The Yale expositor., 1898-03-04
MICHIGAN NEWS SUMMARY.
DOings of the Week Recorded in a
Brief Style.
CONCISE AND INTERESTING.
Fire in "a Chemical Works Causes Ter
rifle Havoc-Firemcn Blown 30 Feet
and Instantly Kilied-Many Specta-
tors Wounded by Flying Debris.

The Hall Bros Chemical works at
Kalamazoo was discovered TO be on fire
Mt 10 p. m. and the entire fire depart
ment turned out to subdue the flames.
The firemen had about succeeded in
controlling the blaze in the uppers to-
ries when there was "a tremendous ex-
plosion, apparently in the basement,
which lifted the whole interior and
the roof of the structure into the air
and demolished the walls, killing at
least 10 men outright and wounding
over score of others.
The dead are: George Halliday,
driver of chemical engine; Pat McHugh,
pipeman; John Hastings, Jr., spectator
helping on hose; Charles Whiting,
spectator; James Quigley, spectator
helping on fire; William Wagar. fire
man; J.. i. Holloway, druggist; Frank
Auwers, spectator; Eugene Dole, half
pay fireman; Joseph Clifford, telephone
lineman. Wagar, Halliday, McHugh,
Holloway, Quigley and Dole leave fam
lilies. The seriously wounded are:
James Utter, fireman, both legs brolIen;
Jack McDermott, fireman, legs broken
and face badly burncd; Ord knight,
fireman, head badly cut; VIII Hastings,
bad scalp wound and right foot blown
off; George Chatterson, back broken
and leg injured Victor Vocelle, bad
scalp wound and skull fractured.
The building in which the explosion
occurred and caused the death of ten
men and seriously injured number of
Others was a small four-story brick
shell only 80 feet wide and 100 feet
long and was located at the inter-sec-
ton of Church street and the Michigan
Central railroad. The thin, weak struc-
ture just burst like cannon rocket.
There was little fire to speak Of Up
to the time of the explosion only an oc-
casional faint flare was seen through
the windows of the third story. 1t
came as unexpected as a flash of light
ming from clear sky. The fire boys
and citizens were working side by side,
close up to the building, and no one
had given the first thought of danger,
although everyone knew the nature of
the contents of the structure. The
most remarkable feature of the disas-
ter is the proportion of death to the
size of ruins. Strange to say, also,
there was not a single individual in the
building when the fatal explosion oc-
Cured. Both the killed and injured
were buried in the brick and mortar of
the walls or struck by flying pieces.
The walls of the building were but one
foot in thickness and the explosion
simply scattered them like grape shot
from the mouth of a cannon. Pipeman
Patrick McIIugh who was working on
Il ladder at the front of the building
was thrown clear across Church street
and struck the wall of Garage &, Sons
foundry on the opposite side.
The entire basement of the building
was devoted to the laboratory. The
offices occupied the front part of the
first floor and back Of it was the label
ing room and stock room. The second
floor was used as store room for
empty bottles and the pill factory. The
entire third floor was occupied by the
Kalamazoo paper box factory. The
monetary loss is comparatively slight.
That of Hall Bros. & Co. is about $685.
900, and of the paper box firm S., 900.
Roth firms are almost fully insured.