The Globe-republican., 1891-08-26
AWFUL DISASTER.
Boiler Explosion in Basement at
New York.
The BUILDING FALLS TO The GROUND
The Ruins Take Fire and a Heartrending
Loss of Life Resuits-Bodies of the Vic
Tins Shockingly Burned-The Dead
Thought to He Fifty.

VIEW YORK, Aug. PA most disas-
trous and terrible explosion occurred
Saturday afternoon at 1890 o'clock in
Park place, between Greenwich street
and College place, just at the time when
the street was filed with hurrying peo-
pie and heavily laden wagons and
trucks
Without moments warning a whole
block of buildings swarming with busy
workmen collapsed as the result of
mysterious explosion, and an appalling
loss of life is beyond all doubt
The number of the dead is variously
estimated at from fifteen to fully a
hundred and only thorough search of
the ruins will establ the full extent
of the calamity.
Fire added to the horror Of the situa-
ton and some of the bodies of the vic
tins may never be recovered
In the restaurant on the ground floor
of No. "a, 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-fv and thirty-five. Then there
were a number OF girls in the wash
room in the basement
Trippe & Co., druggists at 20 and %
Park place, also had a large number of
employees
First a small, white, vaporish cloud
burst forth from the ground floor of 20,
q and "a Park place; then was heard a
dull, deep sullen rear. This was fol-
lowed by an eruption and a mass of
brick, stone and timber was hurled
thirty feet heavenw ard.
No more than a second could posi-
bly, have elapsed before the front walls
of &c, ~ and "a 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 a stick or a stone
standing 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 been
three seconds before an apparently
strong and well constructed building
The mass of brick, stone and tim Der
fell upon the sidewalk and filed half
the width of the street
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
witch street, occupied by Lindsay's type
foundry. The floors and the other parts
of the place were saturated with oil or
other infiammable matter which fed
the flames generously. A murmur ran
through the throng that the build
ing was lost and the multitude shud-
dered at thoughts of the fate of the
occupants of the ruined and burning
part of the building.
AS soon as the flames were under
control the work of recovering the
bodies of the unfortunate persons who
were buried beneath the ruins was be-
gun by about forty 6remen, who
that filed the street
After twenty minutes work the men
saw the dead body of man down in
the heap of brick, and then cleared
away the mass in an astonishing short
space of time. At 300 o'clock the body
was recovered. 1t was burned and
charred so that the features were I'M
recognizable.
About fifteen minutes after the first
body was taken out the firemen came
across another body of a man lying
under a piece of the roofing near the
side entrance. The man was apparently
80 years old. His legs, hands and face
We're badly burned
Other bodies were brought up at
various times, the remains being fear
fully burned.
Thirteen out of seventeen bodies re-
covered have been identified.
The opinion prevails that less than
half of the bodies have so far been re-
covered from the wreck, and it is
thought that altogether not less than
fifty souls were killed in the disaster.