Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-19
Ten Injured Taken from the Debris and
Seventeen Others Not Yet Ac-
counted for

anu ueDTS. lne rum WIS ScihPictSt
one brick lay in its proper place upon
another. And imprisoned In this mass OF
ruins wero an unknown number OF people,
many dead, others grievousy hurt, while as
it turned out, still others had miraculously
escaped serious injury.
"How did 1t happenf" was a question on
every ones tongue. Rumor few around
that the building and been long deemed I'M
safe and bad finally fallen of its own
weight and that of its many occupants; for
it was favorits stopping place for many
visitors to this city and especially 80 for COM
mercial travellers But the cause was not
structural weakness. The force that had
wrought this ruin was one great enough to
have crushed the strongest building. The
l6-horse power boiler in the basement had
exploded and brought the house down on its
sleeping inmates. The engineer goes away
at midnight, banking his fires He has been
arrested on a charge OF manslaughter. His
name is Alexander 7. Suer. 1t is conjec-
tured that Gaines, the porter, may have
started the pumps and caused the explosion
by turning cold water into an overheated
boiler, but as be is dead, no light is likely to
be thrown on thi. subject. The shock was
felt all over the city Windows for block
around were smashed
When the explosion occurred the whole
| flve-story brick building collapsed into n con-
| fused pile of masonry and timbers, except a
| part of the rear, where a tier of rooms re-
| manned standing, but with the partitions torn
away, so that the interiors of the rooms were
| visible Some OF these rooms afterward
| crumbled down with their occupants upon
the debris below. There were only a few
shriess and means heard, then all was silent
| The fire which began TO burst forth was soon
eXtinguished by the firemen. The servants
| occupied an annex In the rear and We're got
out by ladders from the windows, the stair
case having been demolished by the fall Of
the main building. A few of the more ex-
| citahle employees jumped to the ground, but
were only slightly injured.
As soon as the first shock of fright and
| horror had passed away measures TO recover
the dead and relieve the injured We're taken
| The fire and police alarms brought willing
| and experienced hands to the work. and
later the militia was called on TO keep back
| the great crowd which pressed up around the
| building and delayed the search for the I'M
fortunates The lower floor OF Judd & Roots
wool warehouse was converted into a tenn
porary morgus, where the coroner, Medical
examiner, and assistant physicians cared for
the victims until the dead could be identified.
and the injured removed to hospitals The
city provided caskets for the unclaimed
bodies Most of the bodies bear compare.
lively few marks OF burns. Death seems In
most cases to have been due to suffocation or
contusions-
As result Of systematic and untiring
work all the long day, the report at s o'clock
last evening Of dead and wounded was az
follows:
Dead-D. T. Buell., Jsweler, Hartford;
George Gaines, colored porter; J. g. Engler,
drug clerk, Hartford; John ". Hou.lnan.
traveller for Revere Rubber company, Bos-
ton; J. c. Hill, Buffalo y. Y, commercial
traveller; Louis q. Bronson, secretary Of the
Hartford Stove company; wife and young
daughter of Mr.. Bronson; George Ketchum,
brother OF landlord; Eddie Ketchum, aged
IL, son Of landlord; George W. Root, aged
30, of Brockport, n. y, traveller for Waite,
Williams & Co., Boston; A Il. Tfllotson,
| traveller for the Merrill Chemical company,
of Cincinnati, O.; unknown man, 40 years
| old, brown hair, slightly bald, heavy
mustache, light eyes; unknown man, 20 years
old, black hair, mustache and goatee, weight
about 300 pounds; two more bodies-a man
and a woman-were in sight. Total, 10
List of injured at hospital: Helen LePort,
| New Britain scalp wounds and bruises:
Rachel Cramer, Avon, bruised end scratched /;
Jacob B. Turpin, colored barber; Walter NJ.
| Cav Bayonne n. j., suffering from ex-
posure; New York agent Of the HiggaDum
Manufacturing Co. Henry Steffel, Philadel-
phia commercial traveller, sprained ankle;
Wellington Ketchun, proprietor Of the hotel,
bruised: wife of Mr. Ketchum, general
bruises Jennie Decker, Unionville, broken
leg; Michael Corrigan, Knoxville, bruised.
All the above are doing well Some of tbs
bodies taken out were badly disfgured and
burned, but in many cases the faces were TN
injured, and retained no trace Of suffering.
Electric lights were provided and a new
force took its place to prosecute the search,
as all the persons in the hotel were not yet
accounted for The register of the hotel had
had not been found, and Night Clerk Perry
was buried in the ruins but estimates agree
pretty closely that about fifty persons were
In the hotel The authorities are over
whelmed with kilograms Of inquiry from
people In all parts Of the country, who fear
that friends or relatives may have been In the
hotel OF the number in the house twenty
six were accounted for-sixteen dead and ten
injured, as given above
The force of the explosion may be con-
ceived by the fact that such articles as the
following were blown into the windows Of
the Earl house on the opposite side Of the
street: A piece of paper, upon which was
written George E. Harrington, No. 10
Grand street, Waterbury; card marked
with a rubber stamp "a s. Ferris "a
Washington street, South Norwalk.
Wellington Ketchum was the landlord and
he. with his wife and his boy Of 13. was
caught in the ruins and held for hours before
they could be rescued. Mr. Walter N. Gay,
Of New York, brother Of the librarian at the
Watkinson library, had narrow escape
from horrible death The rescuing party
reached him at 1890 His body was held
down by tirnbers and lathing, but he was
conscious during the whole tir.s, though
badly bruised He left New York Sunday
night for Springfield not intending to stop
at Hartford. The first intimation he had of
the accident was the tunbling of brick and
mortar and dull explosion. He did not lose
consciousness moment, he says,
| from the time of the crash.
The water soon poured In upon him and he lay
partially immersed in it. Fortunately the
lathing formed a sort Of an arch over bis
head, and with his free arm he was able to
clear away some of the debris which fell
about his head His room was next TO that
occupied by Mr.. Ketchum and his wife, and
he heard the proprietor's voice in the ruins.
Shortly before he was taken out Mr. Ketchum
was still alive. Stimulated by this news from
the ruins the men worked with renewed
vigor, and few moments after O'Clock both
Mr.. Ketchum and his wife were taken out
alive. They were carried into DR.. Smiths
office and everything done for them.
LATER.-Three moro bodies had been re
covered up to midnight. They are those OF
Max Galody, proprietor of The Hartford
Herald his wife, and Mrs Andrew F. Whit
ing Mrs Writings body is burned to Q
crisp.
| Tho lod0 Of q q Pendl.fop of India,