The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-04-02
AN AWFUL EXPLOSION.
A CHICAGO sTARCH-HoUsE BLOWN
TO RUINS

Caused by AN Explosion OF Dust In the
Air-Thres To Nine Lives Lost and Near
ly Score of People Injured.
Chicago dispatch: An explosion In
the starch-house OF the Chicago Sugar
Refinery company at Taylor and Beach
streets resulted in the loss OF from three
To nine lives and the wounding OF sew
enteen others The dead who have been
recovered are:
FRANK GRAF OF South Union street.
- TIEDEMAN OF 1914 DeKoven street
Unknown man. not yet identified,
The wounded are:
DIR. ARSo BEHR, the superintendent. SOL
Cornell avenue; burned about head and
arms.
MARTIN sToRK 154 DeKoven street; badly
burned.
BERNARD DIrruELM. 81 Kramer street;
burned about face and hands.
PETER GERALD. 20s West Taylor street,
burned about the head and neck.
JOHN CHILEAN, G35 Union street; very
badly burned.
JONI HoBALD foreman. 1ss Eighteenth
street; burned on head. face arms aud
bands.
Fritz GRAF. Union street; leg fractured
and burned about face.
WILLIAM IsERISGHAus. 60 Kramer street.
burned and bruised on head.
OSCAR SCHUETZ. 433 South Canal street
WILLIAM HoLLIsH. 10s DeKoven street
burned on face. arms. chest. and hands.
JOSEPH OsMoND, West Twentieth street,
slightly injured and burned.
FRANK BAPTIsTE. 457 South Union street
badly burned about face. hands. and arms.
and left leg fractured-will 'obably die.
HERMANN SToRPE. 40i Wes Erie street
Unknown man. badly burned, taken TO 297
Leavitt street.
ALBERT PoPP hurt internally. taken 10
county hospital.
THOMAS HOLMES, Waterman, Beach and
FRED SWATCH. slightly injured. taken to
friends house.
The missing are:
ALBERT HESS.
FRANK HALLIsH, 20 Clayton street.
MICHAEL HAUER, Union streets between
Barber and Wright streets.
Several days before Franz Schla-
dorm and John Freese, two Of the men
employed in the drying-room of the
starchhouse, thought they smelled what
seemed TO them the odor OF burning
crust. As fire is the most dangerous
element In a starchmill the two men In
stantly reported their suspicious TO the
superintendent. DR.. Baer, who immedi-
atcly caused thorough investigation to
be made.
1t was soon discovered that small
blaze had originated in the dry-steam
coils which surrounded the drying-room.
These coils. twenty To thirty i'm number,
are laid horizontally one above the other
clear around the room, and are incased
for greater precauton against fire or
even superheating in a sheet-iron box
made perfectly air tight.
The only opening is at one end, where
n door has been left, but which is usually
kept tightly closed. When DR.. Baer
came he opened that door and discovered
the fire. 1t was only smouldering, and
few bucketfuls Of water extinguished the
incipient blaze.
On the day Of the explosion this odOr,
somewhat stronger and more penetra-
ting than before, manifested itself in
The drying-room. Schladom and Freese
again went after Supt. Baer. When he
came he proceeded at once To what he
rightly judged 20 be the seat OF danger.
The Goor opening into the steam coils,
incorrectly called by the employees OF
the refinery "the furnace door," was
thrown open by the doctor. Almost
Instantly tremendous explosion fol-
lowed
/; seemed as II the starch-house had
been lifted bodily into the air. The
next moment IL settled, a crumbling
mass OF broken timbers and flying
bricks. II is supposed the first fire
had not been entirely extingHshcd,
and that when DIR. Baer opened the gate
OF the shect-irOn casing the superheated
atmosphere coming into contact with the
powder-flled air of the starch-room in
stantly fired up the millions of particles
that filled the room.
=.
teen or eighteen men in the two rooms
at the xme remember anything about
the occurrence. They heard the explo-
sion, that is all. When they recovered
consciousness they were in the abora-
tory of the refinery, where they mad
been carried after being rescued from
the ruins.
IN less than minute after the explo-
sion took place the 500 or more employees
in the refinery were rushing frantically
down the stairways. 1t is great won
der nobody was hurt in that mad rush.
The building is practically devoid OF
easy modes of exits, the stairways hcing
rickety wooden affairs, dark and mar
row, and less than four feet wide. A
stream OF humanity poured out OF the
building for fifteen minutes after the
explosion. 1t was fortunate that no
women were in the building.
IL was still daylight when the accident
occurred, and 1t attracted many people.
The starch house juts almost 10 the
waters edge on the south branch of the
river. The opposite bank was crowded
with people. 1t was really the only
available SPOT from which to view the
ruins. Another big crowd also assem-
bled in front Of the office, and another
crowd stood on the tracks TO the north
of the starch house. There was little
fire among the ruins, but plenty OF
smoke, which at times was binding.
The two fire boats arrived early on the
scene and did excellent work 1t was a
hard blaze to get at, partly owing to the
inequalities of the ground and partly
TO the high easterly wind which was
then blowing. Most Of the dead bodies
were not recovered until after dark.
TON LLEwBLIyN, aged twenty-five,
OF Brazil, Ind, has been sentenced to