The record-union., 1893-03-22
Special to the REcoRD-Uxrox.

[
LrrcHFIELD Qil.), March 81. = The
most frightful calamity in the history of
this city occurred at an early hour this
! morning. 1t resulted in the loss of
Sl,OOO,O0O worth of property and a num-
ber of lives, practically wrecking half of
the town, and damaging property for
miles around.
Shortly after 3 o'clock this morning a
fire was discovered in Kohler's Planet
steam houring-m mills, the largest of the
kind in the world, and located in the
southwest part of the city.
The fire department had scarcely ar
rived on the scene when an explosion of
terrific violence shook the earth for miles
around, the shock being felt even as far
as Decatur, fifty miles distant 1t broke
plate-g!ass windows in majority Of
the stores in the city, prostrated almost
everyone on the street, shook houses
loose from their foundations. and iarred
the machinery in the Litchfield Car and
Machine Shops to such an extent that
work had TO be suspended till the neces-
sary repairs can be made.
1t IS supposed the fire originated from
spark from passing locomotive. and
the subsequent explosion was caused bv
flames coming in contact with the ac-
cumulation of mill dust. 1t looked at
one time as if the entire south end of the
town would be consumed, but the fire de-
partment, after hard fight of three hours,
managed to prevent the flames from
spreading.
The head millwright, John Carve of
| Waterloo, attempted to save the tools
from the burning building, but was
stunned by the explosion, thrown against
the smokestacll, pinned there and burned
to death, his limbs being burned Off. It
Is not yet known whether there are any
other fatalities, though number of seri-
Gus injuries are reported.
The grain elevator adjoining the mill
containing quarter of a million bushels
Of wheat, was burned TO the ground with
its contents, together with dozen Wa
bash freight cars standing along the side.
The track is blockaded and the tele-
graph wires are disabled. The village
has been in panic, and great difficulty
has followed all attempts to secure de-
tails.
Mrs. V. Hoffman had leg broken:
Mrs. E. Riehelroth, Sr., had her head
cut.
The mill was owned by Kohler Bros.
OF st. Louis, and had a capacity of 9, 2,OCO
barrels of flour daily. 1t employed $50
hands. The insurance on the mill and
elevator is S35),O00. Kohler Bros. esti-
mate their loss i'll the Litchfied fire at
$500, coo.
l.. a. Smith, General Manager of the
mills, placed his loss at $500, 200, while
the insurance is about $500 Other
losses: Adolph Newber, store, residence
and barns partly demolished, $4,000, in
sured in part; Mrs. V. Hoffman, three
tenement houses; Charles Baker. Peter
Otter and Mrs. O'Nein, left practically
homeless; John Grass, store, immedi-
ately east Of the mills, was almost en-
tirely demolished, and yet, singular to
say, none of these residences were seri-
ously injured. Upon State, Riders and
kissim streets, the principal business
thoroughfare, nearly every plate glass
front was destroyed by cohcussion. The
Litchfield, the new hotel not far from
$4,000, while the New York store sus-
tanned a heavy loss. More than one hun
dred residences were damaged to a
greater or less extent, and it is impossible
to arrive at anything like an accurate
estimate of sum total of damages. Resi-
dences for several miles in the country
also suffered slightly.