The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-06-14
FALL RIVER HORROR
Many Lives Lost By a Boiler
Explosion in a Har-
ness Shop.
GIRLS, CHIEFLY, THE VICTIMS
Fire Follows the Wreck of the
Building Engineers Escape
Cause Unexplained.

FALL RIVER, Mass June A. 1885,
The worst catastrophe that has visited
the city since the Granite mill fire oc-
CURED this morning at the Langley loom
harness shop on County street. A boiler
exploded in the basement of the two-
story wooden building, blowing out the
entire end of the building, knocking
the supports from the side and allowing
the upper floor to settle into a mass
of ruins.
There were forty-five persons at work
in the shop and only nine are known
to have escaped alive.
Ihe flames communicated with the
ruins and they began to burn briskly.
The firemen rushed to the scene and
made heroic efforts to rescue the impris-
one6 work people. Shrieks from the
girls in the ruins were mingled with tha
agonized cries of their friends. who had
hurried to the scene when the first news
of the catastrophe spread.
Ambulance calls were sent out hur.
riedly and every physician who could
DE reached was sent at once to the
scene.
The offices and the houses in the vicin-
ity were turned into temporary hospitals.
scarcely recognizable body of woman
had been hauled from the ruins The
fire had been quenched. but it was still
smouldering and the work of rescuing
could go on only with difficulty.
SURVIVORS, EXPERIENCES.
There were about fifty persons em-
ployed in the shop, the greater per
centage of the number being women.
Machintst Tripp was among those who
escaped, also a girl named JaIbert and
her s.ster-in-law. who worked side by
side on the third floor. One was unhurt
and the other was slightly bruised. The
Jalbert girl says that none of the girls
or men knew what had happened.
There was a terrible report, followed
by a shock; the roof seemed to lift and
then fail, completely demohshing the
whole building. The Jalbert girl and her
sister-in-law were thrown into the middle
of the road. The former escaped un.n-
jured, but the latter was badly cut about
the face and arms.
At 9:45 O'Clock, the names of the rescued
SO far as learned were given out as fol-
lows
Alice Trembly, Matte Derosiers. Miss
Jalbert, Leah Horton. Adele Dube, Ida
LIE Page, Henry F. Langley, the pro-
prietor, George E. Davol, Engineer Tr;pp
and Foreman Warren.
Mr.. Langley is in critical condition
and has been removed to his home for
treatment. The shock broke in the win
dows of the Stafford mill and injured
several of the operatives.
The building IS a total wreck. LAG
CHARRED BODIES.
At 9:20 o'clock the badly charred rs-
mains of Robert Murray were taken out.
The Star Music Hall has been made a
morgue, where Medical Examiner Dolan.
with many other physicians, are INSTALL
ed. The engine was situated in the
northwest corner of the building and
was of 30 horsepower. 1t is estimated
that there are at least 80 in the ruins.
The firemen and citizens are working
like heroes, but the building is so COM
pletely wrecked that the work of clear
ing is not advancing rapidly. The third
body, that of a woman. was hauled out
of the ruins at $3.50 o'clock. The body
could not be recognized
The man who ran the boiler escaped
alive and uninjured. His name is LIE
Page. He says the boiler was four and a
half years old, and was built by the Cum
ningnham Iron Works. 1t was tubular
sions. He said he filled the boiler about
five minutes before it blew up. There
was about four inches of space in the
water glass not filed with water. The
fire had been going half an hour. The
boiler gave no warming before it explod-
ed. He was at the door when it went up.
The police have been able to account
for all but three of the people known to
have been in the building. Four dead
bodies had been recovered up to eleven
o'clock. Lelie Horton, aged seventeen,
Adele DUDE, eighteen, Robert Murray,
twenty-one and one man who has not
yet been identified. Thomas Bury, fifteen
and another unknown man are dreadfully
injured and may not recover. The three
who are missing are supposed to be in
the debris. The engineer, LIE Page, has
been placed under arrest at the instance
of the Medical Examiner. He has since
told the police that to his knowledge the
boiler had not been inspected since it has
been in use. AT 11:15 the flames were
completely extinguished and hundreds of
volunteers were at work overhauling the
ruins in search of the missing people.
The greatest excitement prevails in the
section of the city where the accident
occurred and the streets in the vicinity
are filled with people.