Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-03-21

which had come to the city of Brock ton yesterday in the wrecking of tn, great wooden shoe factory of the R B. Grover Co and the ensuing terrible loss of life, came more clearly to tn, citizens to-day when they awoke to ; full knowledge of the horrors attend ant upon the catastrophe. All nigh long the work of searching for til, bodies of victims of the explosion ant fire continued with unremitting zeal The work was not rewarded after mid night by the finding of any additiona body. until : o'clock to-day, when the remains of a human being were found ill the boiler pit. Considering the mys tery attached to the disappearance Oi David w. Rockwell, the engineer who was in charge of the boilers which eX. plodeG, the police believe the body found to-day was that of the engineer Rockwell was reported to have been rescued yesterday badly injured and later to have died, but the police were not able subsequently, to locate his body. It seemed more likely to the police to-day that Rockwell, near as he was to the exploding boiler, was among the first to meet death
 The body of Stephen Snow, & years of age, one of the oldest workmen iI the Grover plant, was identified to- day by his son. ..
 The finding of the remains supposed to be those of the engineer made the fifty-fourth body thus far taken from the ruined factory. The figures at hand early to-day showed that about oGO persons who were at work in the factory when the explosion occurred had been accounted for. and that be- tween 90 and 100 persons were miss ing.
 Mayor Edward H. Keith issued a no , tfce to-day that he had requested every clergyman in the city to meet with him at 3 o'clock this afternoon at City hall to make arrangements for public funeral services for the victims of the accident. He suggested the city the ater as the most available place for such services. and mentioned Thursday afternoon as desirable time for them to be held. He added also that it seemed best to bury those bodies whose Identification would be imposst ble in the city cemetery at Melrose.
 Mayor Keith said the raking over of the ruins would be resumed to-day with larger force of men at work. He expressed the opinion that perhaps a considerable number of bodies would be found in that portion of the plant not yet explored.
 A large force of men carried on to- day systematic and thorough search of the ruins. raking over every inch Of rypnnpd and ,,rpl1tpCr a xr-a, and every bit of machine wreckage. in order not to pass over any possible bodies. X snow and rain storm which set in during the forenoon hampeted this work to some extent.
 Occupants of houses near the fire reported to the police instances of pc culiar damage to their property. Mrs Martin Curran of Denton street. in the rear of the Grover plant. said that she . had found huge bolt of iron embed. ded in the floor of the attic of her home. The holt. which had been blown from the factory. had pierced the roof of the dwelling and then pene- trated the garret floor.
 shortly after II o'clock another body. the fifty-fifth to be recovered, was discovered in the debris. The body was that of woman. About the same time one of the bodies at the mOrgue was identified as that of Gran- vile Hartwell. 4O years of age. an Op erative. who was prominent through. out the city. and leader iE the labor unions. He was identified by his widow and children by means of a birth mark on his back.
 Mayor Keith announced that the lIn- identified remains would be transferred to the East Elm street theater build- Ing and that the public would be per. mitted tO view these bodies beginning at 1 p. m. in order that all possible means of identification might be af. fOrded
 A more careful search of the boiler pit in which the remains were found to-day resulted in the finding of watch. the rubber heel of shoe. and tom piece of clothing. all of which when shown to Mrs Rockwell. the wife of the engineer. were identified by her as belonging to her husband. Then the police found a part of chair with a rcIvis of a human frame in if. from which they inferred that Rockwell was sitting beside his boiler when the ex- 1losiCn came. and that his fate was in- srantaneous death. The police then became satisfied that the report yester day that the Engineer had been taken ont alive was due 10 the confusion of Rockwell with another employe.
 With reference .o the cause of ;he flowing up of the boiler. signed statement was given out today by Josial.. F. Gibbs. the assistant en..iu IT at the Brockton sewerage station who said he was with Engineer Rockwe at the t,rover factory five minute, ls- fore the accident occurred. Mir Gibb, said When left Rockwell the steam was below the safety limit and there was plenty of water in the glass. but he was running the old boiler.''
 The police to-day in explaining the | failure of number of employees to re- port their escape. cited an instance which indicated to them that many of l the workmen were tIazesI after the ex- plosion. Joseph Jones. employed in the | stitching room. made his escape with | ecarceiy more than a few bruises. In . confused state of mind he walked | piled for and was given employment and in a mechanical sort of way he | worked throughout the day. Not until l he returned to his home and found l his family griefstricken and mourning I him as dead was the mans brain suf- | ficiently clear tc enable him to recall | the incidents of the day
 When the boiler plouxhed it's way sp~srj throax1 the fa.,. y. maLe p- efatives were blown to piecs. it is be-