Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1891-08-27

sion occurred in the five-story building
Nos. 6S and 20 Park Place, occupied by
John G. Eberle. The explosion was
Immediately followed by fire and the
building collapsed in few minutes.
II is feared that number of persons
are burned to death. The fire has spread
to the adjoining buildings.
POSSIBLY so PEOPLE KILLED.
New YORK, Aug. 22-2.15 p. NIT
now seems probable that one of the
most fatal accidents that ever happened
in this city has occurred.
Just after noon to-day, from all that
can now be learned, fully, if not more
than fifty people, lost their lives.
~. The accident came so suddenly that
v not single person in the two big
Y buildings escaped. There was but one
" eyewitness TO the beginning of the
N accident. This man is named A. A.
< Johnson. He was janitor in the build
4 ing at No. 81 Park Place, directly
across the street from where the acct
dent occurred.
johnson said he was standing on the
steps to No. 81 at noon, when he heard
the sound of an explosion. 1t was not
loud. Almost Immediately the front
walls of the buildings collapsed and the
entire building caved in with deafen-
ing crash. 1t came so suddenly that il
was impossible for living soul to
escape from the buildings.
On the ground floor of one of the
number was a restaurant that was
crowded with people. The other floors
were occupied by the Southern Publish
ing Co., S. Eoutclle d Co, art designers,
Ellis 81 Mcdonald, book .binders. The
owner of the establishment was man
of the name of Rosenlield.
of course nothing accurate is yet
known, as the ruins are a mass of fire
and every engine available in the city is
at work trying to subdue the flames in
order that the work of recovering the
bodies of the dead may be begun.
The janitor said that he did not see a
person escape and feels certain that
everybody in the buildings were killed.
Michael Carroll, who was employed
in the metal leaf factory, had been out
10 his lunch and had just reached the
door of No. ~ Park Place, when he
heard terrible explosion which dazed
ran for his life. AS he got away he saw
the front walls OF Nos. 70 and 72 topple
over with a loud crash.
AS the walls fell Carroll saw that
there We're many persons inside. Pedes-
TRANS who were passing the place were
covered under the bricks and stones. In
the metal leaf factory il is not known
how many girls were at work, but in
the restaurant there was a large crowd
of people at lunch. The number is
said to be between 25 and 30.
There were also number of girls in
the WashrOom in the basement il is
thought about 10 or IL.
Trippe g. Co., druggists, also had a
large number of employees.
The three children of Frank Haggerty
the janitor of No 81 Park Place, were
killed while playing in front of No. X
Park Place. Their father stood across
the street at the time.
The latest report of the cause of the
explosion was that the New Yorl.
Steam Heating Company furnishes
steam to the building. tits supposed that
the explosion took place from some de.
fects in the receiving boiler in the base
ment.
The fircmen and bystanders soon cui
a hole in the side wall of No. IA, out OF
which II persons crawled, all OF whom
bore bruises.
Three alarms of fire were followed by
the arrival of ambulances from all the
hospitals.
The reserves were called out from Thu
nearby station houses, but the grea
difficulty was experienced in keeping
the thousands of people back beyon(
the fire line when it became know
that there had been fearful loss of life
BETWEEN 60 AND 20.
The police, at $50 o'clock, estimated
.he loss Of life at between go and 20.
a New York, Aug. 24.-The horror o
the Park Place disaster grows more ap
lr appalling as the facts become bette
known. At 1 o'clock this morning tn
pm dead taken from the ruins number Il
"a and 10 bodies are reported in sight. Re
"A porters have visited the addresses of 8
N persons who were on the missing list
and found that they had not come home
M II is believed that very few of thi
Il large list will ever be seen alive. III
't{ general belief now is that 100 person
w were killed by the accident. Possibl
M this may be an exaggeration, but
'5I there is no error in the list of the missln
and an error should have been dis
aH covered by this time, the estimate Of ~
f& cannot be far wrong. Twenty-eigh
'# dead are already discovered and it IS be
T. lieved that when the basement of til
I building is reached that the dead will b
I found by Scores The firemen are work
FL ing heroically, and by tonight il
'& probable that the number of dead can /
m closely appropriated.
sN The disaster is the one subject of COZ
N versation here, and the question as
m lhow it occurred is receiving very clos
M consideration. The theory generally n
III ceived is that there was no explosion, this
VA the building either through weakness {
" the undue weight and vibration of I'll
N heavy machinery collapsed. 1t is PR
bable that there will be q thorough il
"a vestigation.
N ALL-NIoHT SEARCH FOR THE DEAL
IA New York, Aug. 23.-rhe all-nigl
VA search for the bodies of the unfortunate
M who were buried beneath the ruins {
q the Inflated building on Park place thi
N. collapsed yesterday, brought to ligl
SH four more bodies At 3 O'Clock th
VA morning the body of man, APPARENT
t about, 80 years old, was found in IL
I& ruins, near where the body of boy ha
E been taken out 20 minutes before. A
2 $40 another body Of IL man, about 3 fe'
',H z inches tall, was taken out; at $50 Il
::I body of young man, apparently abol
M 10 years old, was found.
At $50 o'clock the body of Andre
.3@ B. Peterson, % years old, the son oil IL
man who kept the restaurant on u
Ii. ground floor, was taken out This mac
,,. IA bodies that had been recovered. 4
4 1875 o'clock two more bodies were al