The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-08
CAUSED BY LACK OF WATER.
DETROIT-s BOILER EXPLOSION Ex-
Planned.

The Engineer to- BE Held Tor Trial
by the COrOner's uJry-The Cause
of the Disaster Discovered by
Boiler Expert Who CrayvIed Under
the Debris for the PurpOse-Thlrty-
One bodies Taken From the Ruins
Up to 3 O'clock Yesterday After
noon.
Detroit Mich. Nov. IA dry boiler; not
a drop of water-tels the whole story OF
yesterdays terrible catastrophe caused
by an explosion OF the westerly boiler.
and maybe both. under the Journal Office.
This fact was settled this morning when
Al. II. Whitmore one of the best boiler
experts in the city, crawled under the
wet and twisted timbers and dug out the
debris in the place where the battery OF
boilers was located. The easterly portion
was entirely gone. and its end was found
near the alley in the rear OF the building.
1t parted just in the rear of the dome
and broke Off clean. The westerly boiler
was not in place. and it is believed Il
also exploded. Boiler Inspector McGregor
inclines TO the theory that both boilers
went out. and is emphatic in his state
ment that there was not a drop of wa
ter in the east boiler when It went out.
1T was as dry as a dry powder mill.
l think that both boilers were split across
at the seams If they had opened length-
wise there would have been a side force
that would have taken the walls In both
directions" was the boiler inspectors ex-
planation.
Engineer r. ~ Thompson, who was in
charge Of the boilers. says there was
plenty of water in the boilers, but his
statement is not believed. He will un-
doubtedly be held by the coroner's jury.
At noon the work OF searching for the
bodies of those yet missing was practi-
cally abandoned, pending the strengthen
ing Of the walls Of the Journal building.
The men continued to work, but were
making no effort to get at the place where
Will be found
The sixty or seventy occupants Of the
journal building proper, at the time Of yes
terday's explosion, had an almost miracu-
lous escape. The building was thoroughly
Inspected by the board Of building inspec-
tors to-day, and as a result 1t WIN be in
stantly condemned. The building was
found to be In terribly shattered con-
ditiOn. The inspectors say that there is
not a solid joint In II. The west wall Is
buckled six inches; the east wall is badly
cracked at the third floor and elbowed
several inches out of plumb; the north
wall is a bad shapeh and the entire
structure Is moved on It's foundations. The
inspector said the west wall was swayed
out fully two feet by the force OF the ex-
that the building did not collapse. The
board OF inspectors have taken no formal
action as 70 eondemning the building, but
The surrounding buildings which also
suffered greatly from the shock, will be
thoroughly examined. Some Of the en-
ployes Of the Free Press job printing
house, which occupies a building almost
directly opposite where the explosion took
place. refused 70 so to work this morn
Ing. claiming that the building had been
shattered so as TO render 1t unsafe.
Al O'Clock the total number OF bodies
recovered was thrty-one. The last five
were nothing but blackened trunks, OF
which no Identification was possible, ex-
cept by fragments OF clothing.
The progress of the men working In the
ruins was very slow after o'clock this
morning, and from that hour until 9
o'clock only two more bodies had been
dug out OF the debris. They were those
Of Adolph Scrieber, foreman of Killers
bindery, and John Gordon, a stereotyper
of the Detroit Journal.
A large force OF men was put to work
about o'clock, and at 8 o'clock the
searchers uncovered the nineteenth body.
lt was that of Jennie Neubauer, one OF
Killers employees. Five minutes later the
body of Bertha Wedbusch was dug out,
and at $40 O'Clock still another girls
body was recovered. 1t was badly burn
ed and was not at once recognized.
BY II 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
John E. Breitenbecher, an employer of
Kittie Leonard.
Miss Morgan was employed in Killers
and Miss Leonard was an employe of
The discovery in regard to the boilers
throws the responsibility upon the engi-
neer and the owners Of the building. The
former had been repeatedly warned that
he was too careless, while the owners of
the property had been given at least one
formal notice that he was negligent. The
owners Of the property are the heirs OF
the late Congressman Newberry, who
was the business partner of Senator Nc
MILAN.
The engineer to-day made his first state
ment of his view of the disaster. He is
the inventor of a burner for feeding fuel
oil TO furnaces and these burners were
used under the boilers Thompson has
had charge Of the boilers since 1889, and
SUPERVISED their removal from another
building four years ago. He was away
from the engine room at the time, but
only few minutes before he had looked
at his .guages and found them satisfac-
tory. He was letting steam out of one
boiler with 65 pounds prssure into an
other. One hundred and sixty-five pounds
of steam was on and everything seemed
10 be working smoothly.
one theory Is that the water from one
boiler syphoned into the other, through
the feed pipes, because Of the unequal
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 humble
circumstances, Gen. X. A. Alger has head
ed a movement to raise fund for their
relief, some of the victims being the sole
supporters of aged parents. The fund
promises TO be a large one.
Three of the persons injured are in a
dangerous condition-Annie O'Donoghue,
Arthur d. Lynch, a stereotyper, and AL
bert Welch, a pressman.
one of the undertakers who gained no
toriety yesterday by fighting for corpse
again came before the public to-day He
was at the Emergency hospital when
Lizzie Tapley breathed her last and as
sumed charge. The idea of his having
charge was too revolving for the friends
Of the young lady, and they protested,
but the undertaken refused to give up
the remains. The family protested to Cor
orner Butter and he at once made the
undertaken turn the body over to the
family undertaken