The Detroit times., 1909-06-12

III
Two men were seriously hurt and ~
third killed. II is feared, when a larao:
section Of the fifth floor of the PENN.
sular Stove Co.'s warehouse. out Fort.
ST. west, gave way without warning
beneath an excessive weight of stoves,
about IL o'clock Saturday mornirs.
and fell. carrying with II correspond
ing section or every floor beneath Il
Inc men injured are Joseph Cob
lester. No. 352 Wesson-ave., and
Thomas Egan, both of whom were TAX
en- to Red Cross hospital. While their
injuries are serious, Ii Is thought they
will recover. Both were at work on
the second floor at the time of the ao-
cident and their escape from instant
death was almost a miracle.
third man, William c. Hollar. No.
Z43 Baitimore-ave. west, traffic man
ager. is missing, and II Is feared Ne
Is IN the wreckage. He has not beer
seen around the plant since the acct
dent His wife hurried to the stove
works as soon as she learned OF the
accident and waited In an agony 0f
suspense for some word from her hus-
band.
Search In Wreckage.
In the meantime a group OF firemen
were working like demons In the masn'
Of Feekage piled UP partly ON tK6'
first floor and partiy-fn the basement
OF the warehouse trying to find some
trace Of the missing man. At their
own peril they pulled out windows
and climbed down under the threaten
ing mass. seeping with water from
O couple OF hose lines, in an effort to
locate the man supposed to be Inn
prisoned.
Once IL looked as though their
search had been rewarded when they
located a time book. and later the
table at which the shipping clerk spent
much OF his time on the second floor.
But no trace OF body was to be
found.
Company Tries to Suppress News.
AS soon as possible. after the first
shock of the accident had passed, the
company took every precaution to
keep the public out of the plant ana
from securing information about the
disaster A big policeman was St.
toned at the office entrance with II
structions TO allow no one to pass az
cept persons connected with the plant.
Guards were stationed at all the doors
and gateways leading into the plant
and an injunction was placed on every
employe not To- talk to reporters. Press
badges were not respected and whom
a newspaper man did manage to sneak
his way In 1t was only to be ordered
out again, IL discovered.
The gag rule was not effective In
all cases. however. for some OF the
employees were not averse to talking
when they were sure the eyes of their
boss were not on them. From them
II was learned that very few men
were az work In the warehouse at the
time OF the accident. Several at
work on the first and second floors
were warned by the sound OF the
crash above and were able to get out.
side the danger zone In time to avoid
being caught I'm the deluge OF stoves
and timbers.
Jerry O'Donnell, foreman Of the pol
fishing department, was one of those
wAe-hs d-paFFew- eaPes-H e-had
Just assembled the stairs leading from
the first to the second floors. and was
heading right into the path of dan
ger when the great mass from the
floors above, which has accumulated
fresh debris at each floor, came thun-
dering down In perfect avalanchs
Just a few feet ahead of him. O'Con-
nell stood dazed for a moment. then
quickly fastened TO give the alarm.
Debris Takes Fire.
Burning gas Jets set fire TO the de-
bris. but the firemen arrived before Il
had gained much Roadway and extin-
guished the flames without difficulty.
Another fire broke out later but was
speedily checked.
A fortunate circumstance probably