The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-10-30

baEsment there were II. C. Mecklem and
his brother William. with Frank Heck
enbery. a boy. Thomas Haekett, q clerk.
another man named Bruce and some
girls. among them Ellen Van Deem and
May Dunklemann. When the fire
broke out $4,000 in money lay upon the
counters. Heckenbcry was stationed at
the door while this was gathered to-
gether for putting in the vault.
The first explosion filled the place
with sulphurous smoke that nearly
asphyxiated everybody. The second ex-
ploslon blew in the windows ard cut the
two Mecklems badly. The boy Hecken-
berry found the two girls lying in a heap
tainted away. He carried them out to a
place Of safety. The others. when they
came to their senses. gathered the
money from the floors, put It in cigar
boxes and carried It to Waddell & Com
pany.
Buildings Collapsed.
The explosion tore down the buildings
to the west, the walls of those on the
washington street side being hurled
outward to the streets as II an explo-
sion had been taking place locally In
stead Of away at the Greenwich stree.
end or the block. 1t was thought, in
deed. that explosions had followed in
these buildings, but no cause for them
could be found. The Immense buildings
Of ]. II. Mohlman 6 Company. fronting
on Washington street, simply collapsed.
deluge Of barrels and boxes filed with
fruit, rolling out and forming pile that
stretched half way across the street.
At the time Of the explosion. blazing
barrels were hurled clear across WASH
ington street and set fires in the build
lngs to the west, threatening an extern
sion of the con1iagration in that direc-
tion, but the firemen deluged these
buildings and saved them.
[ Engineer Alex. Phillips, who lives in
Hoboken, was seen after the fire. and
told how he tried to make his way up
into the burning building. He said the
people In the building were as follows:
In the basement were the engineer s
department and the shipping room.
where five men were employed. All
these, he thought. escaped, as he, HIM
self. warned them in plenty Of time.
On the first floor were the offices OF
the company and the retail department.
There were about half q dozen persons
on this floor at the time Of the fire.
On the second floor was Breitenbach's s
pepsin chewing gum factory, where ten
girls and six boys were employed.
Great Indignation.
There was great indignation among
the business men In the vicinity when
they heard what part the explosives
had played In the general catastrophe.
An explosion from this drug store was
not unexpected. and 1t was generally
believed in the neighborhood that e1-
plosive chemicals were in the place
Everybody was apprehensire of fire In
that particular place.
Phillips. the engineer at Tarrants
said when he described his own hurried
exit from the burning building tina,
Patterson, the chemist, had told him
some. time ago that there were danger
Gus chemicals in the place. and that II
1t ever got afire the best thing the peo-
Pile employed there could do was to set
as far away as quickly us they could. :.
At 8 o'clock the fire was completely
under control of the firemen. the flames
stlll burning fiercely In the interior OF
the burned area, but danger OF spread
Ing being over.