The Billings gazette., 1901-03-12
BY EXPLOSION
OF A BOILER
EIGHT KILLED AND FORTY
INJURED.
VICTIMS BURIED IN RUINS
Firemen Wrangle with Police
Over Work Of Recover
ing Bodies.
VICTIMS BURIED in RUINS

Chicago, March 1.-THE boiler of
the Doremus laundry, occupying part
of the old Waverly theatre building OH
West Madison street, between Thorp
and I,ocmis streets, blew up shortly
alter 8 O'Clock this morning, and up to
noon eight bodies had been taken from
the ruins, while the list of injured
will reach 40. number of whom will
die. Several other employees are re-
ported missing.
The following is list of the dead,
so far as known: Emma Seablazki, l8
years old; Minnie Olsen, 36 years old;
George Phil, engineer; Frank Haum-
man; Bessie Kimcaba, Is years old;
Martha jacob, 81 years old; Katherine
Kelly, l8 years old; one unknown un-
identified man.
One or two people are supposed to
be buried in the smoking ruins, includ-
ing William Dean, aged 10, who was
i'll his fathers restaurant at the time
of the explosion, and has not been seen
since.
The cause of the explosion has not
been determined with accuracy as yet
and it will probably require an official
investigation to settle the matter. 1t
is known that the boiler was old, a
second hand affair, and there is NO
record in the Office of the boiler in
spector of any inspection having heen
made within the last year. Pending
The verdict Of the coronor's jury, P. L.
Doremus, the proprietor of the laun-
dry, is held in custody by the police
and it is the intention of the author
titles to institute criminal proceedings
against him, should the facts brought
out at the inquest warrant such pro-
ceedings.
The list of dead and injured was
difficult to secure. Estimates of the
number Of dead in the RUNS run all
the way from six to 20. 1t is known
that SO employees of the laundry had
entered the place before the explosion
occurred, because the automatic timer
found in the ruins and which was not
damaged, shows that number Of regis
tered arrivals. Two or three were
entering at the moment of the explo-
sion. making an approximate total of
40 employees in and around the builll-
ing.
The list of injured includes. how
ever, several people residing in the
adjoining buildings, nearly all of
which were badly damaged. The
most conservative estimate by the po-
lice, comedies that at least three peo-
pie dead are still i'll the ruins, yet the
search for bodies in the ruins came to
a sudden end this afternoon and the
work of rescue was entirely aband-
oned. The cause of the cessation of
the search was dispute between the
firemen and police as to who was re-
sponsible for the recovery Of any
bodies which might be concealed be-
meath the debris The firemen said
they had performed their whole duty,
and, gathering up their hose, they re-
tired from the scene. The police said
it was not their work to dig for bodies
and nobody else volunteered to do the
work. The trouble was brought to the
attention of Police Inspector John D.
Shea, in whose district the accident
occurred and he held the search prop
erly belonged to the firemen.
Chief Sweenie of the fire department
said that there was no friction between
his department. and the polioo depart
ment. He admitted that the firemen
had abandoned the search for bodies.
Both the police and the firemen re-
manned firm and refused to continue
the search for bodies. While the fire.
men maintained that 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.
The fact of the matter was that
while the firemen and the police were
arguing and explaining their different
sides of the matter, the city building
inspection department. stepped in.
Building Inspector Kiolbassa sent an
inspector to the scene and an order was
issued to jackson Bros, agents of the
proprietors, to Immediately begin the
work of pulling down the walls and
clearing away. the debris. The. real
estate firm soon had lot of workers
at the scene and the work of pulling
down the walls was Immediately be-
gum. This. operation made it impossi-
BILE to continue the search for bodies
but it may be renewed tomorrow.
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