The record-union., 1898-09-21
Eight Men Cremated During Prog
resS of Flames.
As Many More 50 BadIrlnjured That None
Were Able to Tell Any Details Of the
Disaster Houses All Over City
Shaken BY the Explosion.

TOLEDO (O), Sept. 20.-Eight men
cremated and eight seriously hurt is
the result of a bad fire here tonight.
The spontaneous combustion of dust
in the grain elevator owned by Pad
dock Hodge & Co, at 9 o'clock, caused
this terrible destruction of life, and
none of those who were taken out after
the fire started were far enough from
deaths door to tell any of the details.
The dead: Samuel Alexander, Bert
Wainwright, Fred Garret, Harold
Parks, John Smith, Grace Parks, Frank
Van Housen, John Carr.
The injured number sixteen.
William ]. Parks, the Superintendent,
after being blown through the window
of the lower story, was conscious for a
moment, and said that about $50 ter
rible explosion occurred on the south
side of the elevator, and that he knew
there We're about twenty men at work
on the seven floors of the building. Be-
sides those regularly employed at the
tendent Parks were visiting him at the
time. One of these may recover but
Grace, a seventeen-year-old girl, is
burned almost beyond recognition, and
Harold, the third child, has not been
found, being either blown to atoms or
cremated.
All over Toledo houses We're shaken
by the explosion as by an earthquake,
and windows were shattered for blocks
around.
Very soon afterward flames burst
from all sides of the elevator It was
but a few minutes till the Fire Depart
ment began the work of rescue, which
was rendered difficult by the terrific
heat of the fire The river cut off es-
cape on one side, and there the flames
Sttlntu 10 De less 16TCe.
The families of dozen men who were
known to be at work within rushed to
the scene, and women calling for their
imprisoned husbands, brothers and
fathers made a scene indescribable.
1t was learned that a force of twenty
men had been in the building, their pur-
pose having been to load $4,000 bushels
of grain during the night. Not one of
the entire number could be seen in any
part of the building, and it was impos-
sible to reach them in any way.
William Parks was found first. He
was twenty feet from the building,
frightfully burned, and his clothing al
most entirely torn off. He had been
hurled from his place in the main room
through a window. Another employee,
John Carr, was hurled from the fifth
floor of the building and was found
bleeding and burned with many bones
broken. He did not long survive. Fire
man David Kemp and Charles Keifer,
the engineer We're found at their places
in the engine-room. They were woun-
ed by falling timbers and their faces
were charred to a crisp by the flames.
The little daughter of William Parks
e;4 in, na off af
the time of the explosion and was
hurled out of the door. She walked
down the elevation on which the build
ing stands and dropped down, TO be
carried away unconscious, suffering
from wounds from which she cannot
recover. John Smith was fatally burned.
The missing men are, doubtless, all
dead. No trace can be found of any
of them, and as they were employed at
the top of the elevator, their chances
for escape We're but slight.
The heat became so intense that
twenty cars standing on the sidings
near the building were added to the
loss. The Fire Department had hard
struggle to save other elevators and
property.
Mr. Paddock, member of the firm
owning the plant, said there were be-