Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-11-13
Destructive EXPLOSION,
A Cigar Factory Disaster -Frethfng.
ham-Pennies and Nickels-
Waldemar Declines.
A DISASTROUS EXPLOSION.


A Cigar Box Manufactorv Blown up Injur-
Ing Number Of its Employees.
| PHILADELPHIA, November 11.-An ex.
ploslon occurred in the cigar box manufac.
tory OF Henry Sheep & Co., Nos. 17O6 &
!7OS Randolph street this afternoon which
oie~ out the rear wall badly injuring q
NUMBER OF young men. women and girls
and imperilling the lives of over 100 more.
The manufactory is a 3-story building with
a depth of $50 feet. Back are located a
! number OF sheds for storing the lumber
used IN the manufacture of the cigar boxes.
Ihe first and second floors were used as a
planning mill and carpenter shop and on
the thiId moor were employed about twen-
| ty-five girls in pasting paper Innings in the
boxes. just before the explosion the enpi-
neer started up steam by throwing large
amount OF saw dust on the fire under the
boiler from a saw dust bin which was
located q short distance off and
then started to- Randolph street
front of the building. He states
when he was startled by the report of a
loud noise which was followed by the up
per portion OF the rear wall falling out
AND,THE SCREAMS OF THE WOMEN
in the upper story. Bricks were flying in
terwards the whole rear portion of the
wall appeared to be in flames. The great.
est excitement existed among the hands
employed in the building, especially the fe-
males. Some Of them ran for the stairway
leading to the street, while others ran to
the windows and q few started to climb out
but they were prevented from jumping to
the ground by their companions. During
all this time the flames were spreading
from one floor to another. Crowds at
tracted by
THE SMOKE AND THE SCREAMS
OF the women blocked the street, but the
excitement among them was so great that
they appeared powerlees for long time to
assist them. Finally several men ran into
the building and succeeded in getting them
all out. The excitement among the people
increased
WHEN THE GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN
appeared in the streets, some bleeding and
others badly burned. The fire burned
stubbornly. despite the efforts OF the fire.
men to check the flames, and in a remark
ably short period, owing to the inflamma-
ble character of the contents, the two up
per stories of the factory and shedding in
the rear were ablaze. One girl, Carrie Ban
ner, aged Is, is missing.
having destroyed almost the entire build
ing. The livery stables of J. N. TRULY and
A. G. Creswell, at the rear of the cigar box
factory, were blown in and some fifty
sleighs were crushed to atoms. About two
hours after the fire had been extinguished
THE BODY OF CARRIE BRUNER,
aged ! s years, ane mploye, was found in
the third story, buried under steam pipes
and heavy timbers. Her body and cloth
ing we're but slightly burned, and her death
was caused by heavy timbers falling on
her. Fifteen persons were more or less
injured, but it is thought none OF them
will prove fatal, with the exception of An
ME Wolfner. The girls were all taken to
their homes, and the men to hospitals.
Few of the latter were able to go to their
homes after their injuries were dressed.
The asserted theory
OF THE ORIGIN OF THE EXPLOSION
is that after the engineer had banked up
the fire in the engine a back draft had
blown the flames out SO they had commun-
icated with the sawdust in the bin, and the
flames shooting upward through the large
dust flue, which was alright, had caused
the explosion.