The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1901-11-28
TERRIBLE RESULT or A BOILER
EXPLOSION IN A DE-
TRoIT FACTORY.
BUILDING A TOTAL WRECK
Scores Of Employees Buried In the
.. Ruins, Few Escaping Without In
Jury-Thirty-eight Of the Dangerous
y Hurt Taken to Various Hospitals.
Ruins Burning FiereeIy Before the
Work Of Rescue Is Completed.

Detroit, Nov. 27-At least half a
hundred men who began their days
work in the factory of the Penberthy
Injector company are victims Of an ex.
plosion Of the large boiler situated in
one end of the structures in which they
were at work. OF these IA are known
to be dead and the bodies Of several
others are believed to be beneath the
debris.
The boiler was located In one end OF
three-story brick building, 81 by $50
feet in size. The structure was in.
stantly and completely reduced to a
mass Of burning ruins. The only men
on the first floor, which was largely
utilized as storeroom, were the en-
gineers, firemen and some workmen
who were making alterations. All OF
these were either killed or badly
MANNED. On the second floor were Is
finishers; on the third were Is brass
mouIders. Just how many escaped
from this building is not yet determin.
ed, but up to o'clock SO injured had
been taken to hospitals and Il dead
bodies had been gotten out of the
ruins.
The ruined building was separated
from the other portion of the factory
by an alley way. A portion Of the
wall Of the second building was blown
in but none of the inmates were Sc
riously hurt Samuel Riley, the en-
gineer, was taken from the ruins an
hour after the explosion. He had been
pinned under a heavy shaft and his
face was cooked by the flames and he
still alive, though unable to explain
the cause of the disaster. As soon as
news Of the explosion spread anxious
relatives Of the employees crowded to
the scene and struggled to enter the
ruins in search of the missing.
Work Of Rescue Begun.
A gang of city employees worked at
removing the hot debris as rapidly as
possible and ropes were hastily
stretched across the intersection Of
Abbott and Seventh streets to keep
back the excited crowds. Most OF the
injured were hurried to Emergency
hospital, four blocks distant.
Hugh Guy, city boiler inspector, says
that his deputies inspected the boil
ers in the Penberthy plant on July S
and II last There were four boilers
In the plant, two horizontals and two
uprights. They were in use On alter
nate days and supposedly were well
cared for.
While the number of missing has
narrowed somewhat during the after
noon, it is certain that several bod
les are still undiscovered.
President Johnson of the Penberthy
company is making a systematic
search for the employees by sending
MESSENGER boys to their homes. He
said to the Associated Press that there
were two testing boilers in the plant,
also one 10e-horse power upright and
one 1o0-horse power tubular.
"I am satisfied" he said, that 1t was
the latter which exploded. The boil
ers were tested regularly and 1t was
only a week ago that the boiler test
er compEmented us On our careful en-
gineer"
The property loss amounts to $780,
600. :
The first words of Engineer Samuel
Riley, who lies in Grace hospital in
dying condition, on returning to con-
sciouSness, were:
How did it happen? Everything
was all right with the boiler and en-
CINE as far as I knew"
The 18th body was taken from the
ruins during the afternoon.
Later two more bodies were recov-
cred from the ruins. They were lying
side by side under a section of the roof
which had fallen in. They were so
badly burned as to be unrecogniZable.