went upon the
roofs adjacent buildings and peeTcd anxiousy
IRON their giddy heights at the spectacle beneath.
Then great number OF at work at the ada
buildings repairing Tho cracked windows, and all
was excitement and disorder.
FINDING THE BODY OF THE ENGINEER
In spite Of the apparent chaos the work, which
supcr,utended BY Fire Commissioner King aud Fire
Marshal Sheldon, progressed rapidly The first I'M
portant discovery tho debris the safe OF Mr.. A.
Rich The wool broker which was hoisted up in per-
fectIy sound condition. 1t followed by the
Groenf fields safe. The heap OF bricks the boiler
room was sufficiently cooled, through having been
played upon by the engines all the previous night 10
allow their being removed in order that the BODY
the engineer which every somehow believed 10
be the vicinity, might be speedily recovered.
While the digging for the body went the still
standing blackened remnants OF the rear walls
attacked in curiously simple fashion, From the roof
Of the tall building in rear of this wall rope
was passed over the top story of che
Erocers Bank. which stands at right angle with
II then hitched TO huge ladder, and this was
used a ram, which soon brought down with crash
great masses Of the wall. About four O'Clock the
afternoon Assistant Foreman Mcdonald, Of Hook and
Ladder No. s, discovered object near the boiler
room, which, charred and disngured though it ap.
peared. turned out to pc u human body burned to q
crisp 1.-The engineer ioundl'' the suppressed
cry that soon through the crowd. The corpse
was horrible OF charred flesh aud bone almost
rs black pieces OF burned timber lying about II
was lying At the entrance to the boiler room, and
Judging IRON the position OF the body the cugneer
was evidently the act OF going up the stairs when
something IRON The floor above knocked him down.
He lay his back, with his head downward
The arms, burned away up nearly 70 the oil
bows were resting over his eyes, though tho poor
fellow had attempted to parry something that
aced him. Ono leg was burned to cindcrs TO tho
knee. The face little than coal, and the
back part oil the head had been crushed that the
brains had fallen and had be put back IN the
~. oohac
Gle Coroner wol,man was notified, and later in the
evening III body was removed to the Morgue. Mrs.
Hcrzberger, who was the ruins during the morn
ing, was fortunately spared this sight. for she had
gwen up all hope ana had isconsolately returned TO
her home.
THEIR RELATIVES.
Many relatives OF missing persons anxously
upon the ground in the afternoon Frank Sheppard,
q brother Of Josephine Sheppard, VINO employed
a; the factory, OF these. He stated that his
sister, who was quite young girl, was sent
down into The basement Of the factory by
Mr. Greenfield ie~ minutes before the OK
plosion and other girls who escaped saw hcr
running toward the College place exit, the way to
which, he thought, she probably persisted. Mrs
Grissage. the wife Of a man who employed in The
gum drop department, was also among the Callers
She said she had been away in the country Tor sew
Ta days, and had not heard OF tho explosion until
his yesterday morning She mad SIX children, and
ghen her husband, in whose charge lett hom did
act usual ON the day oi tho disaster tncy
.ept bitterly, and still bitterly crying asking
Tor their .papa." Mr. w. l.. Burnett OF No. $50
Clinton street, Brooklyn, said that he aud the boy
Albert Krummery were the only employees on the litn
floor who were there when The catastrophe occurred
BY some miracle he (Burnct) was able to crawl OF
the RUNS alter the walls mad fallen, and effected mis-
eli IN nd in ~
building, No. 65 Barclay street, which he entered by
lhe sculile.
THE CAUSE THE ACCIDENT.
Chief Rowe. Of the Fire Department and Commits
yioner King made second examination of the con-
dition OF the boilers. This examination only con-
hrmed their previous impression that the boilers
intact Both officials still adhere 10 the theory I'm
the absence Of any convincing proof TO tho contrary
notaed in the HERALD yesterday tho accident
was caused by the explosion OF the gases which had
collected ~ The long horizontal hue connecting the
boiler with the chimney. Mr. Greenfield, Jr.. who
was ali day upon the Of the disaster also leaned
10 this theory and so did Hcfmann Baac9cr the ma
chipst, who had for many years been employed the
confectionery Both Baacker and Mr. Greenfield con.
uadcted n the strongest possible terms the engineer
Hcrzberger's statements TO his wife, narrated by
the latter in tho HERALD OF yesterday Young Green.
field gave as his opinion that the poor woman was
Dvercxced by the loss OF her husband and that she
pnly imagined that deceased had made such state
nenis 10 her Baacker declared that Hcrzberger had
mentioned also him the subject OF the broken pipe
put, Instead oil its being important or essential
iue, he said u was merely an exhaust pipe in which
here was slight leak-ccrtainly, in his opinion, in
no way connected with the explosion.
A cLoCD THEORIES
Nevertheless, many other theories and surmlses
wcrc currcaI Fire Marshal Sheldon stated that r.
bs opinion, positive could be settled upon
until the debris had been entirely removed and all The
facts were officially known. A few employees yostcr.
day adhered tc tner opinion that tho ore originated
IN the starch room, on tho second noor, Ir, IN
shc overlurning OF Kerosene lamp, but tins
was opposed by tho dictum OF tho chemists
70 the effect that starch Eot explosive.
An interesting view was that held by Mr.
John Aiken, a wholesale druggist, at No. So Barclay
street Dir. Aiken thought that the explosion was
caused by tue rapid combustion OF tue enormous
kaccharInc matter in the building IL we'll