Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-10-30

Superintendent Dooner said! More i'm
portant than finding the dead is the pro-
lection of the living. The force of the ex-
plosion has impaired many buildings in the
vicinity. l cannot think of letting men
work In them while there is a possibility
that they may come down. 1 believe that
the buildings along the south side of Cham
bers street from Greenwich to Washing
ton streets and on Washington street from
Chambers to Warren street have been
MADE unht for occupancy. They will be
thoroughly examined this morning and
until L am sure of them l will not allow
the proprietors to open them for business.
Forty buildings were damaged by the
explosion. L place the property loss at
81. 900, ,00O.''
DIR. Feeney, chief inspector of the health
de epartment, was at the scene of the ex-
plcsion today.
zine or naphtha," he said. Il believe it
was nitro glycerine. 1t is used very largely
nowadays by physicians as heart stimu-
liant, and Tarrant & Co.. as wholesale drug
sIsts, would have had to supply it. The
stuff is used in a very weak solution. Usu-
ally 1t is from one-tenth of l per cent to 1
per cent of water. If Tarrant & Co had
twenty-five pounds of nitro-glycerine in
their place it would have blown a building
like theirs into fragments"
george f. Murray, inspector of combus
tibles gave out the following statement
today:
due to chemical action which took place
during the compounding of drugs. Just
Whdt the exact cause was we cannot tell
until we can get the formulas used in COM
pounding, and can get the employees on the
witness stand before the fire marshal
The company had permit to store col
lodlon, ether and PHOSPHORUS in small
quantities barrel of alcohol two gallons
OF benzine, one carboy of sulphuric acid
and one carboy of nitric acid.
IF all these should blow up together do
not think it would be heavy enough to
make such terrific explosion. This is why
| am of the opinion that the explosion was
due to chemical changes"
Damage to l.. Road Station
The damage to the 9th avenue elevated
railroad was smaller than was at first
thought. The damage to the structure
proper is largely superficial and can be
readily repaired. This will be done as soon
as the firemen grant the necessary permis-
SIGN and the west track of the road will
probably be in running order before the end
of the week. The east track is in use to-
day.
What was thought to be body by Depu-
ty Fire Chief Ahern turned out to be onIv
a water soaked bedspread that was living
on wooden beam.
During the day several names were added
to the list of missing and a number were
stricken from it. Stella Chrystie, George
Donnelly, Ernest Flatman, Morris Kwaver,
Henry Huh and Frank Shooter had all been
found before noon At that hour the police
mad been asked to add the following to the
list of missing:
Charles Clark, bookkeeper at 1872 Duane
street; Kate McGreen, employed in the
Homemade restaurant. and Harry Moore.
errand boy
Tarrant & Co. and NJ. j. Breitenbach K
GO. have opened new headquarters at IS
Murray street. President Thomas F. Main
or Tarrant & Co. said today:
In our own stock we had not ether or
at most no more than a few pounds. We
had no benzine and no collodion. When we
needed any Of these articles to fill orders
we bought 1t from dealers. We had very
little. alcohol in stock, Notwithstanding the
1act that We use a considerable quantity
OF 1t In making our perfumes. We had alb
soiutely no nitro-glycerine and no gun
powder.
All our employees but two have been ac-
counted for. We employed twenty men
and fifteen women. VIM. Moorehouse. a
shipping clerk, and a boy employed on an
upper floor are missing. Two of our men
say they saw Moorehouse in the street after
the last explosion. Some one said the boy
had been to the cashier to get car fare to
go on an errand a short time before the
fire. His family. however, says he did not
go home last night. We fear he was lost
in the building"