Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1885 — A CHAPTER OF DISASTERS [ARTICLE]

A CHAPTER OF DISASTERS

A New York Tenement House Horror —Terrible Boiler Explosion at Galveston, Texas. Three Persons Cremated at Watertown, N. Y.—Two Brave fhicago Firemen Killed. Sight People Cre mated. Another tenement-house horror is reported by telegraph from New York. Fire broke out at midnight in the rear of John Humphrey's restaurant, in First avenue, and, before the flames could be subdued or the occupants of the building rescued, eight unfortunate human beings were cremated. They were: Joseph Humphrey, ■aired 35; Henry Humphrey,aged 4 months; Elizabeth Hurley, aged 25; Miss Christina Koeraer, aged 48; Mrs. Mma Krithzmar, aged 32; K chard Krithzmar, aged 11; William Hurley, and Mary, a sister of Mrs. Humphrey, aged 45. Besides the killed, fourteen persons were injured, some of them very seriously The f jllowing were partly suffocated: Mrs. Ida Roehich, aged 22: Albert Koerner, aged 15; Miss Kate Koerner, aged 28; William Flanagan, aged 16; George Hurley, aged su; Mrs. Eliza Hurley, aged 55; Mrs Kate Limbacher, aged 26; Katie Limbacher, aged G; Martha and Alfred Krithzmar, aged respectively 8 and 12 years; an infant child of Mrsi. Roehich’s. The following had each a leg broken by jumping from winuows: Pauline Koerner, aged 18; Willie Liehmpuhl, aged 7; and Rosalie Humphrey, aged 24. At the time of the fire there were eight families in the house, with a total of tntrty-six .souls. One man saved his wife and three children by tossing them, one at a time, from a second-story window, into the aims of a stalwart hero named Allen, who caught them on the fiy as fast as they came to him. Terrible Destruction by an Exploding Holler. The city of Galveston, Tex., was shook from center to suburbs, the other evening, by an explosion in the engine-room of the Tremont Hotel. People in the vicinity, says a telegram from that city, were terrified to see the building suddenly expand into a cloud of Binoke, fire, dust, and debris, from which shot the boJies of men and missiles qf every description, accompanied by a hissing, rumbling sound immediately followed by a terrible deafening crash. The main building shook and trembled as if in the*throes of a mighty earthquake. The boiler-h ouse was completely demolished, not one brick remaining upon another. The tall chimney fell with a crash, while from the rear shot out with terrible force one of the large sixty horse-power boilers. This was driven with fearful velocity a distance of 500 feet, crushing in its course the north end of a twostory frame laundry building in the rear of the hotel. Careening upward it grazed and damaged the roof of a two-story blacksmith and wheelwright shop. Then plunging downward, it demolished like eggshells three small frame tenement-houses occupied by negroes, and finally spent its force on a house of ill-repute, •one room of which was occupied by a man and woman. Upon this house the huge piece of iron dropped, crushing it into kindling, killing the woman and dangerously wounding the man. The scene in the immediate vicinity •of the explosion presented a ghastly, sickening spectacle. Ready and willing hands exhumed from beneath a mass of twisted iron, brick and mortar the dead bodies of four human beings, two of them being most horribly mutilated. Half a dozen others were seriously injured. The scene at the hotel immediately after the explosion was one of the wildest confusion. The hotel building tottered and quaked, and cinders, ashes, and smoke filled the corridors, while the guests fled from their rooms terrorstricken and pallid. Several In and, about the building were struck with flying missiles and slightly wounded. Three Lives Lost In a Burning House. At Watertown, Seneca County, N. Y., the ■dwelling of Mr. James A. Logan was burned, shortly after midnight. The house was occupied by Mr. Logan, his wife, and four children. Before the fire department arrived the house was nearly burned to the ground. On arriving on the scene the firemen found the body of Mrs. Logaif hanging out of the second-story window, "burned to a crisp. After the lire was got under control search was made for the other bodies. In the second story was found the body of Mr. Logan, with his youngest child clasped in his arms. While'-attempting to escape they had evidently beep overcome by the heat and smoke and both were burned past recognition. Two Chicago Firemen Hilled. A four-story store on South Water street, Chicago, was partially destroyed by fire, involving a loss of $20,000, After the fire was out a muster •of the men of hook and ladder company No. 1 showed that two men, Martin Mulvey and Charles Bird, were missing. A force of firemen ■were nut to work to search the ruins. After two hours of hard work two bodies were found, and they were identified as those of Bird and Mulvey . The bodies were badly crushed and mutilated. Falling floors injured a number of the •other firemen. While runina to the fire Bull-, winkle’s big wagon collided with a street-car on Randolph street. The horses of the patrol and street-car horses were knocked down, and the car itself was nearly overturned. N obody was hurt.