The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1905-03-21
HEARTRENDINC SCENES WHEN
THE FIRE STOPPED RESCUERS
Only Few Victims Saved from the Flames
ACTS of Sacrifice and HerOism==Man
Asked to be Abandoned to
Save Girl

Bfockton, Mass, March 20.-This
city is in mourning tonight for at
least three score of her citizens
whose lives were blotted out early to-
day by the explosion of a boiler in
Grover companys shoe factory
The explosion was immeda:ly fol
lowed by fash OF flames. which con.
sumed the factory, a long. four-s ory
structure, as 4 1T were house of
cards, and incnerated an unknown
number of men ana women who were
unable to extricate themselves from
the mass of tangled wreekage sormed
by tne terrific upheayal in the boiler
room,
More than half hundred employees
were either burned of Bruised by the
time hey reached safe ground Some
had jumped from the roof, some from
windows and others had been injured
in the rush to escape from the doom
ed factory, which from all parts emit
ted intense awful heat of an inferno,
driving back the band of heroic res
cuers who IN a few brief moments
had performed gallant service.
The fire extended from the factory
to seven other buildings in the vicin-
ity and destroyed them.
Liss of Dead Unknown.
It may never be known just how
many persons perished. No one
knows exactly how many persons
were in the factory The number has
been estimated at four hundred but
Treasurer Emerson said tonight that
he doubted whether there we're so
many at work. Two hundred and fifty
survivors have been accounted for
and at midnight the remains of fifty
bodies had been recovered from the
ruins. the search beng continued all
night.
Fragments of human frames which
possibly might belong to bodies other
than those enumerated have also
been found Few of the remains have
been identified.
Bodies Without Heads.
The head in nearly every case is /
missing and except in rare instances !
it was imposs BILE even to distin-
gulsh the sex. There was no trace !
of the body of David w Rockwell,
the engineer. who was not seen after
the explosion. It is supposed he per
ished at his post.
Inspection of tho wrecked boiler
by the state boiler inspectors showed
there was sufficient water in it. The
cause of the explosion is a mystery.
story of the Disaster.
The explosion. which was followed
by such sacrifice of life and entadled
appalling instances of human suffer. \
ing, occurred shortly after the opera
tives had commenced work for the
day. Suddenly the air vibrated with
a roar of explosion. At the same mo-
ment the larger wooden frame of the
factory, a four story structure, Fliv-
cred and the rear portion collapsed.
In fraction of a second this seGion
Df the build ng had been transformed
into a mass of iron and wood Wreck
age. in the midst of which human be-
ngs were pinioned. In another mo-
ment fire had broken out in the de
bris and death by fire and suffocation
became the fate of scores of opera
lives
Boiler Flew Great Distance.
When the boiler explodel it passed
upward almost perpendicularly, tear
ng a passage as it went, killing many
IN the way After rising high in the
air, it descended half the distance !
and then swerving northerly. cut its !
way like some huge projectile thrslgh
4 dwell ng house fifty feet away and !
pierced another dwelling further
along, demolishing the latter sIuc-
ure
Scenes of Horror
Scenes OF horror followed the
xrenehing apart of the factory build-
ng. Men and women had come but !
o turn in an attempt to fee after the I
irst duh roar, when the foo1 ing /
sank beneath them and they W ere /
carried to the ground. crushed ilnd {
,ruised amid mass OF debris rs ny