The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1900-11-02
Frightful Explosion an Collapse OF
a Chemca! House At
New York.
N UMDnR OF FATALITIES UNKNOWN
Ninety-One Names In the Roll of In
jured-Yen Minutes Warming
Given Those Working In
the Structure.


that includes the Royal hotel fire, the
Park place disaster, and the Windsor
and HODOken fires, was added to yes
terday by a fire and explosion that shook
the lower end Of Manhattan like an
earthquake, hurled a seyen-story build
ing into the air, and set fire to two
blocks of buildings with a loss of life
that only the efforts of hundreds of
men who were rushed to the work of
digging away the ruins as soon as the
fire was eXtinguished will reveal The
big building of Tarrant & Co., makers
Of medical specialists, standing at the
northwest corner of Greenwich and
Warren street, and filed with chemi-
calls, took fire in some way that may
never be known at about quarter aft
er II o'clock yesterday afternoon. 1t
was sixteen minutes after noon that
citizen rushed into the house of fire
engine 20. on Chambers street. near
Greenwich, and shouted that Tarrant's
drug house was on fire. He had seen
volume of black smoke coming from
the third-story window.
Explosion Greets the Firem n.
An alarm was turned in. Soon aft
erward second and third alarms were
turned in. One fire company had just
arrived when terrific explosion oc-
Cured and threw the entire engines
crew down the stairway. The fire.
men, realizing the danger of their po-
sltiOn, rushed out of the building to the
street. The explosion had filled the
street in front with a shower of fall
ing glass and small debris, which sent
the crowd which was already gathered
to the opposite side walks fleeing for
safety. and caused the horses hitched
to the engines to rear and try to get
away. Engineer Rocksberry was I'M
Fastening the horses and Fireman
Brown. of the company, was turning
the safety valve Of the engine when
the explosion occurred and covered
them with shower Of glass. Both
were injured, as was another fireman
belonging to the company.
Second Explosion Is Still Worse
Captain Devanney of the company,
ordered his crew back into the build
ing again. They were dragging the
line to the doorway for the second
time when another explosion, more ter
rifle than the first came. and the whole
street, Devanney being so badly in
jured that lie was sent to a hospital
In the meantime the other engines
that had responded to the alarm had
collected and the firemen were busy
rescuing people from surrounding
buildings. Firemen had already taken
many girls down the fire escape upon
the building, and more persons had
been carried down the escapes of the
Home Made restaurant next door and
the buildings adjoining upon Warren
street.
Made Wreck of the Building.
The second explosion occurred about
five minutes after the first. From the
accounts of witnesses the building
seems to have leaped into the air, and
in a moment masses of brick wall. tim
bers and stone were falling into the
street. The force of the explosion tore
away the walls Of the big commission
store houses fronting on Washington
street, and caused them to collapse,
falling all at once in a mass of timbers,
boxes and barrels. from which the
flames which burst out from the Tar
rant building like the belch;ng of a
cannon. at once broke forth. Across
Warren street to the opposite buildings
the flames leaped. setting them all afire
at once. the force Of the explosion de-
molishing windows and all wooden
structures about the houses In mo-
ment Warren street was chOked up
with mass Of debris and the whole
place was aflame. The great explosion
was followed by half a dozen more
scarcely less intense. and by count
less number Of smaller ones.
SCENE OF GREATEST CONFUSION.
People in the Buildings Had Ten Minutes
to Save Their Lives.
Half an hour after the explosion the
streets for blocks around the fire were
crowded with fire apparatus with a
score of ambulances, while hundreds
of police were being rushed from all
the lower precincts of the city to form
lines. From the burning districts
column of smoke was rising high in the
air, mingled with flames that could
not be controlled by hundreds of
streams thrown upon them. The sec
Ond explosion carried destruction in
every direction. That it did not cause
a wholesale loss Of life was due to the
fact that almost ten minutes warning
came after the first cry of fire-a cry
that was real warning to people who
knew the character of the chemicals in
the burning building-and fully five
minutes occurred between the first and
minor explosion. which warned every
one within hearing, and the second one.
The big explosion completely carried
away the elevated station opposite and
the mass of masonry that fell with it
broke through the flooring and almost
demolished the structure just below
the building. Immense masses of ma
sonry, pieces of cornice, great beams,
window castings, and an Understandable
mass of wreckage of very description
tumbled suddenly into the street in
front of the building all at once. The
force of the explosion below had
thrown the firemen back across the
street. so that they were not caught,
but their escape from the rain of debris
across the street was almost miracu-
lous Their. were all sorts of miracIl-
Ious escapes and also ludricous Incl
dents.
Down in Mecklem Bros offices in
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