Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-12-04
MANY MEN ARE SLAIN
Terrible Result of a Boiler Explo-
sion in Detroit.
Twenty-Six Employees of the Pen
berthy Injector Plant Lose Their
Lives, and n Great Many 9th
ers Are Injured.

Detroit, Mich, Nov. s7.-Twenty-six
men are dead, five of them unidenti-
fed, and so terribly burned and black
ened that Identification is almost i'm
possible, and "a other men are lying
in the various hospitals of the city
suffering from terrible cuts and burns
and other injuries, all results of the
explosion of one of the boilers in the
Penberthy Injector company's large
plant, at the corner of Abbott street
and Brooklyn avenue, at $3.50 O'Clock
Tuesday. Following are the dead:
A. E. Hoffman. Louis Henning, Patrick
Malloy, A. E. Miller, Eugene Bertram. r.
Mulkee, Joseph Coffey, Charles Marvin,
Joseph Koseck, Shephen Chrsp, George
Schenor, Charles Lydy, Jacob Keobel, Will
liam Mann, Christopher Waldman. Rob-
ert Greer, Edward Burch, John Schaible,
Richard Ryan, Douglass Dickinson, boy,
Peter Doll and five unidentified bodies.
THE Samuel Riley, engineer,
condition critical, bad burns; A. 4. Gilday,
suffering from burns; John Hoffiein, badly
burned; John KlinewicZ, very badly
burned, will probably die; Herman
Goldner, burned about the back; Tony
Walker, foreman of the molding de-
John Vogt, bruised and suffering from
shock; James Nall, back injured Sol
Graupe, slight burns; Bert Dickson, minor
injuries; John Dingal, injured about head;
julius Liebeten, arm broken and slight
burns; Edward Liebeten, boy, burned;
George Kelsey, head badly cut; Stephen
Nachtigel, slight; Ignatius Brock, slight;
Gus Galley, head and arm injured; William
Knapp head cut and suffering from shock;
Bert Martin, leg broken; T. D. Crowley,
slight; Louis Miller, slight; Mike Deranger,
burned about head: William Ager, several
bad burns and seriously bruised; William
Begeman, arm cut.
The Wrecked Plant.
The Penberthy Injector company's
plant occupied half square at the
corner of Abbott street and Brook
Ign avenue. 1t was composed of two
brick buildings, separated by TO-
foot alley. The rear building, in
which the boiler was located and
which was completely destroyed, was
three stories in height, 81 feet in
depth and 100 feet wide. The boiler
room was located in the northwest
corner of the building on the first
floor. 1t is impossible to tell exactly
how many men were at work in the
various departments of this rear
building when the explosion occurred,
but the officers insist that the number
was not over IS. There were four
boilers in the plant, two horizontal
ones which furnished steam for the
engines, and two vertical boilers
which were used solely to test in
jectors. It was the horizontal boiler
that was in use Tuesday morning
which let go and caused the awful
loss of life.
Came Without Warming.
The awful crash came without the
slightest warning. Those in the front
building said it seemed like the con-
cussion of an immense cannon. The
floors and roof of the rear building
bulged upward and then crashed
down with their heavy loads of ma
chinery and foundry apparatus.
Walls, roof and all dropped into
shapeless mass of debris. Windows
in houses for a block around were
broken by the conclusion and fying
bricks filled the neighboring yards.
a dense cloud of dust arose, and as
it settled it was succeeded by denser
clouds of smoke and steam, and ag-
onized cries began to come from the
heap of tangled wood, metal and
bricks. Those who were only partly
buried frantically dug themselves
out and then as energetically turned
to digging for their comrades who
were buried deeper.
Fire Adds Its Horrors.
Flames broke out almost immedi-
ately and the horror of fire was
added to the sufferings of the i'm
prisoned ones. A fire alarm was
turned in and quickly responded to.
Calls were sent out for all the am
balances in the city and they were
hurried to the scene. Pending their
arrival neighboring houses were
turned into temporary hospitals and
those physicians who were in the vi
entity eased the suffering ones as
much as they were able. The first
ambulances on the scene were totally
inadequate to carry those who had
already been extricated and express
wagons and similar vehicles were
pressed into service. AS soon as the
gravity of the accident was realized
calls for additional firemen were sent
in and the apparatus came flying to
the scene from all parts of the city.
Property Loss Heavy.
The property loss, according to