The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-11-07

and Twenty-seven Others Missing. Most
OF All of Whom are Doubtless Buried
Beneath the wreckage.
DETROIT, Nov. IA gaping rent nearly
forty feet wide from top to bottom of a
nve story business block, dozen dead
bodies recovered, u score of persons In
Jured and more than that number missing,
with certainty that many more dead
bodies are beneath the ruins, is the result
oil an explosion which startled the city yes
terday- and totally wrecked about third
OF the building at the corner of Larned
and Shelby streets, occupied by the De
uolt Evening Journal and several other
tenants
AT 10 o'clock the whole neighborhood
was terrified by fearful shock, caused by
the exploding of the boilers in the base.
ment of The Journal building. Plate
glass windows across the street and some
OF them farther away were shattered
by the concussion, and several persons
were cut by falling glass. At the same in.
stant the five floors and roof of that sec
tion of the building collapsed and fell to
the basement, carrying with it at least fifty
persons. The cloud of dust was quickly
succeeded by smoke from the fires which
started in the ruins. The work of rescue
was rushed to the utmost all day and last
night, but progress has necessarily been
very slow
The dead thus far taken from the ruins
are; Lizzie Tapley, aged 20, employed by
Davis d Co.; Henry Walsh, employed by
hohlbrand Engraving company; John j.
Reuter-, apprentice in the employ of Dun
lap 81 Co.; George H. Soule, engraver;
George Shaw, mailer, Detroit Journal;
Willie Halves, 16 years old, mailer, Detroit
journal; Henry Larivere, employed in
mailing room of Journal; Carrie Bauer
bookkeeper in Killers factory; Hattie
Miller and Minnie Liese, bindery employees;
X. L. Riger, machinist; James Ross, Will
lam w. Dunlap and an unknown boy,
supposed to be John Bowman, employed
by Kohlbrand & Co., the features being
unrecognizable.
The wrecked portion of the building. |
which is owned by the Newberry estate, |
was separated from the rest of the struc.
ture by fire wall. The first floor of that
section was occupied by the John Davis |.
company, dealers in druggists specialties, |
and by The Journal mailing department.
The second, third and fourth floors were
occupied by the Davis company w. w. |
Dunlap & Co., maohinists and the Hitler |
Book bindery. The editorial rooms of The |
journal are on the fourth floor but stu |
ated beyond the fire wall, and the staff |
escaped injury. The Journal stereotyping
room, ON the fifth floor, was directly in the |
path of the explosion and went down i'm |
the wreck. A few had miraculous escapes
and came staggering from the ruins after |
the awful shock, scarcely knowing them |
selves what had befallen them.
Aptblr n T,vnpb Tot,p,, al st,,ooArrx,-,,
who went down with the wreck from the |
top floor, was pulled from the ruins en-
tirely conscious He was preparing a
matrix, and when he fell he was protected |
by the great iron steam table.
M. Jacobs paper dealer, who had been
in Hillier's bindery, had just left the
building when the crash came He thought |
there must have been twenty girls and
four or five boys in the bindery, besides
George J. Hitler, the proprietor, of whom
nothing has been seen or heard since the
accident.
From the lists of tenants and employees
secured it seems certain that fifty people
in all were in the collapsed section. There
are still twenty-seven persons unaccounted
for, and it is more than fair to presume that
most or all of them are among the dead.
At every hourreports are received of others
who are missing and relatives and friends
have been unable to find any trace of them
Two of the large number Of injured who
are in the hospital will probably not re
cover. OF those who are now in the ruins
it is impossible that any will be rescued
alive. Those who were not killed out.
right have undoubtedly perished either
from sutfocation or exhaustion. The only
hope is that some Of those who are reported
missing may be safe with friends. The
total death rate will not be known before
tonight. IL may be even longer before
the workmen reach the basement floors of
the i'll fated building and the total num-
Der of lives lost is known to a certainty.
Carelessness is undoubtedly the cause of
this disaster, but where the responsibility
rests is as yet problematical Thomas
Thompson, the engineer, was painfully
injured, He said he could assign no
reason for the explosion. City Boiler In
spector McGregor says he inspected the
boilers last August, and had found them
up to the requirements. Some of the
employees in the building assert that the
boilers were old and known to be unsafe
Still others have a theory that the ex-
plosion was caused by chemicals owned
by the Davis company, stored in the base
ment,
Another circumstance is also considered
namely, that carpenters were
engaged in snoring up the floor of the sec
ond story directly over the boilers, in order
to sustain the weight of heavy machine
which had been placed in Dunlap's ma
chine shop. The men who were at work
at this job were buried in the ruins,
The most shocking scene attending the
holocaust was a struggle between Coroner
Butler and an undertaken in the employ
of Gies brothers against Undertaken Frank
Gibbs Tho latter cluntp tO the stretchpr