Evening star., 1902-08-21
PULP MILLS VICTIMS
DEATH LIST AT WILMINGTON
MAY REACH EIGHTEEN.
Eleven Known Dead, Two Fatally
Injured and Six Others
Missing.

WILMINGTON, Del, August 21.-Eleven
persons dead, two of those in the hospitals
so seriously injured that little hope Is en-
tertained for their recovery, six still miss
ing and whose bodies are supposed to be
in the ruins is the result of the terrible ex-
plosion at the Delaware pulp works of the
Jessup & Moore Paper Company in this
city late yesterday afternoon.
James Jester and George Durham. both
employed in the digester room, where the
explosion occurred. died today.
Following is a list of the Victims
Dead John Mccormick: VIM. T. Burke,
married; Granville Walters. chemist. mar
ried; James B. Stokes, married; Franklin
T. Harris; George w. Wright, married;
Jos. L.aubacker, Joseph Nagle. Zachariah
Collins. George Durham. James Jester.
Missing: Joel Hutton, VIM. Ruth; e. H.
Mousiey, married; Bernard Sweeney, VIM.
Scott. Joseph Henry.
Seriously injured: Thomas Reese, skull
fractured; John Collins, inhaled flames,
critical
George Durham. the tenth victim. died
at hospital this morning, and later in the
day the body of Joel Hutton was taken
from the ruins making the twelfth known
victim. Hutton was a fireman In the d.
gester room. where the explosion occurred.
1t is almost sure that the total death list
will foot up eighteen. 1t is practically GER
tain that the bodies of the missing
men are in the debris, and there Is no hope
of saving the lives of the three men so
terribly injured. The bodies thought to be
in the ruins are those Of William Scott and
William Ruth, firemen, and James Sweeney.
feeder of digesters. Those whose recovery
Is despaired of are James Jester, Thomas
Reeves and John Collins, all employees Of the
paper company.
Two steel digesters in the Delaware pulp
mills of the Jessup & Moore Paper Com
pany on the Christiana river. at Whining
ton, De-, exploded yesterday afternoon.
The digesters were located In a two-Story
building. There were ten Of them in the
building, each one resembling a vat and
about six feet i'll diameter. They were used
for reducing wood pulp. Eighteen men
were at work in the building. There were
two terrific reports. and the next instant
the building and other mills about the struc-
ture were completely wrecked. One diges-
ter was blown into the air and fell to the
ground 80 feet away.
A dense volume of smoke for time pre-
vented the outside workmen from going to
the immediate rescue of those who were
caught In the ruins of the falling building.
Two men made their escape without any in
jury. An alarm of fire was sounded, and
the entire fire department of the city and a
large force of police were soon the
ground, and the work of rescue was i1nme-
diately begun. Several of the workmen
were taken out unconscious only to die
after being removed to hospitals. The
wreckage was piled up for more than thirty
feet, and the escaping steam made the work
of rescue difficult.
Those who were not killed outright were
mangied and burned by escaping acid that
flowed over their bodies from the broken
digesters.
To add to the horror of the disaster the
wreckage took fire, but the fire depa tment
managed to subdue the flames, and the
work of rescue was continued.
Steam was used in the digesters The
officers of the company think that too much
m uva cya,o to1 to- 49,, 80
was the cause of the explosion The none
tary loss is estimated at $4,000.