The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-06-15
EXPLOSION IN FALL RIVER
GREATEST EXCITEMENT SINCE THE
GRANITE MILL DISASTER.

Four Persons Lost Their Lives in the Ruins
--ShrfeIkS of Those in the Building RuLg
Out ON the Air-The Engineer Escaped
Without Any Injuries--StOries of Those
Who Were Rescued.
Fall River, Mass, June 14,-A catas-
trophe which created the greatest ex-
citeuent in the city since the Granite
Mills fire, occurred this morning at the
& Langley loom harness shop on County
street, a three story wooden building,
owned by Henry I. Langley. A fifty
horse power boiler of the Cunningham
make exploded in the rear part of the
basement, blowing out the sides of the
building, knocking away the supports
and allowing the upper floors to settle
into mass of ruins. Fire broke out
in the ruins and began to burn briskly.
The firemen rushed to the scene and
made heroic efforts to rescue the inn
prisoned work people, of whom there
were seventeen. Shrieks from the girls
in the ruins were mingled with the
agonized cries of their friends, who
had hurried to the scene when the
first news of the catastrophe spread.
Ambulance calls were sent out hurried
ly and every physicians who could be
reached was sent at once to the scene.
The offices and the houses in the vi
cinity were turned into temporary hos
pitfalls.
At o'clock the badly charred and
scarcely recognizable body of woman
was hauled from the ruins. The fire
had then been quenched, but 1t was
still smouldering, and the work of res
cuing could go on only with difficulty.
Up to noon the work of search and
rescue was carried on amid great ex-
citement and at that hour 1t was found
that four persons had been killed, three
more were missing and four had been
seriously injured. The killed were:
Leila Horton, Jencks street, aged seven
teen. Adele DUDE, Avon street, aged
eighteen. Robert Murray, Weybosse
street, aged twenty-one. Adolph Belle
feuille, aged thirty.
Missing-Agelina Mccoy, August Sem
ecal Philip Smith.
Injured-Thomas Bury, aged fifteen,
Horton street. Badly burned about the
1 face and crushed about the body. Mat
y tie Desroches, Plain street, badly shock
ed and requiring medical attendance.
Joseph Nuttall, scratched on left arm.
" Annie Hurst, struck behind the ear by |
flying debris. May Partridge, cut on
+ the head.
X Two were probably fatally injured |
and of the missing ones little was |
known at noon. The first reports said |
thirty had been killed and it was not |
until the list was given out by the |
bookkeeper that anything definite could |
#be determined In an hour and a |
quarter from the time the alarm was |
Nstruck Leila Horizons charred body was |
taken out. Star Music hall was turned |
into a temporary morgue and in a few |
minutes another body, that of Adele |
#Dube, was recovered.
At $50 o'clock the body of Robert
Murray was found. and at 1890 o'clock
that Of Adolph Bellefeuille. When the |
Explosion occurred 1t shook the build |
ings within half a mile. 1t wrecked |
the Stafford mill windows on the East
side. and in less than three minutes
every operative was out of the build
ing. causing great deal of wreckage
among the mill machinery. The force
pf the explosion was enough to send
bricks through the whole width of the
I mill from the east to the west sides.
.The boiler was torn apart in the mid
lie and the furnace part was blown into
The building. The narrow escapes were
numerous and marvellous.
1t is quite certain that seven death at
Y fast will result M Lngley says the
Il ioiler was only three and a half years
4 lid. Napoleon Lepage, the fireman and
Engineer, escaped without injury There
\ Fas plenty of water in the boiler, he !
Nays. He has been arrested, The total !
ecuniary loss will be about $4,000.
Engineer Lepage says:
.I was In the engine room at 1926 at
nding to my duties, and had filed the
oilers when 1 heard an awful explo-
on, which fairly tore the building to
agments. The walls fell outward and ]
le roof and floors above came down !
ith a crash At the first intimation
the crash I ran under piece of ma 7
linery which caught the falling tim 7
RS and held them up, giving me an op- {
+. brtunity to crawl out"
The boiler, he said, had not been Of r
tally inspected for five years, so far I
he could remember, although it was 7
paired not long ago. He has been an G
gineer for eight years.
AThe foreman of the shop, u, T. Tripp,
Id the following story:
III was on the second floor talking
th Robert Murray when the explosion
me heard terrible noise and felt
4. floor rise under my feet. The roof
d floors were blown upward and then ,
nix back. The floor split where I L
cd, and went down between two big +
X lbers which kept my body protected
m the falling walls making my es- r.
be through the side of the building, it
ich had blown towards the Stafford S
Is"
he firemen had hardly gotten the
hes under control before men began
work in the ruins. Foreman John
scolI, with fifty men engaged in
eet work near by, were sent to the
me- They were provided with ropes, A
cks and tackle, and hauled the burn n
timbers away with great rapidity.
" were assisted by the firemen and
4 dreds of citizens, and the work was n
idly done. Crowded in the neigh et
ng streets were a thousand people a
fba eOaOa l.