New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-20
KILLED BY EXPLOSION.
Continued from FIRST page.


| eineer in charge of the boiler. who was among
the killed. The house demolished, the rooI
| being ripped of and two walls torn DOWN MIS-
/ Rockwell who sitting by the kitchen stove
| had miraculous escape from death, recelVlns
| many cuts from flying bits of tunber~wheh lhs
| boiler crashed through the upper portion OF her
house Crawling through the mass, Mrs. ROCK
/ well snatched up her two children. who were UNI
injured and started for the home of the near
est neighbor. Mrs Eta Hood
i HARD TO ACCOUNT FOR EXPLOSION
superintendent Charles Emerson. who was in
| charge of the factory, said tonight that he was
| at a. loss to account for the explosion
Mrs David w. Rockwell. the wife of the en-
| greer at the factory. whose home was wrecked
by the flying boiler, said
| When my husband left home this morning he
/ was cheerful and In good health. For the past
| few days, however he had been irritable on ac-
| count Of the condition Of the boiler. He had
| said many times of late that he had 20 put on
/ the boiler pressure it was unequal TO- he
had to do this, he said, because the WORK III inc
| factory required it.
I was in my kitchen about five minutes De-
| fore the explosion and happened TO LOOK over
at the factory. At that time Dave" was sit
| ting on chair. near the window of the boiler
! room That was the last saw of him. I turned
my attention to some household duties, and a
few minutes later there a terrible crash.
1 was thrown to the floor, and portions OF the
roof and ceiling fell down upon me- did not
know until later that 1T was the boiler which
wrecked my home
When Mrs. Rockwelfs statement was shown
to Mr.. Emerson. Of the Grover company. he
said that the amount of pressure on the boiler
wa. "a matter in which the factory officials did
ne interfere He said:
Rockwell took his orders in this matter from
the Hartford Boiler Insurance Company and
If he overworked that boiler, he did 1T without
our knowledge. We do not even know why Rock
we'll used the old boiler this week instead of
the newer one, and 1 don't suppose we will
ever find out for believe the engineer is dead.
Treasurer Emerson. of the Grover company,
in second statement tonight, said that the
boilers of the plant had been inspected within
month. He said that plans had been made
as to the future of the Grover company or with
reference to rebuilding.
Early in the evening, when Medical Examiner
Paine had made a careful re-examination of all
the bodies at hand. he announced that it was
certain that forty-tnree bodies were represented
by the grewsome collection He could not say
how many more were represented by the frag-
ments also recovered, or whether they belonged
to the list of forty three
Mayor Keith tonight decided to call meet
ing of the joint City Council for tomorrow
evening to take such action would be consid-
cred wise In view of the calamity He said that
he had, received word from the officers of the
United Shoe Machinery Company that he would
get a check for $1,000 to be expended at his
discretion for the relief of the families of those
killed or injured. Mayor Keith personally di-
reeted the search for the bodies and made ar
engagements for 1t to continue through the night.
He said that he would put to work tomorrow
a force large enough to have the work completed
before sunset. The joint shoe council held q
meeting this evening and decided to start re-
lief movement The council voted to contribute
$780,
HEROIC WORK OF CITRATE
The Rev. James A. O'Rourke, curate of St
MarParet's Roman Catholic Church WAS ono Of
the first to reach the scene. From his house.
near by. he saw the building tremble and then
burst into flames: He rushed TO the factory and
helped in the work of rescue: Father ORourke
Eaid tonight:
PINNED beneath heavy pieces of machinery.
tinbers and twisted coils of pipe, were many
oh, SO many-poor men and women suffering ter
rible agqnies In order to reach these impris-
oned sufferers we had to crawl through the
debris. and with, the aid of a large timber we
raised the wreckage which held fast several men
and women. In this manner and by brute
strength we pulled out seven employees. BY
this time the flames were almost upon us, and
we were about to fee for safety when poor
fellow begged that last effort be made to save
him. Three of US grasped the man by the
shoulders and and tugged and pulled. un-
til suddenly he cried: My God, my leg is pulled
OFF,
ut was terrible. especially SO because, mo-
ment later with clothing scorched. we were
ordered away by the chief of the Fire Depart
ment and were reluctantly compelled to
leave the poor man to his fate. Just before leav-
ing saw at least fifteen of the imprisoned SUI
ferers. already suffering untold agonies
from the flames, which were actually cooking
their flesh, and others watching with terror
stricken eyes the fate of their companions
knowing that moment two would bring to
them similar suffering. and then DEATH"
Brockton is Of the chief manufacturing centres
of mems shoes in the world. and is the centre
Of the shoe manufacturing district of New-F.ngand
1t is in Plymouth County, Mass. about twenty
miles from Boston. and in 1900 had a little over
10000 inhabitants 1t is the home of Governor
Douglas.