New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-08-25
GIRLS FEARFULLY SCALDED /
TWO WILL PROBABLY DIE.
EXPLOSION OF THE STEAM CYLINDER AT A
LAUNDRY WROUGHT THE HAVOC.
EMPLOYEES STRUCK DoWy AT THEIR YORK


EAPLOYES STRUCK DOWy AT THEIR WORK
1T is THOUGHT THAT THE ENGINEER NOW IN
CUSTODY, is REsPoNsIBLE-wITHoUT WARN
ING THE HEAVY IRON BOILER BURSTS WITH
FEARFUL FORCE, HURLISG DEADLY MIS-.
sILEs ABOUT THE ROoM-sEETHING
MIST ENCIRcLEs THE POOR GREAT
UREs-oTHER DESTRUCTION CAUSED
BY THE TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.
Steam pressure on boiler in excess OF the
official standard test yesterday brought about an
explosion which will probably result in the sacr-
fee of at least two lives The force which blew
out the cylinder head and shattered the big mange
of the He'll Gate Steam Laundry, No. PAS East One
hundred-and fourth-st., parboled, manned and dis
figured nine out Of ten comey women and girls
employed in tie rooms Two of these, Lena
uhl, twenty years DID, OF No. 1882 Park-ave.,
and Kate Kane, fifteen years old, of No. 132 East
tighty-sixth-st.. will probably die. The police
think tho accident was due mainly to the negl-
gcnce of the engineer, Martin Phelan, now a
prisoner Phclan refuses, however, to offer any
explanation which might throw clear light on the
matter
The Hell Gate Steam Laundry is one of sew
era concerns of it's kind scattered over the city
and owned by Fred A. Bates, of Philadelphia
The branch in East Onc-hundrcd- and -fOurh-st ,
conducted by w f. Phelps occupied the basement
and whole ground floor of fve-story red brick
building. The basement was taken up mainly by
two big boilers used for generating the power
for the steam mangc on the ground floor. Tho
ground floor itself was one large room, in which
nearly all the work OF the laundry was done
In the rear corner was the steam mangle. The
cylinder of this manglc is five feet long and seven
inches in diameter, of cast-ron one inch thick.
II just 80 p. m. when the ten girls at
work under the supervision ofaCrace FOX, VINO
lives at No. $50 st, Brooklyn, began the
afternoons work on the clothes. Mary kcrner
and Lena thl stood by the cylinder, now furiously
whirng round and round. Mary Kcrner put the
clothes under the press, while Lena Uhl received
and folded them at the other end of the board
Near these two stood Kate Kane, sprnking the
finer articles for ironing. The rest of the girls
were scattered the room, while Grace toNs
husband, Henry, employed as a driver. stood on
the sidewalk outside Down in the basement was
fhc engineer, Phean.
Suddenly long, low, snllcn hiss from the rear
corner broke the murmur Of voices. All stopped
and looked sharply mp, the hiss gradually in
creased in intensity until it burst into roar that
shook the windows and the rafters There was
Shrek, a mad, scrambling rush for the doors a
crash, whirling shower OF iron, wood and glass
and then silence Fox heard the roar, felt ter
rife blow over the eye, and was thrown violently
ten feet away. Blinded by the blood that poured
down his face, he had one coherent thought-his
wife. Throwing of those who would have stopped
him, he staggered into the hallway, biindly crop
ing through the steam that filed the house. AT
the very threshold Of the laundry door his foot
struck against PROSTATE form He raised it in
his arms and carried it to the street 1t was his
wife, scalded, unconscious but alive.
Through the mist hc had seen another body.
Back through the hall he stumbled and carried
it ont. This Kate Chl. Firemcn and police
men we're now pouring into tho house, while the
twenty girls employed in Stein d Brcmmcrs
cigarmaking rooms upstairs had rushed pc-
nell into the street Police Captain WcStervelt,
of the twenty eighth Precinct. sent down see
ton of men, and Policeman Samuel Cox tried
to tccgrlph to headquarters for ambulance service,
the rules of red tape. requiring that all such
calls should be sent through tn" Central Oilice
But the storm had destroyed tho wire and COX
had TO resort to the telephone.
Forty minutes dragged by before ambulances
from tho Presbyterian, Harlem and Manhattan
bosptals drove up. Then il found that Lena
I-hl had been terribly scadcd in every part OF
the body. and at the first glance the surgeons de-
cldcd that her case was almost hopeless foor
little Katie Kane, too, had received terrible scad'
and bruises on the head, chest and legs, and can
hardly recover In company with Katie Ih''
scalded on the face arms and hands. these two were
taken to the Presbyterian Hospital -Four sisters
Ellen Vandcrbcck seventeen: Kate Nandcrbcck;
nineteen: Minnie Nandcrbcck, twenty-one. ah1
Maggie Vandcrbeck. twenty years 9ld an i9umu m,
lying in heap near the door. are lying IN iliI-
lem Hospital badly scaldcd on the heal, arms
and logs. With them is Gr."" FoN. whose hahlS
and legs are hurt Henry Fox had been struck
hy n 0vinc window sash. and when his h"ad l'al
been dressed, was able to go home; Marv Mtni'
though scaldcd about the legs, was ape 10 wtlN
to her room in Nincty-ninth-st. or all III" women
the only one 10 escape injury was jennie N"nnollN;
who was in the hallway when the crash cam" aud
literally blew her into tho street,
Wien the mist Of the steam had cleared the
wreck worked by the explosion WAS slaringly
mcnts, one piece, eighteen inches broad, being
torn right away. Every window IN th" horS"
was blown out. Turning to the rear wall, on"
saw hugo Jagged hole, six icct by four, III"
But the force Of the explosion had not only
blown ont this wall. il had shattered the side
wall Of tho house No. 2.0l3 Sccond-ate. which
stands at right angles TO the landry wall, an an,
phclrs the manager Of the laundry. says that
the boilers had been tested for n"Ssir, oi
seventy pounds and could work with absolute
safety under n pressure Of forty pounds. yer
tho character of the explosion shows pretty clearly
that TOO hioh a pressure had been forced: Inc
building, which belongs to tho estat" Of M ndwaro
Roberts is damaged TO tho oNtcnt oi Sl,ooo' the
loss on the laundry reaching S3,ooo