Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1905-03-23
THREE SCORE
LIVES LOST
BOILER ExPLoDEs WITH TERRI
BE FORCE IN LARcE
sHoE FACTORY
AWFUL HEAT or INFERNO
DRIVES BACK BAND or HEROIC
REscuERs From PILE
or DEBRIS.
GALLANT SERVICE PERFORhED
MAY NEVER Be KNOWN HOW
MANY Persisted IN THE
DISASTER.
GALLANT SERVICE PERFORMED

s
Brocton, Mass. March 81. This
city Is in mourning for at least three
score Of her citizens, whpse lives were
blotted out yesterday by the explosion
Of boiler in a large shoe manufac-
turing establishment conducted by the
r. B. Grover company.
The explosion was Immediately fol
lowed BY a flash of flame, which con-
sumed the factory, long four-story
structure. as If 1t were a house Of
cards, and incinerated an unknown
number Of men and women who were
unable to extricate themselves from a
mass of tangled wreckage formed by
the terrific upheaval III the boiler
room More than half hundred of
the employees in the building were
manned, burned or bruised by the
time they reached safe ground. Some
had jumped from the roof. some from
windows and Others had been injured
lib the mad rush to escape from the
doomed factory, which from all parts
emitted the intense, awful heat of an
inferno, driving back the band Of,
heroic rescuers who in a few brief mo-
inents had performed gallant service
The fire extended from the factory
Ito seven other buildings ia the vicinity
and destroyed them. Two wooden
dwellings near the engine room were
practically demolished by the flying
boiler. The total financial loss its esti-
mated at a quarter Of a million dollars.
100000 Of which falls on the r. B.
Grover company The monetary loss
Is nearly Offset by insurance.
It may never be known how many
persons ifs peri IN the wreckage, as
no one knows how many persons were
ia the factory The number has been
estimated at 400. but Treasurer
Charles o. Emerson said last night he
doubted whether there were SO many
at work. Two hundred and fifty sur.
yivors have been accounted for and at
midnight the remains of fifty bodies
had been recovered from the ruins, the
search being continued an night. Frag-
ments of human frames which possibly
might belong to bodies other than
those enumerated, have also been
found. Few OF the remains have been
identified. The head in nearly every
case is missing.
Chief OF Police Boyden at late
nour tonight expressed the opinion
that some of the employees had not
reached the factory at the time Of the
explosion and that undoubtedly num-
Der of those living in nearby Places
We're injured and had gone home with
out reporting their injuries He
thought that many of those not ac-
counted for, upward Of 100 in number,
were among these.
The disaster was attended BY many
narrowing scenes and thrilling res
cues For hours hundreds of the rela.
tives Of the factory operatives be-
.sieged the ruins add the IRE and police
stations IN quest Of missing ones. Some
iii their violent grief and agonixing
stress 81 mind collapsed.
Several Of the rescuers and search.
ers tainted as they beheld the distress
ing scene, There was no trace Of the
body of David W.. Rockwell. engineer
of the plant, who was not seen AFTER
the explosion ii II supposed that he
persisted at his post.
An inspection of the wrecked boiler
81 the state boiler inspectors showed
! that there was d sufliclent supply On
water in IL The cause az the explo
sion is ait present mystery. The dis