The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-02-19
HOLOCAUST IN AHABTf0RD, C0NNEC.
TICUT, HOTEL.
4 BOILER EXPLOSION CAUSES A
FEARFUL CATASTROPHE
TO WHICH FIRE AND DEATH ADD
THHIR TERRORs.
Sleeping Guests Imprisoned by Failing
rimbers Bodies Taken Ont by
Electric Lights News from
Both Worlds.


. city. blew up with terrific force at tiy'
o'clock this morning. totally wrccking
the entire front OF the structure
which was fve-st0ry brick building
The fire department. with the q Ice
reserves, was summoned The ruin.
Immediately took fire. and the work OF
F the fremen was greatly impcded by
dense volumes OF smoke and steam
which hung over the deirls. Il is the
most horrible catastrophe that has ever
been known I'M Hartford, and il is feared
chat forty or fifty lives have been lost
The shock awOke slccpers for block.
around the corner of High and ALLYN
streets about o'clock this morning On
That corner stood the Park Central Ito.
fel. q hyc-story brick structure about
thirty feet front and one hundred feet
deep The first 10 arrive ON the scene
found this building "a heap of ruins,
from which ig.ucd smoke and steam in
dense clouds, and the spectators were
appalled, by the shfieks and rr0ans of
many human beings who were imprison-
cd in the mass OF timber and masonry,
from which flames We're already burst
ing A general alarm Immediately sum
moncd The entire fire department,
and an immense crowd. attracted by the
explosion and The fire alarm, soon pack
ed the streets i'm the vicinity AZ first
the tire and smoke entirely prevented
any attempt 10 rescue the victims, and it
was not until flood of water had been
poured upon the ruins that the work
could De prosecuted 4 few dead or
dying persons were taken from The edge
of the dejrs however, within an hour
after the explosion
The force of the explosion threw a
bed with q sleeping woman upon il Ear
into the streets, while ono of the heavy
doors of the house landed block away.
By 50 o'clock the flames were so far sub
ducd that the rescucrs were enabled to
get at some of the victims Some were
pinned beneath heavy timbers upon
which rested masses of masonry, render
il- the work of rescue extremely hazard
Ou- The dead body Wright H. Bull
oi thi- city, was taken out about lO
o'clock. The bodies of Lewis H. BrOn
son. stove dealer, Hartford wife and
child were discovered at about the same
time
The house had Accommodations for
about 100 guests and was fayOrite over
sunday stopping place for commercial
traYellers. An intending guest who APP
piled for "a room late Saturday evening
was informed that they were full So IL
seems probable that at least eighty per
sons were iu the house at the time of the
explosion, of which perhaps twenty es-
capped uuiniuIed These were mostly
employees who occupied an annex or
wing of the house extending TO the east,
which has not yet fallen. although in "a
-haky condition Among those
known 10 bc buried in the
ruins are the Rev Dr. j. Perrin and
wife. of New Britain. and X. " F
attorney ot the Hartford Life
and Annuity Insurance Company, ami
wife. and Wellington kctchum, prOprie-
,1r of the hotel. wife and son; Max Gal /
adv. editor of the Hartford H1rald. Geo /
j Eu1ler drug clerk. Hartford, Edward .
Perry night clerk of the hotel George /
ketchum. brother of The proprietor Is /
ils0 in the ruins. Nj PendletOn, of In +
iiana. who was soliciting subscriptions .
To- complete the monument TO Thomas A. .
Hendricks. is among the missing
About o'clock, amid enthusiastic .
cheers from the crowd, Landlord Ketch- /
um and his wife were taken out alive /
They had been imprisoned in the cellar /
iu their nightclothes for eight hours .
with Hoods of chilling water pouring ON /
them
soon sterward Walter Gay, of New |.
0rk agent of the Higganum Manuiac- I
fUL a ]
alive and sent % The hospital. The dead /
body of j c. Hill, commercial traveller, /
has also been taken out AT . O'Clock (
The W0rkmen discovered q small black .
and tan dog. g.aliye and exhibiting graft /
lude at his release
Thus far. most of the bodies recovered .
have come from the tier of sleeping rooms T.
pa the south side. The persons rescued I
alive are naturally in very exhausted /
.OudiuOn, and the physicians refuse 10 .
allow chem 20 be interviewed They were /
asleep when the disaster occurred, and OF F.
course knew nothing except the horrors .
lf their Imprisonment aud their almost /
escape.
The list of dead .aken from the ruins +
Ip to L VI numbers sixteen and the /
wounded eleven. The work OF extricat- /
ing bodies goes ON With the aid OF cleo /
ric lights Many strangers arrive in .
town on All trains. The crowds /
u0und the ruins are kept
back hy the First regiment .
li military Some of the bodies taken .
)ui are badly dishgured, but i'm many .
asses The faces are uninJured, and show 4
40 trace of suffering
The prcsen, estimate of the number Of I
PERSONS who were in the building were .
lfty. of whom twenty-siX are accounted /
Or-siNeen dead and ten injured
A TEMPORARY MORGUE.
The police did good work in keeping or /
ler till the militia were called out 10 re- /
lcve them The lower door of Judd & .
Roots wool warehouse was con- /
.crted into q temporary mOrgue,
where the coroner, medical ex-
mner and assistant physi
Jams cared for the victims tll the dead
ould be Identified and the injured re-
moved 10 hospitals. The register
u the hotel has not been
0und. and Night Clerk Perry
s buried in the ruins, but estimates
gree pretty closely that about fifty per
Ous were in the building Three more
'odies bad been recovered up TO mid
.ighl
THL CAUSE OF THE DISASTER
vas undoubtedly the explosion OF the
Oi.Cr in the basement il was of sixteen
.Orse power, built by Pnkin, of Hart
oi in 1882, and was inspected and APP
royed last August hy the Hartford
team Boiler Inspection Company The
ngineer goes away al midnight banking
he fires lie has been arrested on
I. .a.r..a q, q u.sp.faurlfqr