The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-11-07
Terrible Explosion Demolished
the Building of the Detroit
Journal.
Forty Feet of the Center Section
Now Only a Heap Of
Debris.
Six Corpses Have Been Taken
From the Ruins More
Are Buried.

DETROIT, Nov. AT about Q a. m.
the boilers in the Journal building,
corner of Larned and Shelby streets,
exploded with terrific force. The por-
ton of the building about 40 feet wide,
Immediately collapsed, burying scores
of people in the ruins. A great many
girls and women were employed in the
building.
Shortly after 9 o'clock the ruins broke
out in flames and the great clouds Of
sitting smoke seriously impeded the
fremen in their work of rescue.
AS near as can be learned, there were
twenty-five to thirty at work in the
building, exclusive of those who had
been injured while passing on the
street. Three men and one woman
We're carried into the News office in a
helpless condition within three minutes
after the terrible explosion.
Building Cut Clearly in Two.
The large building is cut clearly in
two from front to rear by a gap of forty
feet wide, at the bottom of which is an
almost solid pile Of timbers, brick and
UScAi ~ Ihto "AlSl ~ AIoV louL vi WV
Of work of search for bodies made but
little progress. The John Davis COM
pany, dealers in groceries, occupied the
ground floor and basement of one end
of the building. The firms list of en-
ployes is not large, but it is doubtful
whether all escaped. The gap in the
building extends through about half of
the Davis establishment. The Journals
mailing department on the first floor
was demolished, and the few employees
who We're there at the time are not yet
accounted for. At least a dozen per-
sons are believed to have been at work
in Killers book bindery on the second
floor. Some of these who escaped from
the wreck report that they heard the
screams of some Of the bindery girls as
they fell and were pinioned in the
wreck. The Habbin type foundry on
the third floor and the JOURNALS stereo-
tipping department on the fifth floor
Each Contributed Human Victims
to the wreck. The members of the
editorial staff on the fourth floor, how.
ever, all escaped. Many men are
scrambling in the bricks and debris,
but the fire which is burning under.
meath makes it probable that some OF
| the bodies at least will be incinerated.
William Livingstone, manager of the
Journal, said:
1.-The boilers, although used as part
of the Journal plant, were not a part OF
it. In the Journals lease of its build.
ing from the Newberry estate, powe,
was to be furnished, and the power,
under the contract was taken from the
Newberry boilers.
1.-The two boilers were looked owe,
casually by an outside engineer only
Saturday. He says that they were
each about IA feet long and 80 inches in
diameter, and of the tubular pattern.
AS yet the cause Of the explosion is q
mystery. Thomas Thompson, the engi-
neer, come out of the wreck painfully
injured. His clothes were all torn of
and blood was running from a score OF
cuts. He said he knew no reason fo1
the explosion, and was too excited tc
talk coherently. The work of delvinp
into the ruins progresses slowly.
Half a Dozen Are Dead.
Up to l p. N. six corpses had beer
taken from the ruins, three of whom
have been identified. Among the
wounded there are II OF two who viii.
die. a conservative estimate at thai
hour placed the number Of those in the