, 1889-02-19
A HOTEL BLOWN UP.
Explosion at the Park Central
Hotel, Hartford.
Large Number of Guests Buried
in the Building.
Heartrending Scenes Around
the Ruins.


at 5 o'clock burying IN the ruins at least
fifty people. The accident is supposed to
have resulted from an explosion of the
boilers in the basement. From the havoc
created in adjoining buildings, every win
dow In the Earl house, across Allen street,
were broken and walls were smashed in
many places The noise of the fall
aroused the whole city and In a few min
utes a large crowd was on the scene. 1t
was a sight of horror. The flames com
pletelY enveloped the ruins and theshrieks
Of the wounded and dying rose above the
hoarse notes Of the firemen and police.
The following is a partial list of those
believed TO be in the ruins:
Louis III. Bronson and wife; w. Wal
ody, editor of the German Herald; An
drew +. Whiting and wife; Dwight II.
Buell.. jeweler; Wellington Ketchum, pro-
prietor of the hotel. wife, son Eddie,
and brother George; Rev. DR.. Perrin and
wife. secretary of the Congregational Tract
Society: w. Tillotson, commercial travel
er; VIZ. STILES, safe agent; William Mey-
mour and William Skinner, employed in
the boiler room; Eddie Boyle. employe in
hotel; Charles M. Webster, insurance
agent; Mr.. Pond of Indiana, democratic
speaker. H.Perry, night clerk; JIM. Hous-
man of the Revere Rubber company of
Boston; George ". Root, traveller for
Waite, Williams & Co.; A. f. T%illotson,
traveller for the Merrill Chemical COM
pany Of Chicago, were taken out dead.
George Nj. Games, night porter, was
taken to the hospital; Jacob Turpin, a
colored waiter; Helen LaPointe, guest;
Jennie Decker of Unionville, badly bruised
~ LII l.. LI--. M..l-- H---
OF Unionvllle, badly bruised. 1t is under
stood now that the bodies of Bronson,
wife and child were not recovered. PEN
dleton of Indiana, who was soliciting sub
scriptions 10 complete a to
Thomas A. Hendricks, is among the miss
ing. james, agent of the White Star
hne, was taken out not seeming to be very
badly injured. He said Landlord Ketch-
um and wife were under where he laid and
are still there.
The loss of life is believed to be less
than fifty, but cannot be stated definitely
as the night clerk is among the missing
and the books are destroyed. Nearly all
the help employed in the hotel were
saved. They occupied a sleeping apart
ment in the annex which is only par
tally wrecked by the explosion. Some
forced their way. out and others were help
ed out.
The entire main section of the hotel is
gone, only a pile of brick and timber re-
naming. The scenes about the ruins
were horrible. In the center OF the no.
tel spot where the building stood were a
man, his wife and a little girl. No help
could get to them there and finally they
fell back into the flames and persisted in
plain sight of the spectators. The child
cried for help, but the man uttered no
sound and embraced in each others
arms they met death bravely. The
shrieks of another woman caused the
blood of the spectators to run cold as
they saw a young lady lying with her
body half across a beam, a look of agony
on her face. Finally the support fell and
she dropped out of sight into the burning
mass beneath.
The force of the explosion threw a bed
with a sleeping woman upon it far into
the street. By 9 a. IN. the flames were
so far subdued as to let the rescuers get
at some of the victims. Some we're
pinned beneath heavy timbers upon
which rested masses of masonry, render
ing the work of rescue extremely hazard
GUS. The report that members of the
Hoodman Blind Theatrical company were
in the hotel is denied. The bodies of
Dwight Buell., Louis Bronson, wife and
child were taken out at 10 o'clock. Harry
s. Stlffie, a commercial traveller, was res
cued badly bruised. The house had &C.
commodations for 100 guests and as many
guests were turned away Saturday night
1t is believed that at least eighty people
were in the hotel at the time of the ex-
sion, of whom about twenty, mostly serv-
ants. escaped. Six persons have been
taken to the hospital.
Amid enthusiastic cheers Landlord
Ketchum and wife were taken out alive.
The extent of their injuries cannot be
ascertalncd at present. Soon after Walter
Jay of New York, agent of the Higganum
Manufacturing company was taken out
alive. The dead body of j. @. Hill was
next taken out. Daniel Morrison, brake
man, and Friedrich Haines, hagman on
the New England railroad are undoubt.
ly in the debris. Mrs. Frank Wesson
and children are also reported in the
ruins.
At 8 p. m. the bodies of Mr.. and Mrs.
Bronson were taken out. Up to this time
sixteen bodies bad been recovered from
the ruins, eight dead and eight alive. The
hotel and contents cost 100000. The
Park Central hotel is situated at the cor
ner oil Allen and high streets about one
block from the Union depot and was prin-
cipally patronized by commercial men and
theatrical troupes.
Another Account.
A later account says: The first per-
son rescued was George Gaines. a colored
porter, who died soon after being taken
out. Helen Leponile, Jennie Decker and
Jacob b. Torpin were taken out and
found to be only slightly injured. Rachael
Cranner jumped from a window breaking
her leg. At 9 o'clock Harris Stifie, a
traveller from Philadelphia, was rescued
from beneath a mass of timbers with but
slight injuries. Near him was found the
dead body of Dwight II. Bull, who had
evidently been suffocated.
By this time the crowd ofspectators had
increased to such proportions as to greatly
impede the work of the Ac-
cordingly the militia was ordered out to
aid the police and rendered excellent ser
l vice in keeping the crowd back. BY noon