Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-03-12

carrying with it the portion OF the
brick walls that had not been blown
outward, and burying under o OF
debris the unfortunate employees.
All of the dozen or more little stores
attached to the Waverly theatre and
facing on Madison street were wreck
ed by the explosion. In a restaurant,
owned by Peter Dean, n OF the fatal
tiles is supposed to have occurred. The
rear of the restaurant was almost op-
posite the boiler. MIR. Dean, his wife
and two boys were eating at the time
of the explosion, which blew in the
rear wall of the little establishment,
burying the Dean family. All were ex-
tricated Except William, a ten year old
boy. who has not yet been found and
who is believed to be buried in the
ruins. Windows along Madison street
We're blown to atoms, and a number OF
pedestrians were slightly cut and bruis-
ed by the showers of glass. A Madi-
son street cable train, passing the
building at the time, was almost lift
ed from the tracks by the force of the
explosion and the passengers thrown
into a panic. No II was injured,
however.
Five girls, working in the Papier
| Mache works of J. K. Young, occupy
| ing a part Of the wrecked building, mar
rowly escaped death. The plant was
completely wrecked, and the roof was
| blown in, but none of the employees was
injured.
The wreckage near the boiler and in
the east part of the building at once
took fire, and the fire department, al
though at work five minutes after the
explosion, had difficulty in e~xtinguish-
ing the flames. Through the binding
clouds of dust and escaping steam
could be seen struggling men and wo-
men, some of them half buried in the
wreckage. The work of rescue began
at once. Here and there dead bodies,
generally those OF women, and in two
instances so frightfuly mangled that
baskets were used to carry them out,
were found by the firemen.
Most of the dead were found in the
east end of the building, where the fire
| was the hottest. Pinioned down under
tons of heavy timbers, crushed and
mangled almost beyond recognition,
and in one or two instances half cook
ed, were found five of the dead. The
wreckage at this point was so massed
that the firemen had great difficulty in
working, and it will be nightfall before
the bottom of the mass can be reached
and the dead, if any more are in the
ruins, recovered.
The list of the dead and wounded
was difficult to secure. Reports of the
number, of dead in the ruins run all
the way from six to twenty. 1t is known
that Sc employees of the laundry had
entered the place before the explosion
occurred, because the automatic time
keeper found in the ruins and which
was not damaged, showed that number
of registered arrivals. Two or three
were entering at the moment of the
explosion, making an approximate to-
tai Of forty employees in and around
the building. The list of injured in
cludes, however, several persons re-
siding in the adjoining buildings, near
ly all of which were badly damaged.
The most conservative estimate by the
police comedies that at least three peo-
pie, dead or alive, are still in the ruins:
yet the search for bodies in the ruins
anne to a sudden end early in the af-
ternoon, 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 is responsible
for the recovery of any bodies which
might be concealed beneath the deb
ris. The firemen said they had per-
formed their whole duty and gather
ing up their hose, they-retired 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 vas brought to the attention
of Police Inspector John D. Shea, in
whose district the accident occurred,
and he held that the seach properly
belonged to the fire department.
Who ever heard of the police dig
ging for bodies or performing the
work of a wrecking crew." asked the
inspector. 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 that
work. At least, they have done so in
the past. The work of digging for
bodies was carried on by the fremen
in the morning and the police then per-
formed their duty by removing the
dead and injured. | fail to see how the
duties of either the police or fire de-
partment change in the afternoon
Chief Swenie, of the fire department.
said there was no friction between his