Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-06-25
Fifteen Bodies and Head of An
other Found in Ruins of Pat
erson IN. j. Fire.
The SEARCH KEPT UP ALL NIeHT LONG.
Building in which the Explosion
Occurred Was Frame Tenement
-Four Stories High and Burned Like
Tinder-Smaller Explosions Fol-
low Main Explosion.


was destroyed by fire Friday after an
explosion of fireworks in the store of
A. M. Rittenburg. Up to II a. IN.
Saturday the dead bodies of ID per-
sons and the head of another had
been taken from the ruins. The
bodies recovered Saturday are those
of Mrs. Annie Launigan, Mrs. Annie
Feuteman. and Joseph Elvin, two
months old, whose mother was
found Friday evening.
Two More Bodies Found.
The bodies of L. Schulman, of
Brooklyn, N. Y, and Mrs. Simon, the
mother-in-law of Rittenberg, were
found later in the day. This makes
the known fatalities 16.
The firemen, while digging in the
ruins of the cellar beneath Ritten-
berg's store, found q quantity OF
dynamite torpedoes and the police
and fire officials are of the opinion
that the explosion and fire resulted
from the bursting of a torpedo OF
this kind.
The Explosion.
The explosion occurred shortly aft
er noon and many of the occupants of
the building were out at dinner. The
building in which the explosion oc-
surred was frame tenement, four
stories high, with stores on the ground
floor. The middle store was occupied
by Rittenberg. Ten families occupied
fats in the building. So great was
the force of the explosion that boy
playing in the street half block away
was lifted from his feet and hurled
against an iron fence. One OF his legs
was broken. Atroiley car was directly
in from, of the building when the ex-
p.osion occurred. The burst of flame
blown out into the street scorched the
sides of the car and singed the hair of
the passengers.
Husband and Wife Perish.
A number of those who were upon
the upper floors of the building when
the explosion took place were either
stunned and then burned to death or
found escape cut off and were suffo-
Gated. After the first explosion there
was succession of smaller ones, and
then came second big explosion which
was muffled and deadened, and prob
ably occurred in the, cellar. Every
window seemed to be emitting flame
within minute after the first explo-
sion. A woman, her clothing on fire,
leaped out of one of the windows and
fell to the yard below. Her dead body
was dragged out of reach of the flames,
but the flesh was roasted and dropped
from the bones. She later proved to
be Mrs. Williams. Mrs. Williams hus-
band was a cripple. His wife is sup
posed to have remained longer than
she could with safety in an effort to
save him. He was found burned to
crisp on his bed. Some of the occu-
pants of the rooms dropped from the
windows and were bruised. Others
hung from the windows until the fire.
men came, and 20 persons were taken
in this way through the fire and smoke
by the fremen, while others dropped
into life nets.
) Daniel Dooley, who was in the yard
when the explosion took place, saw the
two Rittenberg children in the rear
room and rushed into the flames for
them. He got one of them and carried
it out and tried to go back for the 9TH
err, but the room was then one mass
of fire and he was too late. He was
badly scorched in rescuing the first
child.
While the rescues were going on the
firemen were fighting the flames. Capt.
Allen led with hose line in an effort
10 keep the fire from the upper floors,
where it was said many were penned
in. The men had hardly taken their
positions and begun on the sidewalk to
throw water into the upper floors when
without any warning the whole upper
part of the building bove them sagged
outward and fell. The captain and two
of his men were buried under the blaz-
ing debris. One of the men is badly
hurt. The building in which the ex-
plosion occurred was entirely de.
stroyed.
Case to be Adjusted.
st. Paul, Mimi, June 24.-Judge
Sr, ha ;e%r ~ ~