Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-29
a x hoRRoR-

~ COllRpses-The Ruins Take Fire. aud
Many Human Lives are Lost as q Result
Three Charred Bodies Taken from the
Debris.
NEW YORK May eat 9:2o yesterday
morning an alarm was sent out to fire head
Ign. Within half an hour afterward there
were four alarms and two special
calls, which hurried eighteen fire
companies to the scene Of a disaster the ex-
tent Of which will probably not be known
for some days. Fronting two hundred
feet Oh State street is a building known as
''the State street machine shop" II Is.
in fact, only a series of irregular but ron.
nected buildings, which occupy most OF
the space of the interior of the block bound-
ed by Atlantic avenue and State street and
Hicks and Columbia streets. The rrin.
cipal entrance to these buildings is on At
lantic a.enue. When the firemeN got to
the Atlantic avenue entrance they found
that all of the interior OF the buildings were
in flames, and that the westerly wall of the
tve-story building had fallen out and car.
ried with it the extension of the tenements
fronting on Atlantic avenue and directly
west of the gateway entrance.
When the excitement had somewhat sub
sided the conflicting rumors finally shaped
themselves into tho fact that some work
men were engaged in putting a new girde1
under the westerly wall of the building No,
s. To this end jacks were employed.
One had been screwed up SO high
that the other jacks bore no weight al
all, aud upon this fact being discov.
cred the foreman ordered the jack in
question to be cased down. 1t was while
men were engaged in doing this that the
western wall, u%nevenly set. gave way ana
fell with a tremendous crash, carrying with
it about one-third of the westerly end of tile
building. Almost simultaneously flames
burst forth in this building, contain.
ing soap works and a tin factory, where
furnaces were freely used, and the
wall, falling upon the extensions Of the
dwelling houses OH Atlantic street, crushed
them like SO many egg-shells, the cooking
stoves scattering their burning Goals among
the debris, and starting the flames among
the tenements. The houses damaged BY
fire in this manner number from 40 to IS
Atlantic street. On the east side of the
gateway entrance is a row of lat
running from 81 to 63 Atlantic
street. They are owned by Mr.. Linden
berg and are mostly damaged in the rear,
where the wings from the main building on
State street almost connected with them
Mr.. Abbott, the agent Tor the buildings
said they were owned by Mr.. Nathan Cush'
ing, of Boston, who had been telegraphed
All of them were furnished with steam.
power, and Mr.. Cushing's insurance on
buildings and machinery is about $40, 900.
In the different manufacturing places in
the building there We're seven hundred
people. In the New York Tin Company's
employ there were thirty or forty girls, and
whether all escaped is not yet known.
Some OF them were seen shrieking wildly
upon the iron fre-escape of the fourth floor,
where the tin factory was located. The
flames leaped from floor to floor and build.
ing to building with astonishing celebrity,
and within an hour the whole mass of the
structures was i'll ruins, with the eXcep
ton of building No. Z, which fronts on
Columbia street, but which was thoroughly
Quilted. The fire extended to the buildings
that fronted OH State street, and the struct
ures went to pieces like houses of cards.
The crash of falling walls and floors, the
vast clouds of smoke, dust and steam, the
spires Of flame that shot from the
crumbling ruins, made up q terrible spec.
tacle, and the general excitement grew into
a panic when it was reported that several
employees had been burned and crushed tt
death in the ruins.
The walls fell rapidly, and two hours
after the fire had broken out nothing but q
few fragments Of walls indicated that
buildings had formerly stood there. In
places where these fragments bulged out.
ward and threatened to fall the firemen di.
rected streams Of water against them al
short ranges and crumbled them down,
brick by brick.
What human life is lost will not be known
until the 1iremen have thoroughly searched
the ruins, but there seems little doubt thai
a nlJynhnV hnuA ,,aVict,n1 Tho ro~,~
nearly one-half of the entire force are still
busily engaged.
Milo Hine, who occupied the top floor,
said: eat nine o'clock l was in my room
directing the work of my employees, Of
whom there were forty, mostly women.
We heard a crash, and this was followed
by part of the flooring. giving way. In
one OF the corners OF my room there was
a ladder leading to the roof, and all the
employees made a rush for it. There
was a panic among the women for a
time, and two or three of them tainted, but
the foreman soon succeeded in restoring Or
der, and then, in single file the employees
climbed the ladder and gained the roof.
The girls marched out in good order,
gained the roof of an adjoining building,
street by descending fire-escapes."
Inspector Long said that about two years
ago, at the request of one of the tenants,
he made al examination of the prem
Uses and found that some of the
girders had settled. The settlement was
all the way from the top to the
bottom. Ike ordered the girders
to be raised, and the agent of the property
promised to have the work done. Whether
or not it was ever done the inspector did
know. He and Deputy Acker supposed
that some incompetent mechanics were rails.
ing the girders to-day (the columns having
been removed) when the lever slipped and
the floors fell in.
Last night Detective DAILY arrested Frank
w. Miller, Il house-mover, OH complaint Of
Coroner Wanninyer, for criminal careless
ness in improperly butting the Orders and
posts in the building, thereby causing the
to fall.
Three bodies burned beyond recognition
have been taken from the ruins. One is |
thought to be that OF Daniel Lowery, the
engineer of the building. The list of miss
numbers twenty-five, and it is feared
nearly, if not quite all, have lost their !
lives. The injured number twelve, of |
whom three will probably not recover.
The scene at the police station where
the three bodies lay was a pftiful one. A
b%ed-Qullt was thrown over the bodies, and
MANY DeODle came tO see if thav cOull M.