The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1899-08-26
KILLED IN AN EXPLOSION, ,
Terrible Disaster in an Appleton
Sash Door and Blind Factory.
NINE ARE INJURED.
Many Are Rescued from the BurninE z
Debris Seriously Bruised,
Scalded and Cut.

Appleton, Wis, Aug. 22.-ESpecial.l-
The boiler in the sash, door and blind
factory of the A. II. Wieckert establish
ment exploded at $40 this morning, kill
Ing one man instantly, injurins another
SO seriously that he died within an hour
of his rescue from the ruins, fatally
wounding a third and seriously injuring
eight others. The list of killed and III
jured follows:
The Killed.
ROBERT PASCH, buried in the ruins and
NATHANIEL PATTINSON, engineer.
scalded and cut; died while being removed
WILLIAM BOLDMAN, horribly burned,
scalded and internally injured.
The Injured.
Joseph Wettingil. fractured arm and In
ternally injured.
John Foster, arm fractured.
William Hoffman, head cut.
Edward koeletzke, head badly bruised.
Paul Hoeppner, head cut.
Herman Miller, bad gashes in the head.
August Rehleldt, face and head scalded
and cut.
William Weaver, head scratched.
All of the other men in the building
were more or less scratched, but none OF
the others needed a physicians attention.
The entire mill was wrecked by the
explosion. The cries of the men impris-
oned in the ruins could be heard and the
debris caught fire and the flames were
rapidly eating their way towards the
men. No time was lost III beginning the
rescue work.
Windows in the vicinity were broken by
the concussion. The end of the boiler
was carried through the ensine-room
roof and fell 100 feet dist The loss
is estimated at $4,000.
for
plant was started for the day in the en-
gine room of the plant. 1t carried down
the entire main building, and some eight
cen men fell with the structure. The
force of the explosion was terrific, blow
ing the brick walls of the engine room
outward and utterly destroying the ma
chinery in the building. The shock of
the explosion carried down the frame
structure, shattering the immense wood
en- supports and allowing the second floor
to fall and carry with it the roof and
walls into one indistinguishable mass of
debris.
Cries of the Injured.
From under the sheet-iron roof there
came the cries of the injured. The
building collapsed like a great house of
playing cards. the walls and roof lying
about in great squares, with their victims
moaning underneath. The scene was
horrible one. AS though the simple
wrecking of the building in an instant of
time was not enough to satisfy fate,
while firemen were working with the as
sStance of the spectators to rescue the
buried wOrkmen, fire came with its ter
rorS to make the situation even moro
terrible. The firemen at once abandoned
the work of rescue in an attempt to pre-
vent the buried men from being roasted
alive The fire was finally checked,
though 1t was so scorching hot that the
rescuers could not proceed with their
work for nearly half an hour.
The direction of the force of the eX-
plosion seemed to be horizontal and par
ticularly to have been eXerted along the
ground. This is evidenced by the appear
ance of the ruins. The first story was
simply blown Outwardly i'll all directions
and the second story and roof, being de
prived of support, settled down in its
place. Nothing remains of the hrst-story
walls, but the secOnd-Story walls, where
they were not crushed by the weight of
the roof, do not appear to have suffered.
Ordinary fire insurance is unaffected i'll
n case of this kind, but the Wicckert
company carried boiler and employers
liability insurance in addition. The boil
er insurance amounts to SIC 600 in the
Hartford and $4,000 in the Travellers of
Hartford. Both of these amounts are
available in adjusting damages for en-
ployes killed and injured and the loss on
the plant. The damage will be nearly
$4,000.
Richard Guetschow, the k-keeper,
was in the office when the explosion
came. Il was working at the desk rs
usual" he said, when | was suddenly
lifted off the floor by tremendous con
cussion. and thrown against the wall.
Things began to topple around in all di-
rcctions. and at the same time the whole
building fell down to the ground. When
things came to rest. | crawled out of
window. | was not hurt to speak of. A
few small objects hit me, but for the
most part it was merely tumble-down
one story
William Boldman died shortly after
noon. a s a result of his injuries, making
a total death list of three.