The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-03-20
BOILER ExPLODES.
Fire Follows and Destroys a
Shoe Factory.
Spreads to Adjoining Business
Buildings and Residences.
AZ BODIES TAKEN OUT.
Number of Dead May Reach as
High as so.
Occupants of Nearby Structures
Had Narrow Escapes.
The Property Loss Is Estimated
at 100000.


injuries. In all eight buildings were
burned. including the factory, a busi-
ness block and an old hotel building oc-
cupied by stores and tenements and the
financial loss is estimated at $500 900.
The greatest difficulty was exper-
| fenced in ascertaining the number of
dead and injured, owing to the fact that
an ell Of the factory in which some 200
hands were at work was almost COM
pletely 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 lao o'clock AZ bodies
had been removed, all of them burned
so badly as to make identification diff
cult if not impossible. In some cases
nothing but the frame work of bones
was found in the debris. A partial list
of the known dead and missing follows;
Known Dead:
DAVID ROCKW ELL, engineer.
JOHN SMITH.
STEPHEN SNOW
Frank Bell.
Barnabus Lewis.
Nellie Leary.
Maurice Fitzpatrick.
Mira Berger.
Mrs Perry
Brockton. Mass, March 20-A boiler
h. Z.
tory here today and several employees
are reported to have been killed. Fire
broke out in the factory.
A later message received from the
burning factory was to the effect that
a large number of persons had been
killed. The explosion, which occurred
in the boiler building, wrecked a part of
the main structure of the plant in which
the employees already had been assem-
bled for the days work.
Before 9 o'clock the entire Grover
plant had been destroyed and the fire
had spread to adjoining business struc-
lures and private residences.
The boiler which exploded was located
on the ground floor in the ell part of the
four story wooden Grover factory
When the explosion occurred that part
of the factory directly above collapsed.
Fifty employees are missing. 1t is ex-
pected that after the excitement sub
sides many of these will be accounted
for
The first knowledge of an accident to
outsiders was the sound of roar from
the direction of the Grover plant Peo-
PIE living nearby looked out to see a
dense pillar of smoke rising from the
top of the shoe factory.
part of the factory had collapsed
and a moment afterWard flames start
ed outward from the mass Of wreck
age and quickly spread to the rest of
the wooden structure. When the en-
ployes who were at work in the main
building they went quickly to where
the explosion occurred and succeeded
III reScu1ng many persons from under
meath the wreckage who without as
s1stance would have been unable to
get clear of the heavy timbers. So
quickly did the fire communicate
with the nearby structures that their
occupants scarcely had time to make
their way out.
Reports received at the Brockton
hospital were to the effect that IL
We're, dead and score or more in
At 1890 O'Clock it was said that
the fire was under control. At that
hour, search of the ruins was still i'm
possible owing to the heat. The
number Of missing was still estimated
by the police at so.
David Rockwell the engineer in
charge of the boiler which exploded
has been detained by the police pending
an investigation of the accident
The boiler which exploded was To- |
Gated on the ground floor of an ELL
which extended from the main build |
ing In the three stories Of the ell
were working rooms Persons living |
near heard duh roar and saw a |
cloud of smoke rising and the ell of
the factory falling to the ground. |
Flames burst from the ruins sprea ding
quickly to the main structure, which |
II rev minutes was roaring fur |
mace Most of the employees ii the |
main part of the plant succeeded in |
escaping, although in the terrible
panic which followed the explosion
quite number were injured.
The Grover factory was situated at
Main and Calmar streets in the Camp |
bell district, about a mile south of the
city proper. The district is within the
city limits of Brockton. A series of
alarms summoned all the fire appar-
atus in the city to the scene and aid |
also was sent from nearby places The |
hremen experienced the greatest diff /
Guilty in battling with the flames as
the Grover factory was at an extreme
ly inf1ammable nature and nearly all /
the floors were saturated with oil.
Andrew Lunden. leg fractured, |
burned about face and hands. and Ell |
mer H Dodge. compound fracture of
the leg, severely burned about the |
face and hands. were the first of the /
injured to be brought to the Brockton /
hospital.
The heat Of the fire was so intense /
that the work of the f1remen and police /
was carried on under great difficulties |
Their attention was chiefly given to the |
Grover building. especially that part of /
it which was nearest the boiler house /
and in the early stages of rsle fire a /
number Of employees were extricated |