Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1891-08-28
An Explosion in a New York Paint
Store Causes Great Loss Of
Life.
lao Persons In the Building, and it
is Thought Most Of Them
Are Dead.
The Flames Spread so Rapidly the
Inmates Had No Time to
Escape.

OAoAAJ ~ PSSAo SA4N&
bronze store at 6S Park Place, blowing
out he entire front of the store. It is
estimated that more than lao boys, girls,
men and women were in the building at
the time. Those who saw the catas-
trophe say that the earth trembled when
the explosion occurred and that the fire
was in the street in a couple of seconds.
Dust from the wreck rose in such clouds
that for at least three minutes nothing
could be seen of what was left standing,
but from the pail which lowered over
the wrecked building came clouds of
smoke and sheets of flame and yells
and shrieks Of agony. At O'Clock the
fire was under control. Half of the
Greenwich street building had been
burned, while the Taylor was a complete
wreck. The loss was computed at $780,
600 for the Taylor building and contents
and $4,000 for the Greenwich street
building. As to the loss of life the more
conservative estimate, that of Fire Chief
Cushmans, was that sixty people per-
ished. Persons who knew how many
worked in the building daily ran the
list up to 100. Nobody had been taken
out at l:30 audit appeared impossible to
overhaul the ruins for several hours. At
1870 p. NJ, the police estimate the loss OF
life at between sixty and seventy.
New YORK, August pa party of
seventy-fve Italians were engaged all
through Saturday night and Sunday
removing the debris from the burned
buildings on Park Place. Two COM
panies Of fremen kept at their dreary
task at searching for bodies. Their ef-
forts resulted in the finding of five badly
burned corpses. The bodies were taken
to the morgue Immediately, in the dead
wagon. These We're all that were re-
covered up to 6 o'clock p. m. The
morgue was besieged all through the
night and day by friends and relatives
of those who are missing. They would
pass by twos and threes, and failing to
recognize any of the bodies which lay
upon the marble slabs, would leave as
quietly as they came. Morgue Keeper
White is usually a mar of nerve, but
the touching sights he saw during the
night and day he says he will not soon
forget. Around the scene of the disas-
ter, anxious persons stood watching the
men at work, peering into the ruins on
the lookout for missing friends. The
Gordon of police detailed to guard the
tire lines We're kept busy through the
night and day keeping the people back.
Among the anxious watchers all night
were three young women and a young
man. They We're looking for some miss
ing friend, but they did not say who it
was.
Finally the escort of young ladies told
q policeman that one Of them was the
hancee OF A. P. Peterson, son of the
proprietor Of the restaurant, who is
among the missing. Peterson was 81
years OF age. During the morning a
body was found, answering the descrip-
ton, and it was Immediately recognized
by his friends when brought outside the
lines. The body was badly burned, but
identification was made positive by the
jewely found on the body. Two Of the
bodies found were recovered shortly
after l o'clock p. H.. They are both
males.
The firemen and laborers worked dill
igently during the afternoon, but they
made poor progress, owing to he heavy
machinery being in the ruins. 1t will
probably be necessary for the men to
use delricks to get the machinery and
iron girders out Of the way.
John Lowe, of Brooklyn, called at the
morgue during the morning and after
carefully examining the bodies, identified
one as that Of his son, George, Is years
DID. The old mans grief at the sight of
the charred remains of his boy was I'M
speakable.
Two other bodies were recognized
later on as Gustave Zickler, of 80
Washington street, Hoboken, and Leo
nard Cole, of Bedford avenue, Brook
Ign.
The last body recovered was found
shortly after 4 o'clock p. m. It was
that Of a young man supposed to be
Jacob Heidenreich. +
The Evenings Work.
Firemen and laborers worked dill
gently during the evening but made
little progress. At s o'clock it began
raining hard and a steady down-pour
continued for over an hour. The men
were forced to quit work and seek
shelter. All through the pouring rain
however, anxious watchers stood out.
side the fire lines patiently waiting to
hear of some Jews that would give them
9 clue to missing friends or relatives.
During the day inquiries were made al
the police stations near by for missing
persons and the list of missing reported
has been largely swelled. 1t is now
stated that the number of those missing
is eighty-six. Z +.
just what caused this sad disaster
was discussed from every point of view
by those who visited the wrecked build
ing. One thought the building col
lapsed from a jar Of the machinery, and
another that it was cansad nv an eynlO