The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-11-08
NOT A DROP or MATER
In the Boiler Tells The Whole Story Of Wed,
neSdaY'S Terrible Disaster In Detroit.
WHERE THlRTY-ONE LIVES WERE LOST.
The Last Five BoGics Taken from
the Ruins were Nothing. but Hack.
ened Tr"nks-At Noon Yesterday
the Work of Searching for the
bend was Abandoned.

Detroit, Mich, Nov. The progress
OF The men working on the ruins result
ing from yesterdays boiler explosion
was very slow after . o'clock this
only two more bodies were dug out
OF the debris. They were those of
Adolph Scrieber foreman of Hillcr's
bindrry, and John Gordon, stercotyper
of the Detroit Journal.
y large force Of men were put to
work about I o'clock. At o'clock the
searchers uncovered the nineteenth
body. II was that of Jennie Ncuba-
guer, one of Hillcr's employees. Five
minutes later the body of Bertha
Weidbusch was dug out ana at ten
minutes past o'clock still another
girls body was recovered. 1t was bad
~ burned and not at once recognized
Thc cause of yesterdays frightfu ca
tnstruphc WAS settled beyond all uucS
iion this morning when the workers
on the ruins got down To the boiler.
The explosion was caused by Il dry
boiler.
Ey II o'clock twenty-five bodies In all
had been taken from under the mas,
OF debris. and three more have been
added To the list Of idcntiiicd dead
They were: John lG. lireitSnhechcr, en-
ployc of Hillcr's book bindcry: Rose
Morgan and l[ittie Leonard. Miss
Morgan was employed in Hillcr's and
Miss Leonard an employc of John Da-
Wis & Co. The two bodies unidentified
ut this hour are those Of girls.
y dry boier-not q drop of water
tells the whole story of yesterdays ter
rihlc catastrophe. caused by an rXplu-
sion OF the casterly boiler. and may
be both.
This fact was definitely se,!,cd this
morning when AL Whitcmorc one OF
the best boiler experts In the city.
crawlCd under The wet and twisted tim
bcrs ana dug out the debris To the place
where the battery of boilers was To-
ca led
The castcrly boiler was entirely gone
and its head was found near the alley
in the rear of the building. 1t had
parted just behind the dome and cv-
cry tube was broken off clean The
westerly boiler was not. in place and it
is believed that ii also exploded Boil
er inspector McGrel.or inclincss To the
theory that both boilers went ont and
is emphatic in his statement that there
was not II drop of water in the east
boiler when she went out Ii was ms
dry as powder mill ana when W,
ma the whole business the conditions
VIII prove this. Il think that both
boilers were split across at the seams:
II they had opened lengthwise there
WouiG nave been n side force that
would nave taken the walls In both di-
rcctions.
Engineer n. r.. Thompson, who wos
IN charge OF the boilers. SAYS there
was plenty of water in the boilers. but
ms statement is not believed He will
jury.
At noon the crl of searching for
me bodies of those vet missing was
practically abandoned. pending inc
strengthening of the walls of the Jour
nal building. The men continued to
work, but were making NO EFFORT 70 70
get at the place where ii is believed
most of the missing bodies will bc
found.
he building was thoroughly insuecl-
cd by the Board of Building inspcctors
today and. as n result. IL will be in
Slamtly condemned. The building was
found TO be in n terribly shattered
condition. The inspectors say thai
there is not u solid Joint in il ,rhf
west wall is hucklcd six inches; Inc
east wall is badly cracked at tho tbird
iioor ana eibowed several inches ont
I uh .,,S; hi"i',t'; ,,le north wall is in an "N''
Shapc ana The entire structure is mayed
on It's foundation. The Inspector saiJ
that. in his opinion. the west wall was
SWaycd out fully two feet Lv the fo,r.,
oi thc explosion. The inspectors thinI,
!, a., Is SIMPLY wonderful that the building
ana not utterly collapse. The Board Of
Inspectors have taken no formal action
as TO condemning the building. but they
Will do so.
Fhe surrounding buildings. which ri.
~ SuiicIcu greatly from the shock will
ne thoroughly examined. Some of the
employees of the Free Press job Print
ing Itousc which occupies building
almost directly opposite whore tho az
piosion took place refused 10 90 In
work this morning, claiming the b,iJd-
ing had been shaken so as to he nm
safe. -"
Up to O'Clock the number of bodies
taken from the ruins was thirtv-onn
nc last live were nothing but blacken-
ed trunks
The discovery in regard to the boiler
throws the responsibility on the me-
Enhecr and the owners of the building
me former had been repeatedly warn
Su !Iat ne was too careless by neigh
porinG engineers. while the owners of
the building had been given nj least
one formal notice that he was ncrli-
gent.
The owners Of tho property are tho
heirs of the late Congressman Newber-
~ who was the business partner of
Senator Mcmillan
The engineer to-day made his first
statement of his view of the disa ster
lie is the inventor OF burner for feed
ing fuel oil To furnaces ana these
burners were used under the boilers
Thompson has had charge of bolers
since 1889, and supervised their re-
moval from another building four
years ago. lie was away from the en-
Einc room at the time, but only n few
minutes before he had looked Mt his