Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1896-05-07
SEVERAL PEOPLE KILLED BY
AN EXPLOSION.
SIX BODIES RECOVERED
Five-Story Building on Walnut
Street Blown UP by an Explosion of
Gasoline, Exact Loss OF Life TN
known Pitiful Scenes About the
Wrecked Structure.


\ TO the ground by an explosion OF gaso-
! line, and number Of people were
killed and many injured The shock
was so terrific that II was felt all over
/ the city and not one brick upon au-
other was left In the front and rear
( walls of the building, while the ad-
| jaeent buildings were badly damaged
and the glass in the windows of the
/ Gibson house and the large Johnson
building across the street, were all
broken. A passing stree. car was bad
/ ly 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 onlt intense excite
ment, but also the greatest confusion.
Reports that other explosions were
likely to follow, as fireworks and
/ dynamite are stored in the building
caused a stampede in which several
people We're hurt. The ground floor
was occupied by Adolph G. Drach as n
saloon. He owned that part OF the
building and the other part was owned
by NJ Goldsmith, and the first floor OF
this building was also occupied by a
saloon, run by Louis Fey The upper
floors Of the five-story building were
occupied as flats 1t was not known
at 10 o'clock how many people were In
the flats or how many were in the ga
/ Int
ing Immediately collapsed. There is
no fire to consume the debris ana make
certain death of all in the building.
The work of rescuing the victims IS
now proceeding with great difficulty.
The saloons were said to have been
quite full of people. One of the bar
keepers who was not on duty at the
time and escaped, lived in one of the
upper flats and is wild with grief be-
cause he knew his wife and four chill
dren were In the ruins One OF his
children was recovered dead soon after
the explosion. There are wild reports
about the extent of the loss of life Six
bodies had been recovered up to $50,
and 1t is known that there are many
more. One of the children OF Mr.
Drachs was recovered dead. The body
Of Mrs. Drachs was found soon after
the explosion but 1t could not be eX.
tricated from the timber and was still
in the debris at 10 o'clock. The excite
ment is the more intense because II
was not definitely learned for some
time what caused the explosion. 1t
was finally learned that the saloon had
put in its own electric plants for in
candeseent lights and had just secured
gasoline engine with which TO run
the dynamo. The plant got out of or.
der and a flash was communicated to
the gasoline and caused the explosion.
II is impossible TO ascertain the ex-
tent of the loss. The loss in property
is quite large holland Davit, travel
ing man for a Columbus carriage com
pany, who was walking along the
street at the time of the explosion, was
blown under a street car and killed.
Cal. Grim, the well known detective OF
this city, who worked up the evidence
against Jackson and Walling for The
murder Of Pearl Bryan, is among those
known To have been in Drach's saloon
at the time and he Is now among the
victims In the ruins. AT 10 o'clock
twelve injured persons had been taken
to the hospitals. AS the night passed
the scenes about the wrecked building
became more distressing than ever.
Women whose husbands and sons had
not reached home came down to the
fountain square and filled up the space
about the government building whore
they were weeping and crying about
their friends being in the wreckage.
There was quite number OF men
among these weeping ones At 1890
the three year-old boy OF Adolph
Drachs was taken from The ruins so
badly hurt that he Is not likely to live.
Before midnight 1t was known that
six are killed and eighteen injured,
but the work of removing the debris
had proceeded so slowly that the gen.
eral estimate of the killed and wound
ed greatly exceeded this number. The
family Of Adolph Drachs suffered most
severely Drachs and wife are num-
bored among the dead and, his five
year-old daughter is dead, and his
three-year-old boy, fatally injured.
holland Dewitt, a travelling man for
the Columbia Carriage company. Of
Hamilton, Ohio. and two others I'M
identified, complete the list Of those
known to be dead.
Among the injured are Sid Johnson,
barkeeper for Louis Fey, arm broken;
Bill Cook wateiworks employe, arm
broken Barbara Huttleson, leg
broken Joseph Hemmel. not gerious:
Harry Harwiek, waterworks employee,
cut on the head; Fred Healy, arm and
shoulder; Motorman Stoffel Joseph
sprague, porter; Conductor Pollard,
Fisheh, Huron, William Lauth, Will
liam Loheide, II. +. Hunwick, book
keeper; S. S. Wells, clerk; w. D. Cros-
hey paper hanger; Willard y. Cook,
clerk; J. D. Ward, race horse man Of
Toledo, Ohio.
Among the missing who are believed
to be in the ruins are. II. A. Fricke,