Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1901-03-16
A Chicago FATALITY.
Eight Persons Instantly Killed and
Several Missing.
FoRTY-Two OTHERS WE'RE HURT

th ANNfR0NNFttt AnNMlDHBH& INV
search For Dead Bodies.
Chicago. March 12.-By the explosion
of the boiler in the Doremus laundry.
45S West Madison street, yesterday.
eight people were instantly killed. AZ
were injured and several are missing
The list OF the recovered dead is as fol-
lows.
Frank Hannemann. Martha Jacob,
Bessie Kusaba, Kate Voss, Catherine
Kelly. George Piehl, Emma Sabruski
and Minnie Olsen.
The cause Of the explosion has not
been determined with accuracy as yet.
and II will probably require an official
investigation to settle the matter. 1t
is known that the boiler was old, a
secondhand affair, and there is nc rec
ord In the office OF the city boiler in
spector Of any inspection having been
made within the last year. Pending
the verdict OF the coroner's jury A. l..
Doremus. the proprietor of the laun-
dry, Is held in custody by the police.
and 1t is the intention of the authori-
ties to institute criminal proceedings
against him should the facts brought
out at the inquest warrant such pro-
ceedings.
The list of dead and wounded was
difficult to secure. Reports of the num-
Der Of dead In the ruins run all the
way from six to twenty. II is known
that 36 employees of the laundry had
entered the place before the explo-
sion occurred. because the automatic
t~imekeeper found in the ruins, and
xr,Afn1 .vo. r~& L.w~.A>d .hnuuaJ that
number Of registered arrivals. Two or
three were entering at the moment OF
the explosion, making an approximate
total of 40 employees in and around the
building. The list of injured includes,
however, several people residing In the
adjoining buildings, nearly all of
which were badly damaged. The most
conservative estimate by the police
comedies that at least three, dead or
alive, are still in the ruins. yet the
search for bodies In the ruins came to
a sudden end early In the afternoon
and the work of rescue was entirely
abandoned.
The cause Of the cessation of the
search was a dispute between the fire.
men and police as to who was respon-
sible for the recovery of any bodies
which might be concealed beneath the
debris. The firemen said they had per-
formed their whole duty and. gather
ing up their hose, they started from the
scene The police said 1t was not their
work to dig for bodies, and nobody else
volunteered to do the work.
The trouble was brought to the at
tention of Police Inspector John ID.
Shea, in whose district the accident
occurred, and he held that the search
properly belonged to the fire depart
ment.
"Whoever heard OF the police dig
ging for bodies or performing the work
of a wrecking crew." asked the in
spector. Il never did, and l say that
work does not belong to the police de-
partment. The firemen are the proper
ones in my estimation to perform the
work. At least they have done so in
the past. The work Of digging for
bodies was carried on by the firemen
in the morning. and the police then
performed their duty by removing the
dead and injured. | fail to see how the
duties of either the police or fire de-
%partments change in the afternoon"
Chief Sweeney, of the fire depart
ment, said there was no friction be-
tween his department and the police
department. He admitted that the
firemen had abandoned the search for
bodies, and said:
THE understanding of the fire de-
partment is that all the injured and
dead have been recovered from the
ruins. The fire which burned there
was entirely extinguished. and with
the recovery Of all dead bodies and in
the firemen withdrew. My men did
been informed that there was nothing
else for them to do"
Both the police and iremen remain
ed firm and refused 10 continue to
search for bodies. While the fremen
maintained hat all the bodies had
been recovered the police asserted
that this fact had not been established,
and Police Lieutenant O'Hara said the
general understanding was that more
bodies were in the ruins.
While the firemen and police were
arguing and explaining their respec-
tive sides in the matter the city build
ing department stepped in. Building
Inspector Kiolbassa sent a deputy to
the scene of the catastrophe and a no.
tice was sent to Jackson Brothers,
agents for the property, to immediate
ly begin the work of pulling down the
walls and clearing away the debris.
Jackson Brothers were given two
hours to comply with the order, their
failure to do so to result in the build
ing department performing the work.
The real estate firm soon had a num-
Der OF wreckers at the ruins and the
work of pulling down the walls was
Immediately begun. This operation
made it impossible to continue the
search for bodies, but the work may
be continued today.
While the police and fire depart
ments were arguing another clash oc-
CURED at the county morgue. Capt.
John Rehm, of the Desplaines street
police station, asked Deputy Coroner
Buckley to hold Mr. Doremus in bonds
until after the inquest has been held.
The deputy. however. refuseu to
comply with the request. He replied
that 1t was f'up to" the police to hold
nnranuo 70 thnp an l~,s~1l lM.@ 49,