The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-08-28
A NEW YORK HORROR.
THE DETAILS OF THE PARK PLACE
DISASTER.
Seventeen Dead Bodies Recovered from
the Ruins-Eighty-six of.the BuildIng's
Inmates Unaccounted For Heart
Rending scenes at the Morgue.

NEW YORK, Aug. "a. 4.-seventy-Gve
Italians were engaged all through Sat
urday night and Sunday removing the
debris from the burned buildings on
Park Place. The companies of fremep
kept at their dreary task of searching
for bodies. Their efforts resulted in the
finding of five badly charred corpses.
The bodies were taken to the morgue
Immediately in wagon. They were
al that were recovered up to o'clock
last night. The morgue was besieged
by friends and relatives of the missing.
They would pass by in twos and threes,
and failing to recognize any of the bod
les which lay upon the marble slabs,
would leave as quietly as they came.
Morgue-Keeper White is usually a man
Of nerve, but the touching sights since
Saturday noon hewill not soon forget.
Around the scene of the disaster anx-
ions persons stood watching the fremen
at work, peering into the ruins on the
lookout for missing friends. The Gordon
OF police detailed to guard the fire lines
were kept busy through the night and
day keeping the people back. Among
sAO esAAAOOo WdVSAO1S d14 OhGuEOdy ulHuV
were three young women and young
ing friend, but did not say who it was.
Finally the escort of the young ladies
told policeman that ono of them was
the fiance of A. B. Peterson, son of the
proprietor Of the restaurant, who was
among the missing. Peterson was 81
years of age. A body was found an
swering his description, and it was i'm
mediately recognized by his friends
when brought outside the lines. The
body was badly burned, but identifca-
tion was made positive by the jewelry
found.
The fremen and laborers worked
diligently but made little progress. At
8 O'Clock it began raining hard and a
steady do wn-pour confined for over an
hour. The men were forced to quit
work and seek shelter. All through
the pouring rain, however, anxious
watchers stood outside the fire lines
patiently waiting to hear of some news
that would give them clue to missing
friends and relatives. During the day
inquiries were made at the police station
near by for missing persons. The list of
missing has been largely swelled. It
is now stated that the number of those
missing Is elghty-slx.
just what caused the sad disaster was
discussed from every point of view by
those who visited the wrecked building.
One thought that the building collapsed
from jar of the ma chinery, and an
other that it was caused by an ezplo-
sion. The real cause may never be
known. Three other bodies have been
taken out OF the ruins, swelling the
number of those recovered to seventeen.
Inspector Williams. who has been at
the scene of the disaster almost from
the first moment, said: "There was no
explosion in that building, because
there was nothing to explode. The ac-
cident was the result of weak struct-
ure and the inceseant vibration Of tho
heavy presses Many of the witnesses
who saw the crash say that the build
ing slowly bulged out in the middle
until it had formed a noticeable curve
from the roof to the ground, and then
It fell