The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1895-08-24

wrecked by Il terrific explosion ut
1910 this morning. The rear half Of
the building, Il five story brick aud
stone structure, went dow with Il
crash. The hotel was crowded with
guests, and many of them must nave
been killed, as we'll as the entire force
of hotel help, who were sleeping i'll the
portion OF the hotel Which fell. On
both sides of Lawrence street from
18th I 0 Is til streets, and on Laramie
street, directly back of the hotel, the
plate glass windows of lie business
houses were blown in and Il number OF
pedestrians were injured by falling
glass. The fronts of many buildings
in the neighborhood were badly de-
molishcd.
The hotel structure for 100 feet
along and extending 70 feet toward
the front is Il mass of debris. Brick
high, and from this mass of wreckage
can be heard the moan Of the injured
and dying.
AT 1895 five injured persons have
been taken out. They were all In
mates Of the upper story, and sank
down with the floors, escaping more
fortunately than those below, who are
still buried in the ruins. BY some es-
Inmates forty people were in the por-
ton Of the hotel destroyed, nearly all
of whom must be dead. The cause Of
the explosion is uncertain is uncertain,
but it is supposed that the battery Of
boilers in the hotel basement must
have exploded. The sound was heard
! throughout the city, awakening people
a mile from the scene
At 1850 a. III. the ruins are burning
tiercely, and the tiremen have been
obliged to retreat from the work Of
rescue. Every engine in the city is
pouring streams Of water into the
mass, but the flames cannot be posi-
bly, gotten under control before many
OF the injured have been cremated. AS
their chances Of escape lessen, the
cries of the imprisoned people are in
creasing, heartrending shrieks arising
from every portion of the great mass
of wreckage.
During the height of the excitement
a horse and team ran away on 18th
street, stampeding the great crowd Of
spectators. A number of people were
more or less injured by being tram
pied on and falling in the broken glass
which covers the streets and sidewalks
in every direction.
Electric light wires dangling from
broken poles in the alley add fresh
peril to the firemen. One horse was
killed by coming in contact with a
live wire. Two injured women had
been almost extricated from the ruins
when the flames approached 81 close
that the rescuers had to abandon them
for their own safety. Both voices have
now been silenced. fire completing the
work commenced by the explosion.
The bodies Of three women are also to
be seen in the back part of the build
ing. but cannot be rescued.
OF those pinioned beneath under the
debris, only two are thought to be yet
alive, both men from the fifth story,
who are still lying on their beds. Both
are covered with several feet Of debris
about their heads. and a hardly sur
vive another half hour. Almost no
progress is being made at releasing
them, as the smoke is binding. The
flames are only kept back from their
bodies by half Il dozen streams Of
water.
Thus far six of the persons in the
house have been taken from the ruins,
oil badly injured. In addition, four
were severely cut by plate glass fall
ing into the street. In the wrecked
building there was a tier of five or
six rooms extending across the rear Of
the building, facing the alley, on each
of the three upper floors. ALI of these
rooms are believed to have been oc-
cupied, as people residing in rooms
across the alley observed the lights
burning in every window during the
/ evening.
Among the dead are Peter Gumry
and r.. C. Grenier, the proprietors Of
the hotel, the day clerk and the night
| clerk, none of whom have been found.
Immediately after the explosion &C.
CURED q boy was heard wailing in the
corner Of q room which had nearly
all fallen away. Its parents had gone
down with the first crash. Afterward
the little ones cries became weaker
and weaker, and when the flames shot
up into the skeleton Of the building it
became silenced. The fremen made a
brave effort to save a woman caught
in the debris of the north corner of
the hotel, but were forced to abandon
the attempt. The spot where she lay
liz now the hottest part Of the fire.
None of the six persons thus far taken
out are conscious and identification is
impossible. ~,
Thus far only Is people who are
known to have been in the building at
the time of the explosion are account
ed for. This leaves sixty supposed to
be dead. Henry Sloan and wife Of
Huron, Kan, and w. G. McClain, the
cashier of the Huron State bank, ar
rived at the hotel last night from Man
itou. and occupied froNt and south
rooms. They are among those taken
down by ladders, and are all more or
less'ihjured. McClain states that he
thinks there are sixty guests In the
hotel, which, with the employees, would
bring the number of people in the
building at the time Of the disaster
up to Is.
1t does not appear that any baking