Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-09-01
SHIRKED THE WORK
Shocking Negligence in the
Park Place Search.
NEW YoRKs MAYOR INDIGNANT.
The Finding of the Two Bodies Yester'
day Creates Stir.

Work the Ruins Resumed at the
Mayors Orders and Will Continue Until
All the Debris Has Been Removed,
There May Yet Be Bodies in the Wreck
age--NO More Delay Now.
NEW YORK, Sep. 1.-The discovery
yesterday of the CHASTITY remains of two
more victims of the terrible disaster on
Park Place only confirms the suspicion
expressed in these dispatches at the time
the search in the ruins was abandoned,
that there were likely more bodies still
under the debris.
Mayor Grant is decidedly angry at the
neglect of the proper officials to perform
their work thoroughly, and he has begun
a searching investigation to find out just
who is to blame for permitting the work
to stop before it was positively known
that all the dead had been removed
The following letter to the acting chief
of the fire department indicates the
mayors feelings in the matter;
Sir-You are hereby directed forthwith
to remove all the bodies and debris of the
Park Place accident. A personal exami
nation has showed me that all the bodies
have not been removed. Chapter 566 of
the laws of 1887 makes it the plain duty
of your department to empty laborers and
BILE the work necessary for the recovery of
the bodies of the killed and injured.
That your department has not done.
/ do no know the reason for this neglect
of the performance of its duty by your
department, and | ask that report be
made to me forthwith as to the delay in
the performance of this work and the
reason that your department stopped
working before the bodies were found and
hafOrn
were thoroughly searched.
Above ALL your department should at
once do this work which the law requires
it to do.
1t was a few minutes before II o'clock,
while four wOrkmen were prodding in
the debris still lying in the basement of
the building, a pile of bricks stacked up
against the inner edge lossened and came
tumbling down about their feet The
fall exposed to view the rounded top of y
brick arch leading to the cellar beneath
the pavement. 1t was directly under
ROsenfeld's bronze works at No. 70 Park
place, and as two other cellars to the
north had been previously cleared, the
exposed entrance to the new cellar Gre
ated no remark and the workmen kept
on throwing the debris into the street.
Soon the doorway was almost cleared
and one of the workmen peered into the
dark cavern. The floor was covered knee
deep with bricks, bottles and tin cans
From the heap there arose an awful
stencil. An examination of the hole was
then made.
About a foot from the entrance the legs
of young man protruded from beneath
pile of bricks. The position of the bodies
made the truth manifest. Some of Rosen-
fields employees, in dreadful realization
of their fate, had rushed into the cellar.
They may even have heard the whistling
of the fire engines and the activity of the
brigade on the street above
The workmen, repealed by the stencil,
beat retreat, and their foreman not be-
ing around they told Police Sergeant
Lamey of their discovery. The sergeant,
to make positive, went down himself and
looked at the remains He then dispatched
a message to the Church Street Station.
From there word was sent to Coroner
Hanly.
The news meantime had reached the
mayors office. The mayor, who had all
along entertained suspicion that more
| bodies were in the ruins and paid repeated
| visits to the scene, was soon on the spot.
Going into the cellar he lighted a match
and took in the situation at a glance.
Then he returned to the City Hall in no
| pleasant mood. He at once ordered that
| work on the ruins be at once renewed,
| and that it continue until every bit of the
| debris had been removed.
This action on the part of the mayor
| has had good effect, and to-day work
men under charge of the fire department
are busy clearing away the wreckage.
One of the bodies taken out yesterday,
that of boy of II years, was badly de-
composed, and the undertakers were I'M
able to handle it until a pailful of disin
| fecting fluid was poured over it.
The other body was as badly decom-
posed as the first, and in removing it
from under the table the scalp fell off.
1t is not at all unlikely that other re-
mains will yet be found in the ruins, as
there are four or five persons yet unac-
| counted for
The last two victims undoubtedly died
| Il horrible death, as they were both I'M
prisoned in a vault where the fire did
not reach, and from the appearance OF
the remains they were not crushed or in
jured by the falling ruins.