Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-08
TH|RTY-ONE BODIES FOUND In the Debris of the Journal
 Building. A0 lIAIEn TAI IIIE nOII EnO
NO WATER IN THE BOILERS
The epk- CT Will Be Held by the Coroner's
 S Jury.
SEARCH HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED
ntil the Walls Are Strengthened-The Other Occupants of the Building Had Miraculous Escape From Be-
 ing Mashed to Pieces.

l Detroit, Mich. Nov. 1.-The progress of 1 the men working on the ruins resulting
 from yesterdays terrible boiler explo-
 sion was very slow. After o'clock this morning, and from that hour until 6 | o'clock, only two more bodies were dug 1 out of the debris. They are those of l Adolph Scrieber foreman of Hiller's | bindery and John Gordon, stereotyper of l the Detroit Journal. A larger force of men was put to work about o'clock. l At o'clock the searchers uncovered | the nineteenth body. It was that of Jen- nie Neubauer, one of Hiller's employees. l Five minutes later the body of Bertha Weidbusch was dug out, and at 91O 1 o'clock still another girls body was re- l covered. It was badly burned and not l at once recognized
 The cause of yesterdays frightful ca- 1 tastrophe was settled beyond all question
 l this morning, when workers on the ruins
 l got down to the boiler The explosion was caused by a dry boiler.
 l By Il o'clock twenty-five bodies in all
 had been taken from under the mass of | debris and three more had been added | to the list of identified dead. They were: l John Breitenbecher, employe of Hiller's | bindery; Rose Morgan and Kittie Leo- | nard. Miss Morgan was employed in | Hillers and Miss Leonard was an em- l ploye of John Davis & Co.
 The two bodies unidentified at this hour l are those of girls.
 A dry boiler not drop of water. tells l the whole story of yesterdays terrible | catastrophe, caused by an explosion of | the westerly boiler and maybe both. | This fact was definitely settled this | mornning when Al H. Whitmore, one of | the best boiler experts in the city, crawl | ed under the wet and twisted timbers | and dug out the debris to the place where 1 tbe battery of boilers was located. The | easterly boiler was entirely gone and It's l head was found near the alley, in the l rear of the building. It had parted just behind the dome and every tube was l broken off clean. The westerly boiler l was not in place, and 1t Is believed that
 l 1t also exploded. Boiler Inspector Mc- l Gregor inclines to the theory that both
 boilers went out and is emphatic in his
 I statement that there was not drop of
 l water in the east boiler when it went out. l It was as dry as a powder mill, and when they find the whole business the condi- | tiors will prove this. r"I think" he said, "that 10th boilers were split across the l seams; If they had opened lengthwtse l there would have been a side force that | would have taken the walls in both boil ers."
 Engineer M. R. Thompson, who was in l charge of the boilers, says there was l plenty of water in the boilers, but his | statement is not believed He will un- l doubtedly be held by the coroners jury. | A noon the WOfk or searching tno | bodies of those yet missing was practi-
 l cally abandoned, pending the strengthen | ing of the walls of the Journal building. l The men continued to work, but were l making no effort to get at the place | where it Is believed most of the missing | bodies will be found. The sixty or sev- 1 enty occupants of the Journal building | proper at the time of yesterdays ex- l plosion had an almost miraculous escape. l The building was thoroughly inspected a--5 <~fJ bail iner incrN l and 1t will be instantly condemned. l The building was found to be in a terri l bly, shattered condition. The inspectors | say there Is not a solid joint in 1t. The
 west wall is buckled inches the east l wall is badly cracked at the floor and el- | bowed several inches out of plumb, the | north wall Is in an IN" shape, and the l entire structure is moved on it's founda- l tions The inspector said that in his opin- 1 ion the west wall was swayed out fully
 | feet by the force of the explosion. The | inspectors think it is si--~'-- wonderful l that the building did not utterly collapse. l The board of inspectors have taken no I formal action as to condemning the l building, but they will do so. The sur l rounding buildings, which also suffered l greatly from the shock will be thorough l ly examined. Some of the employees or the Free Press Job Printing house, which occupies a building almost directly oppo- site where the explosion took place, re- fused to go to work this morning, claim | ing the building had been shattered so as 1 to render it unsafe. At o'clock the total | number of bodies was thirty-one. The | last five were nothing but blackened trunks of which no Identification was possible except by fragments of clothing. The discovery in regard to the boilers | throws the responsibility upon the en- | gineer and the owners of the building. | The former had been repeatedly warned 1 that he was too careless by neighboring | engineers. while the owners of the prop I erty had been given at least one formal notice that he was negligent. The own | CTS of the property are the heirs Of the | late Congressman Newburry, who was | the business partner of Senator McMillan. Tonight the engineer made his first state ment of his view of the disaster.
 One theory is that the water from one boiler syphoned into the other through the feed pipe, bringing on unequal pres sures.
 After the coroner's inquest the matter of responsibility will probably be taken up by the grand jury, now in session. As all the families of the victims are in hum- ble circumstances Gen. R. A. Alger has headed a movement to raise a fund for their relief, some of the victims being the sole support of aged parents. The fund promises to be large one. Three of the persons injured yesterday are in dan gerous condition. They are Annie O'Don- agbue, Arthur D. Lynch, stereotyper, and Albert Welder, pressman. The portion of the Journal building which survived the explosion was later in the day con- demned by the building Inspectors. One of the undertakers who gained notoriety yesterday by fighting for corpse again came before the public today. He was at the Emergency hospital when Lizzie Tappley breathed her last and assumed charge The idea of his having charge was too revolting to the friends of the young lady and they protested but the undertaken refused to give up the re- mains The family protested to Coroner | Butler and he at once made the under