The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-31
CLEARING Up THE Ruins
Three Bodies Recovered From the
Debris in New York.
The List nf the Missing Now Re
t,uced to Tvcnty-eiSht - Enquiry
Regarding the Explosives stored
in the Tarrant Estnblishment-Mny
BE the Ensis of New Regulations.


been recovered from the ruins Of thu
| Tarrant drug house. which was destroy
ed by terrific explosion at noon yester
| day. The list of the missing. which mum
| bered forty-three last night. had beer
cut down to heavyweight tonight. a num-
Der of those having been put down as
lost turning up during the day.
Among those was Victor Mathushek. tn;
well-known piano manufacturer. He ap-
peared at his home at 3 a. m. He said
he had been in the vicinity when the
explosion occurred, and that the horror
of it dazed him SO he wandered around
| until he knew not whittier until late at
night when his senses returned.
The half acre or SO of wreckage was
sufficiently clear of smoke and steam to-
day to give for the first time clear view
of the terrific havoc wrought in the War
rem Street block between Greenwich and
Washington Streets, where the full force
of the explosion was felt. 1t was not
until this area of ruin in the very cyclonlC
centre of the explosive blasts was thus
laid bare that comprehensive concep-
ton could be had of the appalling volume
of the forces let loose by some material
or combination of materials stored in the
Tarrart building.
What this material or combination OF
materials was is now the subject OF care
full enquiry. The bureau of combustibles,
the fire department and the building in
IN got r.
nation upon this point-information on
which grave consequences may hang, ana
on which also there may be based an ef-
fort to very materially change the laws
now governing the storage of combustibies
and explosive materials in the city.
District Attorney Gardner inspected the
ruins today and said that the matter would
receive proper attention from his office II
the evidence developed by the various in
vestigations and brought out at the cor
oners inquest warranted action.
The officers of the Tarrant Company say
in the most emphatic manner thai they
had nothing in their stock which in itself
could have exploded with such terrific re-
suits. Thomas F. Main. President of the
Tarrant Company today said he had abso-
lutely no information which afforded a
clew to the cause of the explosion. He had
COHsulttu Will SULle SApcilS, NC ooiu, diiA
the theory they had advanced was that
the destruction was caused by chemicals
harmless in themselves, but which COM
bined by the fire in the building developed
into explosives of terrific force.
He said, furthermore, that SO far as his
firm was concerned, it was within its per-
nit, which allowed it to store in its build
ing one barrel Of turpentine. one barrel
of benzine. and one hundred pounds of
collodion, with alcohol.
But that applies only to the stock of the
Tarrant Company. and the evidence gath
cred today seemed to indicate that the
explosions began, not in the stock of the
Tarrant Company. but in the stored drugs
and chemicals of McKisson Robbins
and Rogers & fyatt. The third and fourth
floors of the Tarrant building were let to
these firms for the storage of whatever
they wanted to put in them that was not
objected to by the Tarrant Company. Mr..
Main said that he did not know just what
McKisson G. Robbins. and Rogers & Pyatt
had on these floors. though he believed
there was some chlorate of potash.
John McKisson. jr., of McKisson & Rob-
bins, said that his concern had forty-fve
kegs of chlorate of potash in the Tarrant
building, together with a quantity of
bariuns The foreman of Rogers & Pyatt
did not know just what they had stored
in the Tarrant building, but was sure it
was nothing that in itself was explosive,
although, combined with other chemicals,
an explosion might result.
Mrs. Johanna Hayden, forewoman en-
ployed by the Tarrant Company. says posi-
lively that the fire started on the fourth
floor of the building. the floor where the
chemicals from one of the outside firms
were stored and this. among other things,
is taken as evidence that it was on this
floor or the floor below it-for the fire
worked downward-and among the chem
icals stored for the outside firms, that
the explosions began.
W. c. Allen. Secretary and Manager OF
the Tarrant Company, said this evening
that the only way he could account for the
explosion was that it was caused by some
chemical reaction from the combination
under heat of chemicals which of them
selves were non explosive. All today as
we'll as all yesterday and last night. the
work of the firemen was confined to COOL
ing the ruins sufficiently for the actual
search for the dead to begin.
Thus far the only body positively known
to be in the ruins is that of August
Schmidt, dye-sinker and engraver in the
employ of Richard Hartmann, manufac-
turer of cardboard signs. whose place OF
fifth floors on Warren Street directly OPP
posite the Tarrant building. Schmidt was
working at the time of the fire in the
room on the third floor at the southwest
corner of Greenwich and Warren Streets.
The last seen of him alive he was gather
ing up his tools preparatory to leaving,
and today what undoubtedly is his body
was visible under the heavy presses and
debris on the floor Of what was once his
room.
The body could not be removed today
because the walls beneath the room will
have to be shored up before it will be
safe for anyone to venture on the floor
where the dead man lies.
Chief Croker of the fire department,
was at the ruins the greater part of the
afternoon. He said that every wholesale
drug house in the city was little better
than powder magazine. and that he was
In favor of compelling all of them to store
their chemicals in buildings that were
three hundred feet from any other struc-
ture. which would drive such storage
places out Of town.
He cited one big drug store in particular
well down town. east of Broadway, and
said that If it ever caught fire it would
wreck all that part OF the east side that
vas near to it. He said also that all the
Dig drug houses were constantly violating
he law and that the inspectors were prac-
ically powerless to prevent it, for-and
n this Commissioner Scannell also con-
,urred-if all the drug houses We're over
lauled minutely and the managers state
nents verified it would take as large
orce of inspectors as the present uni
ormed police force of the city.
1t was advanced today as a theory that ,
I was what the firemen know as the back
lraft" which caused the disaster. and
his view Mr. Croker indicated in con-
sequence of the terrible havoc wrought
Mass Meeting at BpllStOn.