The silver blade. (Rathdrum, Idaho) 1895-1903, 1895-11-09

floor when the explosion occurred. From
the lists of tenants and employees Sc
cured it seems certain that so people
in all were in the collapsed section.
There are still q persons unaccOunted
for, and it is reasonable to presume
that most Of them are among the dead.
At every hour reports are received of
others who are missing and whose rel
atives and friends have been unable
to find any trace of them.
OF those who are now in the ruins it
Is impossible that any will be rescued
alive. Those who were not killed out
right have undoubtedly persisted, either
from suffocation or exhaustion.
The total death rate will not be known
before tomorrow night. The work Of
removing the debris and searching for
the bodies is going on all night. Care
lessness is undoubtedly the cause Of
the disaster, but where the RESPONSE
bility rests is as yet problematical.
Thomas Thomson, the engineer, said
he could assign no reason for the ex-
plosion.
The most shocking scene attending
the holocaust was struggle between
Coroner Butler and an undertaken in
the employ Of Chest Bros. against I'm
dertaker Frank Gibbs. The latter chung
to the stretcher while the body was
being carried out through the crowd.
AS the spectators were becoming ex-
cited over the ghoulish scene the police
rushed Gibbs outside the fire line and
would not permit him to return.
MANY MORE MUST BE DEAD.
1t is positively known that at the time
of the collapse the stereotypers en-
gagged on the fifth floor were Michael
Ward, Arthur Lynch and James Ross.
All three went down in the wreck. In
the third story was the Habbin electro
type foundry. In the top story was the
Journals stereotyping department,
where four or five men were busy
There were Is to 30 persons working in
the building.
Three men and one woman were car
ried into the News office in a helpless
condition within three minutes after the
explosion, and the cries of others could
be heard in the ruins. The people who
were brought into the News office were:
Martin Meyer, advertising solicitor of
the News, cut about the head; Frank
G. Meiner, artist in the Calvert Litho-
graphing Company, terrible cash on
the forehead.
The portion of the building directly
above the boilers Of the first floor was
occupied by the Journals mailing de-
partment. About five men and boys
were there. In the second story was
George Miller's book bindery, in which
couple of men and a score of girls
were employed. All these people were
precipitated into the horrible chaos of
ruins and eScapinp steam The fro do
partment was summoned at once and
with the aid of many volunteers began
the work of rescue
The large building is cut clearly in
two from front to rear by a gap 40 feet
wide at the bottom, which is almost a
pile of timbers, brick and debris, into
which the first hour or two of the work
of searching for bodies made little
progress. The gap extends through the
John Davis Company's grocery and
sundries store on the first floor of one
end Of the building
The Journals mailing room on the
first floor was demolished, and the few
employees there are not accounted for
At least dozen persons are believed
to have been working in Millers book
bindery on the second floor Some of
those who escaped from the wreck re-
port that they heard the screams of the
bindery girls as they fell pinioned in
the wreck.
The Habbin type foundry on the third
floor and the Journals stereotyping
department on the fifth floor each CON
tributed victims. Many men are dig
ging in the bricks and debris, but the
fire underneath makes It probable some
bodies will hn o11rno6