Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-08-27
AWFUL DISASTER.
Boiler Explosion in a Basement at
New YorL
THE BUILDING FAILS TO THE GROUND
The Ruins Take Fire and . Heartrending
Loss of Life Results-Bodies Of the Vic
Tins Shockingly Burned-The Dead
Thought to he Fifty.

NEW YORK, Aug. IA most disas-
trous and terrible explosion occurred
Saturday afternoon at 1880 o'clock in
Park place, between Greenwich street
and College place, just at the time when
the street was filled with hurry ing peo-
pie and heavily laden wagons and
trucks
Without a moments warning 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 mum Der of the dead is variously
estimated at from fifteen to fully a
hundred and only thorough search of
| of the calamity.
| ton and some of the bodies of the vic
Tins NAV never be recovered
In the restaurant on the ground floor
of No. "a, which was kept by j. Peter
son, there were a crowd of persons at
! lunch. The number is estimated at
the time of the explosion at between
| twenty-five and thirty-five. Then there
| were a number of girls in the wash
room in the basement
Trippe & Co., druggists at 90 and 20
| Park place, also had a large number of
employes-
| First a small, white, vaporish cloud
burst forth from the ground floor of 20.
| ~ and a Park place; then was heard a
| dull, deep, sullen roar. This was fol-
| lowed 10y an eruption and a mass of
| brick, stone and timber was hurled
| thirty feet heavenw ard
| No more than q second could posi-
bly,. have elapsed before the front walls
| of 20. 20 aud "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 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 .econds before an apparently
| strong and we'll constructed building.
The mass of brick, stone and tim Der
! fell upon the sidewalk and filled half
| the width of the street.
| Suddenly fire burst out in darl<ly
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 Lindsay's type
foundry. The floors and the other parts
of the place were saturated with oil or
| other inflammable 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.
Az
control the work of recovering the
bodies of the unfortunate persons who
were buried beneath the ruins was be-
gun by about forty frcmcn, who
climbed upon the great heap of bricks
that filled the street.
After twenty minutes work the men
saw the dead body of 4 man down in
the heap of brick, and then cleared
away the mass in an astonishing short
space of time. At 2:2O o'clock the body
was recovered. 1t was burned and
charred so that the features were un-
recognizable. t...
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
were badly burned.
Other bodies were brought up al
various times. the remains being fear
fully burned. st
Il 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.