The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-21
EXPLOSION KILLS SCORES.
FACTORY WRECKED IN BROCK
TON-75 MAY De DEAD.

NiEht-BOiler BloWs Up Soon AFTER
tho FaCtory Opens for WOTk-Part
Of the building COllapses-Many Killed
by Debris Others Pinned Down. Die
OF Flames and smoke Boiler Old.
BRocKToN, Mass. March 20.-By the eN-
plosion of a boiler this morning in the shoe
factory Of II. b. Grover 4 Co., In this city,
scores OF employees were killed. The
death list may be 100. although the general
estimate is that it is from sixty to seventy
Ave. Out Of 400 employees only 25i had
been accounted for by 10 o'clock tonight.
Fifty persons we're injured seriously.
When darkness came the charred re-
mains Of forty-three people, nearly ell men.
had been taken from the debris. Later
seven more bodies were recovered. Many
bodies are in the ruins and tonight big
gang Of men, armed with shovels and aided
by electric lights, is digging in the mass Of
partly burned timbers, twisted shoe machin-
cry and ashes 20 recover the remains OF
others known 10 have persisted. When
the building collapsed some Of the men and
{ women pinned at their benches by falling
timbers and dislodged machines were
! quickly rescued by their more fortunate
( companions, but most Of these died, unable
TO escape the flames. AS the fire orept
/ nearer TO them their cries for aid and screama
4 of pain were heard for more than half
| mile, until tho rush Of fire and choking
[ smoke ended their suffering.
The fires progress through the COLI
: lapsed structure was 80 rapid that the
! work Of rescue could not be pursued long.
/ Many Of the employees escaped without
a scratch. They were those employed
near the windows on the upper part Of the
I building. The Grover factory was situated
{ on Maine street. Campello. part OF Brook
. ton devoted almost exclusively to shoe
: factories. The building, which formed
three sides Of a recUangle, go by 90 feet,
{ was built Of wood and contained five work.
ing floors.
& Almost in the centre Of tho rectangle.
! and connecting with the long side Of the
/ shop, was the boiler house, containing two
/ boilers, one almost brand new and tbs
/ other an older one which had not been
used before this winter. Yesterday morn
( ing j. W. Newhall night Waterman at the
I factory, built fire under the old boiler
/ and looked after it untli 100 o'clock this
morning, getting a steam pres@ure Of eighty
, pounds to the square inch, acoiTdssns so.
I the gauge. At that time, Newhall says,
there was plenty Of water in the boiler
, and he went 10 his home upon the arrival
3 of David Rockwell, engineer Of the factory.
/ A few minutes before s O'Clock, when all
/ the factory employees we're at their benches,
I the boiler exploded, practically ripping
/ the long shop in two. The conclusion
caused the longest l. to collapse, and IL
! was here that most Of the employees per-
ished. The boiler went through the air in
! northerly direction like a huge projectile.
! Passing completely through the upper part
Of the house occupied by Engineer Rock
/ we'll ii struck the house occupied By Fred
Hood. on Denton street knocking it from
its foundations. The wrecked boiler now
lies in Hoods yard a battered mass OF
metal.
As soon as the noise OF the explosion was
heard hundreds Of persons rushed 10 the
scene and began the work Of rescue, just
as flames began to shoot through the dis
mantled buildings. Men and women be-
gan leaping from the windows or crawling
from under the debris while from the
main part Of the factory the worltmen
poured in a stream with terrorstrlcken
countenances. The men turned TO aid
their fellows as soon as they collected
their senses and heard the screams for aid
Of those imprisoned in the blazing place.
The sounding Of the fire alarms brought
all the fire fighting apparatus in the
city and aid was sent from nearby towns,
but the flames swept through the entire
structure with such audiences that tho
work Of the rescue had to be abandoned,
the heat being 50 intense that the firemen
and others were forced to retreat. Thou
sands Of gallons Of water were poured into
a . 1. .I.y.-
we're buried as fully one hundred had been
at work there before the explosion took
place.
Within an hour Of the explosion the
entire factory had been destroyed and the
flames had attacked DahlborR Block. a
four story building on the opposite side
Of the street This structure and several
wooden buildings were destroyed before
the fremen could get control. Many
other houses were damaged by embers
that we're carried in southerly direction
by the high wind.
The work Of recovering the bodies began
while the fire was still raging and injured
persons were being conveyed 70 the hos
pitfalls The charred remains were carried
in quilts to undertakers wagons. Few
can be identified, 50 completely did tho
flames do their work.
The firemen we're handicapped in their
work because Of the network Of steam
pipes in the ruins. Many Of the bodies
were in the cellar, and twas found necessary
10 cut the pipes to reach them. In the
south side Of the building the rescuers
found a man pinned 10 the floor He was
unable to move and the policemen could
not eGtroate him before the flames killed
him.
Rockwell the engineer, was terribly in
jured by the explosion and died before he
could make any statement Of how the dis
aster occurred. Michael Ieary witnessed
the death Of his sister Mary. Ho says he
saw his sister crushed by a huge machine
as he was endeavorng TO reach her side.
John Southworth tells a story OF how
Philip F. Smith lost his life trying 20 help
others from the ruins. He says he saw
Smith rushing back into the shop, after
once escaping, TO rescue two girls. big
machine crushed Smith as he was working
his way into the building
One Of the men whose work resulted In
the saving OF many lives was the Rev.