The historic times. [volume] (Lawrence, Kansas) 1891-1891, 1891-08-29
FEARFUL CALAMITY.
Fatal Boiler Explosion in a Build
ing at New York.
The Structure Falls to the Ground and the
Ruins Take Fire-Fifty Persons Crushed
or Burned to Death Without q
Moments Warning.

NEW YORK, Aug. ga most disas
trous and terrible explosion occurre<
Saturday afternoon at 1890 o'clock il
| Park place, between Greenwich stree
and College place, just at the time wher
| the street was filed with hurrying PEG
pie and heavily laden wagons anc
trucks
Without moments warning whole
block of buildings swarming with busy
workmen collapsed as the result of q
mysterious explosion, and an appalling
loss of life is beyond all doubt.
The NUM- Der of the dead is variously
estimated at from fifteen to fully q
hundred and only thorough search OF
the ruins will establish the full extent
of the calamity.
In the restaurant on the ground floor
of No. IA, which was kept by j. Peter
son, there were crowd of persons at
lunch. The number is estimated at
the time of the explosion at between
twenty-five and thirty-fve. Then there
were a number of girls in the wash
room in the basement.
Trippe & Co., druggists at 10 and 72
Park place, also had large number of
employees.
First small, white, vaporish cloud
burst forth from the ground floor of 10,
70 and "A Park place; then was heard
dull, deep, sullen roar. This was fol-
lowed by an eruption and mass of
brick, stone and timber was hurled
thirty feet heavenw ard
No more than second could posi-
bly, have elapsed before the front walls
of 20, 10 and IA fell crashing into the
street. The great walls slowly rolled
and swelled out with on undulating
motion until they gave way and in a
moment there was not stick or stone
abeve the first floor between
the dividing walls.
The walls of the standing buildings
were jagged as the bricks were torn out
in places. They did not retain the
slightest semblance of what had beer
three seconds before an apparently
strong and well constructed building.
Suddenly fire burst out in darkly
colored flames from the third, fourth
and fifth stories of that part of the
building on Park place next to Green
wich street, occupied by Lindsays type
The floors and the other parts
II the place were saturated with oil or |
'ther inf1ammable matter which fed |
he flames generously. A murmur ran
through the throng that the build |
ng was lost and the multitude shud-
Tered at thoughts of the fate of the
occupants of the ruined and burning
part of the building.
AS soon as the flames were ,1ndes
control the work of recovering the
bodies of the unfortunate persons who
we're buried beneath the ruins wa. be.
run by about forty fremen, who
lin bed upon the great heap of bricks
hat filed the street
After twenty minutes work the men
aw the dead body of man down in
he heap of brick, and then cleared
way the mass in an astonishing short
pace of time. At 2:2O o'clock the body
vas recovered. It was burned and
haired so that the features were un.
recognizable.
About fifteen minutes after the first
ody was taken out the firemen came
cross another body of a man living
nder piece of the roofing near the
de entrance. The man was apparently
years old. His legs, hands and face
7ere badly burned
Thirteen out of seventeen bodies re-
overed have been identified