The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1905-03-21

IL, S.,&
Keith said late in the afternoon that
he would not be surprised if the num-
Der killed reached 10G.
Brockton, Mass, March 21A boiler
in the big shoe factory of R. B. Grover
& Co. at Campel1o, the southern sec
ton Of this city, exploded during the
day, bringing ruin to the factory and
other nearby property and death to
many operatives. The city fire mar
shall, four hours after the explosion
occurred, estimated the list of dead at
fifty and it was believed by the police
and those at work at the ruins that
as many more had sustained injuries.
In all eight buildings We're burned, in
Guiding the factory, a business block
and an cid hotel building occupied by
stores and tenements and the finan-
cial loss is estimated at 100000.
The greatest difficulty was expert
enced in ascertaining accurately the
the fact that the 81 . of the factory, in
which some 200 hands were at work,
was almost completely wrecked and
many of the men and women had no
chance to escape, being carried down.
in the collapse of the structure, which
Immediately caught fire. Up to 3:15.
o'clock forty-tWo bodies had been
removed, all of them burned so badly
as to make Identification difficult, if
not impossible. In some cases moth.
ing but the framework Of bones was
found in the debris
Flames Break Cut in Ruins.
The boiler which exploded was lo--t
Gated on the second floor of an q Il, Z,
which extended from che main build
ing. In the three stories OF the IL
were Workrooms. Persons living near
heard dull roar and saw cloud OF
smoke rising and the 81" of the fac
tory falling to the ground. FLAMES
burst from the ruins, spreading quick
ly to the main structure, which in g
few minutes was a roaring furnace.
Most OF the employees in the main part
of the plant succeeded in escaping,
although in the terrible panic which
followed the explosion quite number
were injured.
Two houses were wrecked as the
result of the explosion and their ruin
furnishes one Of the peculiar incidents
Of the explosion The boiler was
thrown in northerly direction by
the concussion. 1t passed completely
through the upper part of the house
occupied by David Rockwell, the en-
gineer, practically wrecSing the dwell
ing, and uninterrupted in it's flight
passed on to another dwelling 100 feet
further away, upon which it fell, prac-
tically demolishing the structure. This
house was owned by Mrs. Effie Hood.
The boiler now lies in the midst of the
fallen house.
The Grover factory was situated at
Main and Calmar streets, about mile
south OF the city proper. The district
is within the city limits of Brockton.
a series of alarms summoned all the
fire apparatus in the city to the scene
and aid also was sent from nearby
places. The fremen experienced the
greatest difficulty in battling with the
flames, as the Grover factory was. of
an extremely inflammable nature and
nearly all the floors were saturated
with Oil.
Heat From Blaze Intense.
The heat of the fire was SO intense
that the work of the f1remen and po-
lice was carried out under great diff
culties. Their attention was chiefly
given to the Grover building, espe-
cially that part of it which was near
est the boilerhouse, and in the early
stages Of the fire number of en-
pioyes We're extricated from the ruins.
The flames, however, soon stopped the
rescue work. Tons of water were
poured onto the IL, but the fire from
the main structure seemed too hot for
effective work and the entire plant,
with those who failed to escape, had
to be abandoned. When the flames
reached the Dahlborg block even the.
fremen were obliged to retreat tenn
porarily and it was feared that a large