River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1893-01-12
MANY BADLY BURNED.


Series of Explosions of Gas During a
Fire In Chicago Causes severe Injuries
to Thirty-one Men, Mostly Firemen.
CHICAGO, Jan. 5.-An explosion of
natural gas in Donahue g. Henne berry S
printing establishment Wednesday
l.tfteruoon manned a score of firemen
md laborers. Some OF these may die.
ialf of them are seriously injured. not
he least among them being Fire Mar
hal Swenie himself, who had mar
'ow escape from the full force of the
explosion. The total number hurt is
hirty-one.
The explosion was in the plate vault
IF the immense printing and publish
ng establishment of Donahue q Hen
leberry, extending from 407 to 425 on
he east side of Dearborn street The
yault is located Immediately beneath
he sidewalk, which is formed of heavy
ron frames covered with glass and
ron. During the early part of the
afternoon three employees of the natural
gas company had been at work in
his vault, making connections that
we're to be used in supplying the boiler
plant with fuel. As a precaution the
ioors of the vault were closed. Short
" after 2 o'clock Foreman Robert
ranger, who was in charge of the men
at work in the press room which adj
ioins the vault, noticed flames in the
vicinity of the brick wall which ex-
.ended between the press room and the
vault These flames had the appear
ance of igniting gas that had escaped
through the faulty partition wall.
Without waiting to open the vault
ioors the employees and foreman ran
upstairs and gave an alarm Of fire
They then returned to the basement,
when some one. the flames still being
noticeable. threw open the vault door.
Instantly there was tremendous ex-
plosion and nearly all of the employees
who were in the vicinity, about ten
in number, were thrown TO the floor,
all sustaining more or less serious in
iuries Within few moments mem
bers of the fire insurance patrol and
those engine companies who were on
the spot headed by Chief Swenie rushed
to the basement for the purpose if pos
sible of preventing the spread of the
flames to the air and elevator shafts.
They had no sooner reached the vi
cinity of the vault door than a second
and even stronger explosion followed
and the firemen, as the employees of the
firm before them. were hurled with
terrific force to the Iioor. With clothes
on fire and the exposed portions
Of their bodies roasted and torn, they
were at once rescued by the fresh ar
rivals and borne to drug stores in the
vicinity. While they were being taken
from the basement, and within a few
seconds of the other explosions, came
the third overwhelming ombustion of
the pent-up gases, and the already
loosened iron work covering the vault
was torn from its fastenings. Chief
Swenie had not yet left the has ament,
and while those of the injured
about him were caring for those who
suffered from a third explosion he
gave orders for the men TO retire from
the vicinity of the vault. 1t was none
too soon, for as they did so came the
fourth and last thuuderous report
which tore apart the sides of the vault
and hurled the iron plates of the
ndSSlNG SluCWdlh tiiNO bnC SOtCtb
The gas was finally shut off and
within few moments what fire there
was was placed under control, but the
south end of the immense building had
been strained and torn and the heavy
plate glass in the eight stories
was lying in great masses on
the street below. Most of the
injured men were removed to the drug
store of Roper & Baxters, at the Coz
ner of Dearborn and Harrison streets,
where thousands of people had block
AIDED the streets and to this place all
the physicians in the vicinity had been
summoned together with the ambu-
lances. After having their injuries
attended to the unfortunate men were
taken to their homes.
The 600 employees in the building
made their escape without injury, and
although badly frightened made their
exit in an orderly manner. The loss TO
the building will be between Sl5, 200
and $50 900, fully covered by insurance.