Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-12-05

and gallant fire department of that city. The
one, fully earning the praises which their fell
low citizens freely give, and emitting them to
the sympathy of all in their mourning over
their heavy losses.
The fire began, as far as is known, at the
rear of the first floor of the Pillsbury mill,
and probably originated from friction "a one
of the belt boxes. 1t spread quickly through
the mill, but was held within its walls
for time by the fremen who poured water
into the flames from every available opening
at the front of the mill. Within about half
an hour the fire communicated to the next
building, the Excelsior mill, and here again
the flames were fought and checked for time.
But they were furious and unquenchable, and
finally spread to the third building, the Min
neapolis mill, and here occurred the great dis.
aster of the morning.
The flames of the Pillsbury and Excelsior
mills had lit the city to almost its farthest
limits, and men who looked at the
burning mills had spoke to each
other of the volume and brilliance
of the fire. But from the Excelsior mill the
flames shot higher into the air and with a
roar like escaping steam. At this time the
firemen, at work upon the elevated railway in
front of and adjoining the burning mills, were
directed to make special efforts to pour water
upon the dust house of the Excelsior mill ,''and
Mr.. Fredericks, the assistant chief engineer,
with q squad of hose and ladder men, was at
post of extreme danger, when there occur
red what all had feared, yet few had spoken Of,
AN EXPLOSION
like that which occurred at the out
set of the great mill fire In Mime
apolis in May of 1878. The railway track
and treste work In front of the mill was de-
molished. The front stone wall of the mill
building fell outward, crushing in the cover
of the canal which occupies the street or alley,
and burying Fredericks and his comrades
dead, dying and wounded-in ruin of stones
and broken and splintered timbers and planks.
Some of the stones of the falling wall fell on
the opposite side of the narrow street and in.
jured men standing at the front of Pillsbury
s. Co.'S. office.
The rear wall of the Minneapolis mill was
also blown out and the two mills in falling
carried with them parts of the front and rear
walls of the Excelsior mill. The elevated
railway track at the rear was demolished and
burned for abont seventy feet, with few
freight cars, part of which were loaded with
wheat.
The explosion was not so frightful in sound
| or force, perhaps, as that which occurred in
'7S, but the suppressed fear Of 1t was mani
fest in the panic which for little while af-
fected the crowds of spectators now gathered.
And, no blame to them for 1t, the
J firemen were for moment, but
a moment only, disheartened,
not so much by vivid realization of their ter
rible danger as by the quick spreading story
that number of their comrades were buried
| in the wreck and doubtless all dead. They
rallied quickly, however, and unfinchingly
| went on with their work, still fighting the
| heat was subdued, to bring out from the pile
| of stones aud timber the victims of the ex-
| plosion.
| About the time of the explosion and prob
ably simultaneous with it, the fire spread to
| the Empire mill adjoining the Excelsior, and
also to the cotton mill in the rear, and adjoin-
ing the sawmill platform over the falls. The
| latter was, under the circumstances, with the
building in front of it on fire, for time
out of the reach of the flremen and being a
| frame building it was generally destroyed.
| The window frames and dust room of the Cat
aract mill, across the street from the Empire
mill, were also IN flames, and for few min.
utes it seemed as if the heart of the great mill
| ing district was in imminent dauger. But
| here the heroic and well-directed efforts of the
fire department resulted in victory, and the
loss of property was limited to proportions
small as compared with what would have fol-
| lowed If the fire had reached the larger mills.
| By about o'clock in the morning the dam
ger of further loss was over and the wild ru-
mors of loss of life by the explosion gave
place to the sad enough facts. Four men
were killed by the explosion, and six were
more or less seriously wounded.
| THE KILLED AND WOUNDED.
Kiiled-Cornelius Fredericks, assistant chief
engineer of the Minneapolis fire department.
Mr.. Fredericks was German by birth, about
fl years old. He came to the United States
with his parents when he was about four
years old, and lived in Detroit, Mich, until,
in 1858, he removed to Minneapolis and en-.
gagged IN cabinet making with his brother.
BE served during the war in the Third Mime.
sofa volunteer infantry from the summer OF
1861 to the fall of 1855, and then resumed the
cabinet making business in Minneapolis. In
1871 he enlisted in the fire department, and
was elected foreman of the hook and ladder
company. In 1874 he was elected second as.
sistant chief engineer, and in 1876 he was
elected first assistant chief engineer, in which
capacity he served to the time of his death.
he was a widower. Both his parents are
doad Thrne hr0fhers eurviva him 0nn