Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-12-04
SEVEN [: DIE, SEVEN.
MISSING IN BLAST.
Starch House of Corn Products
Refining Plant Is Wrecked.
TWENTY-sIx ARE INJURED
Fire Breaks Out in Ruins Adding
Horror to Disaster at Waukegan, T.
IlI.-Most of Victims Are
T. 81, Foreigners.

49, .
= X, Foreigners.
Waukegan, Ill.,, Nov. 26.-Seven are
dead, seven missing and supposedly
buried under tons of burned debris,
and twenty-six are suffering in the
Jane McAlister hospital with terrible
burns and injuries, to which probably
half of them will succumb, as the re-
suit Of an explosion Monday in the
starch house of the Corn Products Re-
filming company plant, on the outskirts
of Waukegan. Fire, which broke out
Immediately following the explosion,
reduced the building to ashes.
The dead: r.
Frank Stanley, thirty-four, laborer;
married ~ n
Joseph Zalenak, twenty-eight, labor
err unmarried. -. ~,
Charles Tomalis, thirty, married.
Martin Slater, assistant superin.
tendent; married. 1 ~ n.
Charles Pamleas.
John Adams.
< Peter Dangala.
NThe explosion occurred shortly after
the men had returned to work from
luncheon and produced a defamation
that shook buildings and stopped
clocks within radius of mile. Fire
bells and whistles flashed the signal
of the accident far and wide and fire.
men, citizens and doctors hurried to
the scene. 49,
MangIed Men Rush From Building.
Men, blind and bleeding, with flesh
hanging in shreds, stunned and tot
tering, rushed from the wrecked build
ing. They were hurried into waiting
automobiles and rushed to the hos
pital. Deputy Coroner Conrad was at
the scene within ten minutes after the
explosion and took charge of the res
cuing work. ~
The fire, which broke out within
few minutes after the explosion, made
the work of rescue difficult. Most Of
the employees OF the starch house are
Firms and Austrians and the scenes
were heartrending as the doomed
men, pinned under wreckage with the
fire gaining fast upon them, pleaded
In foreign tongue for the help that
could not be given them. vs.
Relatives at Scene.
Wives and children of employees
gathered by scores and pleaded with
firemen and bystanders to help them
rescue their fathers and husbands.
When the fire was at its heightIand all
those rescued whom 1t was thought
possible to rescue, two men were seen
on one OF the upper floors. Their lips
were moving, but their piteous cries
for help were drowned in the cracking
Of the flames. Only for a moment
were they seen. Then the floors gave
way and carried them into the heart
Of the seething flames.
Calls were sent to North Chicago for
additional help in fighting the fire and
every physician in Lake county was
| summoned post haste to the hospital.
Blast Comes Without Warning.
The explosion came without warn.
ing and men were trapped like rats in
the wrecked and burning building,
About forty employees were in the
structure at the time, according to re-
ports at the hospital, though Superin'
tendent Charles Eberg states that but
thirty had any business there at that
time. a5 j@
Spontaneous combustion, an ever
present danger in starch houses, was
given as the cause of the explosion
The company had similar explosion
about nine years ago in which two
! lives were lost. At that time they
segregated the starch house from the
rest Of the structure. ..-5 aa
The loss by fire is placed by Super
intendent Ebert at 100000, fully Gov
cred by Insurance. 1t was fve-story
brick structure and has been used for
a starch plant many years. It was
only through the heroic efforts of the
firemen, aided by volunteers and en-
ployes Of the plant, that the com.
pany's plant, the second largest in the
world, was saved.
Brooklyn Mill Ruined.
New York, Nov. 26-The Union Sui
phur mill in Brooklyn, belonging to the
Corn Products company, was wrecked
Monday afternoon by an explosion In
which Is men were crushed and
burned, but luckily none lost their
lives.
The explosion is said to have been
due to the swapping of bolt on sui
phur grinder. 2s
Eight clerks in the shipping Office
on the river side of the building made
a desperate attempt to save the rec
ords, but second explosion followed
the first and the wall went down into
the river. The eight men were thrown
into the water. a., e,