New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-10-31
TWO BODIES DUG UP.
CAUSE OF TARRANT EXPLO.
SION STILL IN DOUBT
FIRE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS WANT A
NEW LAW REGARDING STORING
OF EXPLOSIVE DRUGS
CHIEF SHOWS ALARM
NC CON-nTTTONS
ING CONDITIONS

ING CONDITIONS
Persons stiII missing. nE..-.-.......... r.
Interest in the great Warren-st fire and ex
plosiOn OF Monday centred yesterday in the
search of the ruins for the bodies Of the missing
and in the effort TO fix the responsibility for the
catastrophe. Little success was attained in
either direction. The acre Of fallen ironwork
bricks and timbeEs was still too hot TO admit or
anything like a thorough exploration and with
one accord the various owners Of the chemicals
which caused the explosion declared. each for
his own lot. that 1t. at least was as haru,less
and non-explosive as so much cheese Remains
which seemed to indicate TWO bodies were found
between 10 and 1880 o'clock last night
Nevertheless. the explosion itself could not be
denied. and widespread ruin testified to its ter
rife force, so it had to be explained in some
way. Accordingly several chemical experts and
the members of the firm Of TarTant & Co. laid
their heads together and finally announced that .
although not one OF the substances kept in large
quantities by Tarrant & Co for their own use
or stored there for other firms was in itself an
explosive, yet IL was likely that when these in
dividually harmless chemicals became vaporized
by the heat of the fire and the different vapors
mingled they formed gas OF indeterminable
ingredients which exploded with force enough
TO account for all the damage that followed.
Twenty minutes elapsed, according to President
Main, between the discovery of the fire and the
big explosion. This he thinks would be ample
time for the heat to generate the destructive
gas.
OFFICIALS TO INVESTIGATE
If that explanation is accepted 1t will probably
relieve all concerned from responsibility Sew
eral persons. however declare that It viii not be
| accepted without thorough personal fnvestiga-
tion. One Of these is Fire Marshal Seery. an
other is Inspector Murray, OF the Bureau OF
Combustibles: third is District Attorney Gar
diner. a fourth Is Fire Commissioner ScanneH. a
| fifth is Fire Chief Croker a sixth is Coroner
| Hart, and seventh is NJ. b. Feeny. Chief Sani-
| tary Inspector of the Health Board. All de-
] clared yesterday they would probe the matter
| to the bottom. The law declares that if any
person is injured by the explosion Of any com
/ pound kept in violation OF the statute regard
ing cOmbusti5Ies the persons responsible shall
be deemed guilty Of a felony and be fined not
| less than $1,000 and be imprisoned for not less
| than year.
| Twenty eight fire insurance companies are also
/ financially interested in finding out if Tarrant
/ & Co. violated the law If they did the insur-
ance companies. it is said. are relieved from the
necessity Of paying Terrant & Co. one cent upon
| their fire policies.
Inspector Murray said that Tarrant & Co vio-
Il
for other firms without permit from the Bu-
reau Of Combustibles. President Main Of Tar
rant & Co. said his firm carried no stock OF
chlorate of potash for it's own purposes but ad-
mitted that McKesson & Robbins and Rogers &
Pyatt stored quantities Of it in the Tarrant
Building. John McKessOn jr. said his firm had
forty-fve kegs of chloyate of potash and guam
tfty Of barium in the building at the time OF the
explosion. Rogers & Pyatt took the stand that
it would not be wise for them TO admit storms
chIorate of potash there, but there seems to he
no doubt that they did. All say that chlorats
OF potash is not an explosive, but when Or. r. c.
Schupphaus of No. 1 Maiden Lane a recognized
authority on military explosives. was asked yes
terday about the properties OF chIorate OF pot
ash he said:
Until recently it was believed that percussion
that it must first De ml1eq win ~ suSaI S Hr solle
other organic substance But a TREMENDOUS ex-
erLltio an, nre and simple will explode If
heated to a certain temperature This temper
ature would be reached II there was nre IN the
Immediate vicinity. Hence see nothing incredible
OF the disaster in Warren-st
SMOKE MAY HAVE CHANGED HUE
The doctors attention was called to state
roent by an observer that the later explosions
were accompanied by blaze Of rosy light.
whereas the salts of potash are supposed to emit
a violet light The latter assertion was correct.
he said but it was possible that the surrounding
smoke may have modified the hue enough 70
make II appear red, even though chlorate OF pot
ash was exploding
Tnsnector Feeney declared his firm belief that
the explosion was caused by nitro glycerine- He
saws this substances is used largely by physicians
as heart stimuant and all wholesale drug
gists carry it, President Main says that he can
not be sure of what was in stock until the FIRMS
hooks are recovered They are in the safe. and
the safe is in the ruins II the firm carried any
nitro glycerine at all 1T was, he declares, an ex-
ceedinrIv small quantity, and DR.. Feeney's an
svrar TO this Is that il only twenty-five pounds OF
nitro sIvcerine we're in the building that would
have been enough TO blow the building to atoms
He proposes 10 find out exactly how much OF il
the firm carried.
INSPECTOR Murray says the permit issued To
Tarrant & Co allowed the storage OF a limited
amount OF specified explosives in vault under
the sidewalk only. The disastrous explosions on
Monday occurred on the upper floors Murray
intends 10 examine the vault soon as il can be
uncovered.
Coroner Hart will hold inquests on the bodies
of the killed and will subpoena the members OF
Tarrant & Co. 10 tell under oath what explosives
they carried Superintendent Dooner Of the
Building Department. is seeking the firms safe
n the rubbish The books IL contains viii
%. examined by Assistant District Attorney
Walsh TO see if they accord strictly with the
evidence given at the inquest.
Shortly after 10 o'clock portion OF a womans
foot and the top Of a skull crushed in were
found al Warren and Greenwich SITS. The skull
had long brown hair attached. and is supposedly
that OF woman
Al 1880 O'Clock Inspector Graham, Of the