The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1904-06-09
FOURTEEN ARE DEAD
Terrible Result Of Burning Of Big
Distillery Plant at Peoria, Ill.
Property Loss, 100000.

Peoria, H., June 6.-Instead of ten
dead, as first reported, it is now known
that IA men lost their lives in the fire
and explosion at Corning's distillery
Saturday afternoon, which caused a
property loss of 81, 100000 Eight bodies
were recovered from the ruins Sunday,
four Of which were identified. Those
identified are: George Gebhardt, Peter
Lettemeyer, Thomas E. Montgomery,
Samuel Parsons Elmer Hagen died at
the hospital.
The list of unidentified dead and miss
ing is as follows: Ernest Brown, Mil
ton Crowl, William Finley Jr., John Ho-
baker, Frank Knoll, Louis Sax, Alec
Powell, John Unsbee, Joseph thinner
man. OF the eight bodies taken from the
ruins, only four of them were recognized
and these only by means of particles of
clothing, watches, knives and other
pieces of metal. The search is being con-
tinued, the fire having been extinguished
and the workmen are now able to handle
the debris. Six persons were injured.
The Corning distillery was the second
largest establishment of the kind in the
country. The property destroyed COM
prises large warehouse, II stories high,
made largely of corrugated iron, in
which was stored 10000 barrels of high
proof spirits. the cistern and ferment-
ing departments, each in a three-story
brick building, and the cattle sheds, con-
tanning 5000 head of cattle, all of which
fn nnl hn
are left, of the entire plant.
The fire started in the warehouse.
Bursting barrels released a stream of
ignited spirits, which quickly spread the
flames to all parts of the immense struc-
ture, and soon the explosion of thou
sands of casks fastened the destruction
and made noise that terrorized all that
part of the city. In short time the ware
house fell, crushing the smaller build
ings near it, liberating mass of burning
debris. A stream of blazing spirits was
turned into the cattle pens, turning them
into seethins pool of flame, which
quickly killed the animals confined
there. The cattle were the property of
Dodd & Keifer, of Chicago, and F. c.
White & Co., of Peoria.
The fermenting houses were the next
to 60, followed by the cistern depart
ment, in which was $1,000 gallons of
spirits. This added fuel intensified the
heat and made it almost impossible for
fremen to get near enough to the build
ings to work effectively. A high wind
famed the flames toward the Monarch
distillery, and that was threatened. This
made it necessary for the firemen to con-
fine their efforts almost entirely to pre-
venting a spread of the fire. In spite of
them the flames were communicated to
the stockyards, block distance, but the
damage done there was slight. For time
it was feared that the fire would sweep
along the entire river bank. However,
the great work of the firemen began to
tell, and at seven o'clock the fire was un-
der control, with no likelihood of fur
Their spread.
The fire at the Corning plant is the
third serious mishap that has befallen
the company in the last few months. In
October a cooker exploded, killing nine
men,. In December warehouse burned,
causing a loss of $4,000.