Connecticut western news., 1895-11-14
FRlGHTFul RESULTS OF AN ExPLO-
 SION IN DETROIT.
The Disaster Was Caused by a Boiler Ex- ploding In The Journal Office-The Build ing Collapsed and the Ruins Caught Fire. Many Lives Lost.

 The Journal building. Plate glass win dows across the street and some of those farther away were shattered by the con cussion, and several persons were cut by falling glass. At the same instant the five floors and roof of that section of the building collapsed and fell to the base ment, carrying with it at least 50 persons, who had not the slightest warning of their danger. The cloud of dust which blinded the eyes of the amazed spectators of the horror was quickly succeeded by smoke from the fires which started in the ruins The work of rescue was rushed to the utmost all day, but progress has neces- sarily been very slow.
 Partial List of the Dead
 The deau taken from the ruins were:
 Lizzie Tappley, aged 20, employed by Davis & Go.
 Henry Walsh. employed by Kohlbrand Engraving company.
 John !. Reuter-, apprentice in the em- ploy of Dunlap & Co.
 George H. Soule, engraver.
 George Shaw, mailer, Detroit Journal. Willie Hawes, 16 years old, mailer, De troit Journal
 James Ross
 William w. Dunlap.
  ing room of Journal.
 Unknown boy. remains found in ruins; features unrecognizable; supposed to be John Bowman, employed by Kohlbrand & Go.
 Carrie Bauer, aged 2s, bookkeeper in Hillier's factory.
 Emma Litchenberg, employee of Hill ler's bindery.
 Rosa Bretz, remains frightfully burned and mutilated.
 Catherine Hitler, forewoman of Hiller's bindery.
 Adolph Schrieber, Jr., bookbinder in Hiller's bindery
 John Gordon, eleotrotyper of Evening Journal.
 Kittie Leonard.
 M. Rosa Morgan.
 John Breitenbreher. '
 Jennie Niebauer Is years old, employ ed in Hiller's bindery.
 Thora Weidbusch, 19 years old.
 Lue Fretz, employee of Dunlap & Go.
 Anna Wiedbush, employee of Hiller's bindery.
 John F. Derby, carpenter.
 Joseph Bradley, carpenter.
 George. J. Hitler, proprietor of Hillor's bindery.
 About 20 tenants and employees in the building are still missing and there can be no doubt that most of these are lying dead under the debris. 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 Davi compauy dealers in druggists specialties, and by The Journal mailing department. The second, third and fourth floors were occupied by the Davis company. W. ". Dunlap & Co, machinists, and Hillier bookbindery. The editorial rooms of The Journal are on the fourth floor, but situ- ated beyond the fire wall, and the se64 'es- capped injury The Journal stereotyping room on the fourth floor was directly in the path of the explosion and went down | in the wreck. A few had miraculous es- | capes and came staggering from the ruins after the awful shock, scarce knowing | themselves what had befallen them. Twenty Girls In the Building. NJ. Jacobs 8 paper dealer. who had been | in Hillier's bindery, had just left the building when the crash came. He thought there must have been 20 girls and four or | five boys in the bindery, besides George J. Hillier, the proprietor, of whom noth- | ing has been seen or heard since the acci- | dent.
 Charles Hackett was found in the ruins in the rear, to which approach was had through the alley. Before he was removed in the ambulance he reported there had been four or five girls on the floor with him. Charles Hergert, a packer, employed | by John Davis & Co, was on the third | floor when the explosion occurred "I felt the crash and was surrounded by flying debris before I could realize what happened. The vinegar barrels and acid carbGys came down on us I don't know how got out. 1 know breathsd | the fresh air after a scramble among the ruins and knew I had escaped. There were four others in the building that know of-Alex Campbell, Annie Tapley Kittie Leonard and Joe Winter, the book keeper. l don't know who got out alive. |"
 From the lists of tenants and employees secured it seems certain that 90 people in all were in the collapsed section. There are still 90 persons unaocounted for, and 1t is more than fair to presume that most of them are among the dead. At every | hour reports are received of others who l are missing and whose relatives and friends have been unable to find any trace | of them.
 Official inspectors ard competent engi- neers have examined portions of the wrecked boilers and pronounced the cause as low water, causing a superheated con- dition of the fues, which was followed by the dangerous injection of cold water. Engineer Thompson's carelessness is strongly condemned. The engineer of The Free Press states that he had previously warned Thompson against leaving his boilers without having any assistant to watch them. Some occupants of the build ing give similar testimony. Thompson in sists that he saw both boilers ten minutes before the explosion, and that they con- tained plenty of water and 65 pounds pressure of steam.