St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-05-05
SIX PEOPLE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN
KILLED IN CINCIN-
NATL.
TH5 LIST MAY BE LARAGER.
BUILDING BLOWN UP BY GASOLINE
AND FELL IN CRUMBLED
HEAP.
WORK OF RESCUE VERY SLOW.
Some of the Victims Saved Through
Holes I'm Easements of Ad-
joining Buildings.

CINCINNATI, o.. May 4-This city and
vicinity has been greatly excited tonight over
the explosion of large tank of gasoline
which. at o'clock, completely demolished
the fve-story building, Nos 430 and 432 Wal
nut street. After the explosion the widest
reports were current as to the loss of life.
4 Before midnight it was known that six were
killed and eighteen injured but the work Of
removing the debris had proceeded SO slowly
that the general estimate of the killed and
wounded greatly exceeded this number The
explosion did not carry the debris any dis
| tance from the building or even obstruct the
street IN front of 1t. The building seemed to
collapse, so that the pile of debris was cov-
ered by the tin roof, and after working sew
eral hours 1t was found that the only way
TO rescue the victims was to remove the i'm
mense mass Of brick and timber Accord
| ingly, workmen were put at 1t, as many of
them as could work. The debris was shoyeled
| by one part of the force out into the street.
and all available men were secured for an
other 1orce to load 1t up and get 1t out of the
way OF the rescutng party who were working
| on the ruins. This was found to be the only
practicable means of reaching those who were
| on the lower floors. All those who have so
far been rescued had been on the upper
| noors, except some who were thrown out
| into the street While this work was going
on, holes were cut through the foundations
| of adjacent buildings, and debris was taken
out and three lives were saved by persons
being rescued in that manner. 1t is thought
others will be saved by these holes through
| o6nf ryo1Ic OP% ~.
The shock was SO terrific that 1t was felt
all over the city, and not one brick upon an
| other was left In the front and rear walls of
| the pulldlng, while the adjacent buildings
| were badly damaged and the glass In the
windows in the Gibson house and the large
Johnson building across the street was all
broken. The glass was also broken out of
street cars that were passing at the time and
| one OF the cars was badly wrecked but none
| OF the passengers were seriously hurt. All
the horses IN the immediate neighborhood
broke from their fastenings and ran away.
and there was not only intense excitement.
but also the greatest confusion The explo-
sion took place four doors from the inter-
section of Fifth and Walnut streets. where
the postofice is located on one side and Foun-
| SNAN' S4u~iS O1 IllO OIutI. NO part or the
city is crowded more than this and soon
| there were thousands Of people about the
square and in the space around the govern
ment building, while Walnut street was COM
| pletely blockaded. There were at first re-
! ports about fireworks being stored in the
| building and also about dynamite and am
muniton, so that there were several STAN
pedes In the immense crowds. Several peo-
pie were slightly hurt in these stampedes.
! The ground floor of No. 432 Walnut street
was occupied by Adolph G. Drach as a sa-
loon. He owned that part of the building.
and the other part was owned by M. Gold
smith. The first floor Of this building, No.
43o Walnut street. was also occupied by a
saloon run by Louis Fay. The upper floors
of the building were occupied as flats It
was not known at 10 o'clock how many peo-
pie were in the flats, or how many were in
the saloons, but none escaped, as the build
| ing Immediately collapsed. There was no
fire to consume debris and make certain the
death of all in the building, but the dust and
! dirt continued flying for a long time so
densely that the work of rescuing' the vic
tins proceeded with great difficulty, although
the police and fire departments rallied he
roically to the work.
| Those known to be dead are:
| NOLAN A. DAVITT
ADOLPH DRACH
! MAMIE KENNEDY
The injured are: Mrs. Drach, feet crushed:
| babe of Mrs. Drach, limb crushed: Emil
! Drach, right arm brokeH cut over eyes:
Barbara Huttselmann, domestic, hurt over
! the eyes; j. B. Ward, Toledo, horseman. cut
| with glass. Sidnav
for Fey, cut on back of head and over eye;
! Willard b. Cook, right arm mashed and cut
| over eye; Joseph Sprague, colored porter
face and hands badly burned; w. E. Hun
wick, shoulder dislocated; C. s.. Wells, clerk,
body badly crushed; Peller Burns, horse
dealer, confusion right arm and leg and bad
scalp wound; Charles Filley, teamster, con-
fusion of head and arms; John Mccarthy,
clerk on Big Sandy steamer, confusion of leg
and head; internally injured will die.
| R. A. Fricke, Of Norwood; William Lauth
and William Loherd are known to be still
| in the ruins and not likely to be recovered
| alive.
most touching scene occurred when Fire
man John Mccarthy found his brother pin
Toned under heavy beam and begging the
men above him to kill him. Mccarthy said
there were three other men near him. aud
they were alive. The most heroic efforts IL
! iberate these sufferers were being made at
midnight.
| During the evening there was much excite
ment among the guests in the Gibson house
and at all places in that vicinity The ex-
| citement was the more intense because 1t
could not be definitely learned for some time
what caused the explosion. 1t was finally
| learned that the saloons had put In their
own electric plants for incandescent lights
and had just secured a gasoline engine with
| which to run the dynamos. The plant got
out of fix and there was a flash which COM
| municated to the gasoline and caused the ex-
plosion.- The sudden collapse of the building
| smothered everything in the cellar so that
| there was no fire. The debris seemed to fall
into one heap and not scatter about the
| street, so that there was the greatest diff
| ficulty in recovering the dead bodies and
roscuing the injured.
| John G. Lane, of the Salt Lake City Herald
was just leaving the Gibson house at the time
of the explosion, and with his heavy grip was
blown into the doorway of an adjoining store
| He was knocked senseess, but afterward re-
covered sufficiently to take the train for St.
Louis on his way West. holland Davitt. a
| travelling man for a Columbus house, was
walking along the street at the time of the
! explosion and was blown under street car
and killed. Cal Grim, well-knowI detective
in this city, who worked UP the evidence
| against Jackson and Walling for the murder
| of Pearl Bryan, is among those known to
have heen in Drachss Saloon af The time and