The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1905-03-29
.FR|GHTFU[ loss OF LIFE
Shoe Factory and Mary Other
Buildings Destroyed.
FlFTY-FlVE BODIES FOUND.
OF the Bodies Recovered Few Are
dentified-Heads of Victims in
Most Instances Are Missing.

The city of Brockton, Mass, is In
mourning for at least three score of
her citizens whose lives were blotted
out by the explosion of boiler in the
shoe manufacturing establishment of
the R. B. Grover company.
The explosion was Immediately fol-
lowed by a flash of flame, which con
sumed the factory, four-story struc-
ture, and incinerated an unknown
number of men and women VINO were
unable to extricate themselves from
mass Of tangled wreckage formed
by the terrific upheaval IN 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
in the mad rush to escape from the
doomed factory, which from ell parts
emitted the intense, awful heat of an
inferno, driving back the band of
heroic rescuers, who, in few brief
moments, had performed gallant SER
vice.
The fire extended from the factory
to seven other buildings, in the vicin-
ity and destroyed them. One of these
buildings was a three-story wooden
block owned by Charles f. Dahlborg,
the others being cottages. The total
financial loss is estimated at a quarter
of a million dollars, 100000 of which
falls on the r. B. Grover company.
It may never be known Just how
many persons perished in the wreck
age. Two hundred and fifty survivors
have been accounted for, and the re-
mains of so bodies had been recover
ed from the ruins, the search being
conducted 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 identi-
fed. The head in nearly every case
is missing, and except in rare instan-
ces it was impossible even to distin-
guish the sex.
Several of the rescuers and search
ers fai-lted as they beheld the dis
tressing scene. There was no trace of
the body of David w. Rockwell, en-
gineer of the plant, who was not seen
after the explosion. It Is supposed
that he perished at his post. The
cause of the explosion is at present a
mystery.
The work of identifying the dead
progressed slowly, owing to the gen
orally wlrecognizable remains of the
victims.
The calamity, which was followed
by such sacrifice of life and entailed
appalling instances OF human suffer
ing, occurred shortly after the opera
tives started to work for the day.
Suddenly the air vibrated with the
roar of an explosion The factory, a
four-story structure, quivcred. and
then the rear portion of it collapsed
into mass of iron and wood wreck
age, in the midst of which human be-
ings were pinioned. In another min
ute fire had broken out in the debris
and death by flames and guffocation
became the fate Of scores of the opera
tives.
When the boiler exploded it passed
upward almost pcrpGndicularly tear
ing a passage as it went. and killing
many on the way. After rising high in
the air it descended half the distance
then swerving northerly, cut its way
through a dwelling house so feet
away and pierced another dwelling
further along, demolishing the latter
structure. Here its course was stop
ped.
Professor Frank K Sanders. dem Of