The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1891-08-26
AN AWFUL CALAMITY.
Scores of People Buried in a RuIl


Scores of People Buried In Ruin
NEW YoRK, Aug. 22--It now seems pos
sible that one Of the worst disasters which
ever happened in this city occurred just al
ter noon to-day. From all that can now be
learned, fully, if not more than ffty people /
have lost their lives.
The accident came so suddenly that not |
single person in the two big buildings at Nos |
20 and y Park Place escaped alive.
There was but one eyewitness to the be-
ginning Of the accident. This man is nam
ed A. A. johnson. He is q janitor in the |
building at No. 81 Park Place. directly |
across the street from where the accident oc-
Cured.
He said that be was standing on the steps
Of No. 81 at noon, when he heard the sound
OF an explosion. 1t came from across the
street. 1t was not loud. Almost immedi-
ately the front walls of the two buildings
caved in with deafening crash.
II came so suddenly that it was impOssi-
bic for living being to escape from the
buildings. On the ground floor of one of
them was a restaurant that was crowded with
people. The other floors were occupied by
the Southern Publishing Co.; S. LOutelle &
Co., art designers Ellis & Mcdonald, book
binders. The owner of the restaurant was
of the name of Ros.nfield. 1t was said, al
SO, that portion of the building was occu-
pied by drug firm, in which the explosion
occurred.
OF course nothing definite is now known,
as the ruins are burning furiously and all
efforts are being directed toward getting the
flames under control, in order that the work
of rescue and of recovering the bodies of the
dead may be begun. The janitor Of No. 81
said that the accident occurred so quickly
that be did not see person escape, and felt
certain that everybody in the two buildings
was killed.
As as could be learned the explosion
took place in the metal-leaf factory Of Ros-
enfield & Co., on the second door of No. y
Park Place. This is just over a drug store
on the ground floor of the building.
The fremen battled with the smoke and
flames which burst from all sides Of the ru-
ined buildings, and st times the smoke was
so dense that the fremen were driven back.
The number of those buried in the ruins
is variously estimated at from fifty TO Que
hundred persons
Some Of the occupants Of the upper floors
OF the building are 4 photographer, q cigar
manufactory, type foundry, and several
other industries.
Dominick Berker cook in the restau-
rant of Peterson, was at work in the base
ment of No. "A Park Place. He escaped as
if by miracle.
He said Il was busy at my range when
l heard deep dull sound, followed by
puff of air. The next minute the whole
building seemed to fall about me, and was
knocked TO the floor.
Il was dazed for moment, but finding
that I was free of the ruin, l groped my
way through a hole in the wall, and finally
found my way into the basement Of build
ing on Greenwich street, through which |
gained the street
Two Others who were in the basement
were rescued by the police and firemen.
The fourth and fifth floors Of Nos. "a and
76 were occupied by A. W. Lindsay's type
foundry, which employed about twenty
gins, who wss- r-eE.~rias ~ 90 home All
escaped by means of the fre-escape on the
Greenwich end of the building.
Mr.. Lindsay said: The girls and myself
were preparing to go home when the explo-
sion occurred, The moment l heard the
noise. shouted 70 the girls and we all rush
ed 10 the corner building, and, as We ran,
the building collapsed behind us. We made
our way to the stree; by means of the fire.
escape"
The first dead body was recovered from
the ruins at 80 o'clock. Il was that of a
man about forty years old He was lying
face-downward in the street, about ten feet
from the curb, covered with bricks three feet
deep. His head was terribly lacera.ed, and
when taken from the ruins his face was au
unrecognizable mass of flesh. from which
the blood was still dripping
Jacob Schlessinger, employed in the build
ing on the opposite side of Park Place, said
there must have been at least one hundred
in the building at the time the explosion oc-
CURED. He saw fifteen or sixteen girls al
the window of Slebler & Mass shop, on the
second and third floors, just as the building
fell. His impression was that the explosion
occurred in the metal plate factory of Ros-
enfield.
The building Is said to have been con-
demned about thirteen years ago. II was
known as the Taylor building. II wassaid
that in 1877 Greenfelds candy factory, situa-
ted directly behind the place of the accident
was blown up and thirty lives were lost 1t
was caused by sugar dust
Mary Schlessinger, seven-year-old daught
er of a plumber and janitor of No. 50 Park
Place, was recovered alive at o'clock from
the ruins in the sidewalk in front of the
wrecked buildings.
Near where the girl was found the body of
man was discovered. Life was extinct