The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-18
Burning of the wabash Railway
Roundhouse Yesterday Morning At
tended by Serious Accident.
ONE WALL FORCED OUTWARD
AND FOURTEEN EMPLOYEES BURIED
UNDER A MASS OF BRICKS.
Property Loss Estimated at S1Oo.0o0-s
Warehouse Mt st. Louis burned
Costly Fire at Cleveland. +

TOLEDO, March, 1.-THE roundhouse oe
the Wabash Railroad Company in this city,
located at the foot of South street. on thu
dock front, burned to the ground betweeu
10 and IL o'clock this morning. Three-quar-
ters of an hour after the. first alarm was
sent in the southwest wall of the building,
sixty feet in circumference. fell in, burying
fourteen men underneath it. Two of them
were instantly Killed, third died a short
time after being taken out of the debris. and
the others were all badly hurt, one proba-
bly, fatally. All but one, John Bowen, were
employees of the Wabash The dead are:
/. r. III. BOHLAfAN, agd, fifty-six, painters
married, seven children; skull crushed and
J. j. PRES ION, aged thirty-nve. car in
spector married. six children; back broken.
skull crushed; killed Instantly
JOHN BOWEN, aged eighteen, spectator
skull crushed, internally injured. killed in-
stantly.
The injured are:
f. gI. HOWARD, general foreman east.
ern division, head bruised, face cut and
slightly burned will recover.
JOHN LEARY; machinist. leg broken,
PATRICK McDONDUGH fireman, skull
fraeturea shogldsr broken; WIN reeoysr Oyer
HARRY. ZIMMERMAN. painter, legs
sprained body bruiseu
LOUIS BECKER. painter. svad bruised.
HENRY GERDING, car repsiser. head
T. G. LAuEE. truck foreman. head and
neck sprained and head cut
CASPER BECKER. painter head ana
j. FINLEY, engineer, of Andrews. Ind.
chest crushed and severe scalp wbund.
GEORGE TOWERS. machinist, fracture
of the left leg and more or less injured
The first alarm for the fire came by tele-
phone to the district offices at 1910 a. M
A few minutes previously a resident of the
neighborhood of the roundhouse saw a small
flame burst out of the cupola of the build
ing and he ran to the Office of the general
foreman directly across from the round
house and notified those in charge. General
Foreman Howard summoned the company's
private fire department consisting of fifteen
men to the scene, and stream of water
was directed to the blazing cupola. Al
heavy wind was Sblowing and the fire soon
ate its way down to the roof Of the round-
house When Fire Chief Mayo reached the
fire he saw that there was danger of the
flames reaching the oil house repair shops
and the Wabash elevator. all in close prox-
unity. and he Immediately sent in general
alarm.
Meanwhile the roads fire company had
directed it's efforts towards smothering the
flames in the southeast end of the structure.
which menaced the oilhouse and the fire
at this point was held fairly In check. The
roof was already ablaze and threatened to
collapse every moment but the falling of
the walls was not at this time anticipated.
The iron braces supporting the roof ex-
panded in the intense heat and the fral
frame covering gave way with a mufiied
roar, falling in on the stalled, engines At
this moment the southwest WALL eighteen
feet high and eighteen inches thick was
seen to totter outward from the lateral
f,Il lfr,r rfxofs nj
up to apprise of their danger the fifteen
men at work at this portion Of the building.
The warning came too late, and fourteen OF
the men were buried in a pile of brick
several feet high. Streams of water We're
poured on the smoking debris. and as soon
as possible the work of rescue began-
Preston and Bowen were buried completely
and were dead some time before their bodies
were reached. They were badly criisheds
Bowen's features being unrecognizable-
Bohlnian was taken out in an unconscious
condition and removed TO his home where's
he died q few hours afterwards. BY this
time half dozen physicians had reached the
scene and attention directed to the in
jured Leary, the machinist. was found to-
be the worst sufferer and it was feared he
would scarcely live out the day The Others
though badly used up. will probably all
recover.
The firemen had stubborn fight with the
now doomed roundhouse, the heavy wind
greatly aiding the stubborn flames. At
noon the fire WIS practically under control.
after destroying all tnat was infammabe
of the building. The property loss is esti-
mated at 100000: probably insured. The
roundhouse, which had capacity of twenty
locomotives, coptained only six, and these
are all badly damaged. A Wheeling & Lake
Erie coal car and Baltimore & Ohio box
car were burned.