St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-06
TRAMPS AWFULLY MANGLED
Four Killed and Fourteen In
jured in a Wreck on the
Alton.
THE TRAIN TAKES A PLUNGE
Fatal Disaster on an Ohio
Narrow Gauge Rail-
way.

fearful explosion which wrecked
Salathe's ship chandlery and the
fisherman's exchange, the adjoining
saloon, two landmarks opposite the
French market, resulted in the death
of at least five people. The Salathes
husband and wife and their little
babe; Paul Rigaud, the bartender
and John Edwards are the victims
whose bodies have been recovered
The Salathe servants spent the night
elsewhere and escaped. Two chill,
dren were dragged from the ruins
and, although badly burned and
shocked, will live. Half a dozen peo-
pie in the vicinity were injured by
falling debris, but all will recover.
The barroom was usually crowded
at the hour of the fatality, but
from all accounts there seems tc
have been a pfovidential lull in
trade when the explosion occurred
The explosion was from some un-
known cause. 1t occurred at the
corner of Decatur and Ursuline
streets, in a two-story brick building,
containing two stores and rooms on
the ground floor. One of these was
occupied by Emile Boulet as a
drinking saloon; the other by Charles
Salatne, who keeps a grocery and
ship chandlery. The building was
near the lower end of the French
market, and was separated from it
by narrow street. The explosion
was loud one; it startled the
neighborhood, and when the dust
had cleared away, the fishermen and
women who had already put in their
appearance at the market, saw be-
fore them a
HEAP OF DEBRIS,
where there had formerly stood a bar
room and the grocery. Then little
tongues of flames began to shoot up
from the debris, and by this time the
on-lookers had recovered from the
shock, and set about for some means
of rescue for the unfortunates, who
they knew were imprisoned in that
smoking mass of brick and timbers.
An alarm of fire was sounded, and
soon the department was on the scene.
work in saving the adjoining buildings.
The alarm was turned in, and very
soon the engines arrived, and the
water turned on, a good deal of it
being put upon the ruins to cool them
and to prevent them catching fire In
many places where there were not
then blaZes. The fremen struggled to
supply water to the debris and to save
the dead from cremation. Frantic
cries of women and children, and the
breathless people who ran to and fro
were too much at their wits end to
answer queries.
BISHOP JANSEN,
and a number of his clergy were
among the first on the scene. The ex-
plosion was distinctly heard at the
diocesan house, only a few blocks
away, and they fastened to the scene
to render what assistance they could
Salathe's place was known as the
''Ffshermen's Exchange" and was
rich in memories Of the Chenier Ca
.minada storm. 1t was there that
many of the rescued made their head
quarters when they were brought to
the city, and it was a very popular
AC1Oi VI TIC liSiilllS pSOple.
The work Of clearing away the debris
is going on steadily. While the police
are inclined to believe that the ex-
plosion was the result of an accident
a number of people residing in the vi
cinity of the wrecked buildings are
of an entirely different opinion. They
state openly that the explosion was an
attempt to kill the man Boulet, who
had such miraculous escape.
La Boulet, when asked if he thought
that the explosion was an attempt to
Kill him for having slain Balostracci.
he shook his head and replied that he
thought not. ''The Mafia," he said.
would not adopt such means to kill
their victim. They have other and
surer means of doing this kind of
work [ firmly believe that the ex-
ploslon was the result of an accident, ),