The record-union., 1896-01-03
4 Series Of Terrible Explosions Occur In
the City Of st. Louis,
Laying Waste Property and Causing
Loss Of Life.
Five Dead Bodies Taken From the
Ruins-A Great Number of People
Injured, While a Large Number
Are Missing, Though 1t Is Hoped
That the Unaccounted-For Are Safe
With Friends.

plOS1OnS laid waste the vicinity OF Sec
ond and Vine streets, where printing
houses and allied trades are numerous.
Just after the clock struck boiler in
George F. Meritz's printing Office base
ment, No. 30S North Third street, just
across the alley from the storage and
commission house of H. B. Grubb, ex-
ploded. In the rear of the Grubb es-
tablishment a large quantity of fire
works was stored, and a second explo-
sion occurred, followed Immediately by
third that lifted the Grubb building
and dropped it in mass of wreckage.
The explosion caused general conster-
nation, and every window for three
blocks was broken. A large plate glass
window in the Merchants Exchange,
four blocks away, was shattered, and
the traders stampeded.
Nineteen persons were seriously in
found. In addition to the list of injured
given thirty-f1ve others were more or
less hurt
The H. B. Grubb Commission Com
pany occupied the ground floor of 300
North Second street, and the Anchor
Peanut Company the second and third
floors. Adjoining the wrecked building
on the south is the Levison & Blythe
Printing Company, where most of the
injured were employed. The north
walls and two floors went down. On
the north is the Excelsior Wire Com
pany's building, also partly wrecked.
Within half minute the three build
ings were wrapped in flames Firemen
and policemen began the work of res
cue. There were less than a dozen peo-
pie in the wrecked building, which ac-
counts for the small death list.
Following is roll of the killed and in
jured, corrected at o'clock this even
ing:
The dead: Joseph Kovarick, boy,
employed by Levison & Blythe; Frank
Niehaus, boy, employed by Levison &
Blythe; Charles Claybrook, colored
porter for Anchor Peanut Company.
Two corpses were also taken from the
basement of the Excelsior Wire Com
pany.
The missing: Chris Kerger, shipping
clerk, Excelsior Company; Thomas Ley,
shipping clerk, Excelsior Company; Al
Mellier, employe Excelsior Company;
Charles Erickson, employe Excelsior
Company.
The injured: Albert Stefnmeyer,
boy, employed by Levison & Blythe,
legs crushed and probably fatally hurt;
Will Brondiweder, porter, cuts on head,
face and body; Christ Kraft, deep cut
over right eye; Horace Diort, pressman.
face smashed; L. Diort, pressman, cuts
on head and face; John Corcoran, clerk
severely injured about head; Edgar
Vance, bookbinder, cut about head; Ben
Taylor, shipping clerk, fatally hurt;
Joseph Brandewide, pressman, back
strained; William Herner, printer,
blinded by glass; William Couleshaw.
printer, neck and breast pierced by
glass, fatally injured; Hugh Allen,
printer, right arm broken; Joe Corcor-
an, expressman, severely cut in back;
Albert Schneitz, fatally burned; Henry
Stack, driver, legs broken; Richard
Couleshaw, foreman Frey Printing
Company, hurt internally; John Carter
press boy, eyes cut; Joe Barker, printer,
shoulder broken; Charles Amos, letter
carrier blown from second story win
dow, badly injured.
The full list of all the employees of the
four firms is not obtainable. and prob
ably the list of dead will be increased
when the ruins are overhauIed. E. p
Lass, proprietor of the Excelsior Wire
Company. says he is quite sure five of
his employees did not escape from the
building. The work of examining the
ruins is going on tonight.
The total loss will exceed 800. 600:
all insured
Later.-The police have made as com
plete canvass as possible tonight of
the city to ascertain the number of
and the result is disheartening.
The list has grown to nineteen, though
it is hoped some of these are Temporal
rily housed with friends.
The scene of the wreck is the center
Of anxious inquiry from the kindred OF
the missing ones. They stand in the
biting cold and watch with fearful eyes
the work of the wreckers. Little work
can be done tonight, but it will be
continued till the debris is thoroughly
searched
The explosion was heard as far west
as Twenty-third street, and also in
East ST. Louis, across the river. 1t is
now believed that many buildings in
the vicinity have been rendered unsafe.
A cessation of business about the wreck
will be had until thorough inspection is
made.
Some of the escapes from death seem
James Kennedy, printer.
perched for twenty minutes on the
frame of a third-story window, which
fell just as the ladder men reached him.
John Marlowe was on the street in
front of Grubb's building, and was
hurled across the street against horse
that had been killed against the oppo-
site wall
These stories of escape are almost in
The remarkable thing in this disas-
ter" said Fire Chief Swingley, 'is that
the death roll is not fifty at least. Here
Are three buildings in wreck, and within
those buildings at least 300 people were
at work
AT Z o'clock the body of Albert Mel
ier, aged 1S, was taken from the cellar
If the Excelsior Works building It is
badly burned. AS late as s O'clock
yroans were heard in the wreck, and the
police had difficulty in restraining the
anxious relatives of the missing.
The City Dispensary was turned into
1 temporary hospital, and fully thirty
slightly injured persons. besides the list
given, were treated there. There are
four bodies at the Morgue, one not yet
identified.
A Banker Assigns.
PEORIA Qll.). Jan. 2.-Peter Schurtz.