The Press., 1889-02-21


 JAxEsMoLAuaHIIN 6 soN, ,PusIIsHERs.
 S5e per year. $125 when paid strictly in advance.
 Hartford's Great Disaster!
 THE PARK CENTRAL HOTEL COLLAPSED BY
 AN EXPLOSION IN THE EARLY MORNING
 AND FALLS, BURNING ITS SLEEPING IN-
 MATES IN A MASS OF RUINS.
 The Park Central Hotel, corner of High and Allyn.sts., Hartford, one block distant from the depot, is-well known to Holland county people, who were attracted to its patronage while under tho proprietorship of Hon. J. Fl. Bolton, its landlord from. 1875 to 1884. Mir. Bolton went from Staf- ford, his native town, to Hartford in 1864. He was popular citizen of the county, having been it's high sheriff, also senator from the old 20th district. He was popu- lar also as landlord. He was one of the gnests of the hotel who escaped the dis. aster.
 About 4.50 8. m. on Monday morning the city was aroused by the sound of an explosion and the jarring effects like that of an earthquake. Soon the fire alarm summoned the people to the scene of dis aster. The Park Central Hotel lay mass of ruins, forced by some explosive force into the street, and piled high in the streets. The hotel was g five story building of brick, 50x125. The explosion was probably that of the boiler in the basement. The build. ing was lifted in the air and fell shapeless mass. How many were it's occupants is not known, as the records and those who kept them are not to be found. It is thought that the 78 rooms were nearly all occupied, and the estimated number oi lives lost are from 21 upwards. Few es- capped who were in the main building. An adjoining annex was not destroyed. In this were some of the guest rooms and most of the employees, and most of the oc- cupants escaped, MT. Bolton being one of these. Among the known dead are Dwight H. Buell., we'll known Hartford jeweler A. F. Whiting, actuary of the Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance company, and his wife; Max Galody, editor of Hart ford German paper, and his wife; Rev. Dr. Perrin and wife ; J. G. Engler; Louis H. at the hotel. Landlord Ketcham and wife were taken out badly injured, but MT. Ketcham's brother, George s., and his lit. tie son, Eddie, were killed.
 J. Housman of Boston, J. c. Hill of Buf- falo, George w. Root of Brockport, N. Y., A. F. Tillotson of Cincinnati, transient guests, Geo. Graves, colored porter, Ed ward Perry, night clerk, William Seymour, and one unknown guest, are thought to con- plete the number of the dead, making total of 21, and 10 others are at the hospital.
 It was 8 solemn scene about the ruins on Monday morning. The pitiless rain fell, the steamers steadily pumped water on the smoking ruins, while an awful hush of voices prevailed among the workers, who seemed like pigmies upon the great mass of mortar, brick, lath and timber from which they sought to exhume the dead, and If possible rescue the buried and wounded who might be living.
 THE CAUSE OF THE DISASTER was no doubt boiler explosion. A 6O- horse power boiler in the basement directly under sle main building, supplied steam for the engine which ran the elevator and electric dynamo, also for heating, etc. No engineer was on duty at the time, the fires having been banked, and the engineer in bed. Whether the water got too low or too high in the boiler, and what may have caused the disaster will never be known, and no one is now living who was near the boiler at the time.
 When the boiler was reached on Monday evening it was found ripped into frag- ments. There is little doubt that it had been allowed to get heated, and while in that condition an attempt had been made to fill it with water, with horrible conse- quences.
 The building has always been criticised as poorly constructed. Artificial stone was used in the arches, and the quality and quantity of the mortar used had been com. mented on by building experts. It was noticed in taking down the ruins that the bricks were easily picked of, and that lit tie mortar adhered. Then, too, the build ing stood on ''made ground" and had cracked from settling. All this may not have made the structure unsafe, but made it's demolition less difficult. Alexander Thuer, the night engineer, and Amos B. Ridley, the day engineer, are under arrest, charged with manslaughter.