Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-05-04

inevitable baby-ridden perambulator. TIL
men wore more anxious aspect, and eagerl,
discussed the why's and wherefores of the ca
| tastrophe, and the mill owners themselves. .t i,
later hour, began to mingle with the throng
And it was astonishing from what
distance some of the con
gregation had travelled. The country, within
long radius, was largely represented, havina
been attracted by the shock and flames of the
night previous. Parties from Hammond. Wis.
some sixty miles away, had been drawn to the
spot while country boys and lasses of VARYING
degree and from varying directions were in
attendance.
THE DEAD BODIES.
But daylight had another task beside that OF
gathering an eager crowd. It began to be the
revealer of thrilling hideousness in the shape
OF human remains, the scarifed remnants OF
the dreadful holocaust. Only one body had
been recovered on the night previous that of
John Boyer, of the Diamond mill. This nm
fortunate man was the only one seen alive in
the previous evenings ruin. He was seen
by hundreds at the outbreak of the fire, bat
thing for life, but had to succumb against re-
lentless odds, even on the very boundaries of
existence, and with succor at the very edge of
the ruins. Shortly after o'clock the crowd
surged in the direction of four fremen, who
were seen grubbing in the ruins. Presently
one OF the tremen was seen to dart back and
seize cup like piece of zinc roofing, which he
conveyed to his companions. Into this recep-
tacle they deposited something which, on
emerging from the pungent smoke, proved to
be shapeless nothing, only recognizable by
that ineffable smell that betrays roast
ed human flesh. small work.
shop of the Chicago, Milwaukee
and st. Paul railroad works was improvised az
a morgue, and thither the veritable remains
were conveyed and deposited amid the car
wheels and lathes. And thus was the grim
programme continued in its enactment until
the small space among the machinery was
hlled with six parcels of 40 many representa-
tlves OF the human form divine had been COL
lected. Not limb or feature of single one
was left as trace of recognition and but one
was identified. Near Clark Wilbur's body was
found brass key, which, by its peculiar con-
ne was known to possess. Wilbur
was miller of the big Washburn mill. A
pocket knife was also found in the ruins,
Which was supposed to belong to Burbank of
IL
henry Hicks, brother Waterman of Burbank
n the big MILL was at one time believed to be
one OF the bodies recovered, the point of iden-
;lty being the remnant of shirt; but his
orother-the only relative, by the way, of any
II the decedents who appeared on the ground
N the morning utterly denied that the shirt
was the same as that worn by his brother. The
bodies were all devoid of arms, legs or hands.
md 80 little of one was left as to be collected
n an elevator cup not bigger
han cigar box. This was the
asst to be gathered in, and at IL A. NJ the un-
tertaker came with few pine boxes, into
which the miserable and blackened remnants
we're placed and carried elsewhere to await the
inquest and interment.
STATEMENTS OF EYE WITNESSES.
Among the components of the crowd, of
course were some who were immediate particle
pants in the catastrophe, or who had immedi-
'tely seen it. Among them was Mr.. Mortimer
3. Rollins, of Day, Rollins l. Co., proprietors
II the Zenith mills, who was encountered
~ GLOBE reporter. He said. he
vas on the East Side when the explosion took
place. Turning round on hearing the noise he
Jaw the debris fly fully five hundred feet into
he air, and said to his wife, THAT is the big
MILL" He secuted the idea of there being any
he railroad tracks. The cars running among
'he mills never contained anything but wheat
md the products of the mills. Some powder
vas being used in blasting out the foundations
Tor the new Washburn mill. There was not
however, sufficient of that explodent
TO do any material injury. Beside,
ae was positive the explosion was in the big
mill, and he was equally positive that the
cause of all the disaster was in the firing,
n n Iy hNy $hn vnon, IS
The dust and gases which are the necessary con-
of the Touring business. Mills had
exploded before from these causes. There
we're only two men in the Zenith mill at the
Time of the explosion, John E. Rosienius kill.
ed, and Fred George, badly burned about the
face and hands, but will recover. Rosienius
leaves widow and one child, the latter about
eight or ten months old.
STORY OF A SURVIVOR.
IT., the watchman of the Galaxy mill, who
was discovered by the reporter in all the pleni-
tude of full health. He said he was in the
basement Of the mill, one story below the
canal, engaged in putting in an alarm bell
upon the shafting. The conclusion lifted him
fully six feet, when he fell and was stunned
TOR five minutes. He was in dazed condi-
ton when he recovered from the shock, and
only heard one explosion. If there were other
explosions they must have occurred while he
was stunned. When he realized his position.
he found the water from the canal pouring in,
and naturally thought the thud of the
plosion was merely the result of
the breaking in of the canal. He rushed to a
window up stairs, and looked for a place to
jump. When there he saw John G. Rosienius,
no N e 4
Monti called out to him, "Are you going to
jump" but Rosienius either did not unders md
or did not hear, and that was the last seen of
him alive. Monti took in the situation, saw
the elevator in one tremendous sheet of flame.
and was momentarily paralyzed. Looking be-
low the window, Monti observed an ash heap,
fifteen feet or SO below him. He straddled the
sill, swung himself over hung by his hands for
a second or two on the sill as the roar of the
flames doomed hissingly around him, and then
dropped and rolled thence into the seething wa
tiers. Once in the water he swan out despair
lngly and exhausted, until he struck protrud-
Ing rock, upon which he climbed and rested to
recover his presence of mind and courage. His
senses being gathered, he waded to the paper
mill. Reaching the under portion of it, he
rose before some of the employees engaged in
putting out blaze. As voice from the dead
he asked, (Which way canfI get out?' He
was then directed to place of safety.
THIRST SAVED HIN.
There were other narrow escapes, though not
SO thrilling as Months. Among these that OF
Peter Humboldt, of the Humboldt mill, whom
the reporter of the GLOBE interviewed. He es-
capped by reason of his thirst, having gone for a
pail of water just before the explosion. He
had only very short distance to 60 for the wa
ter and when in the act of returning he saw
the roof lifted from the big mill. The Dia-
mond and the Humboldt mills were fattened
at the same instant, before the fire struck them,
and the elevator Immediately caught fire and
was mass of flames.
FORTUNATE ESCAPE OF RAILROAD MEN.
Bradley, locomotive engineer, and Kinds,
fireman, both of the Minneapolis 4 St.