Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 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 Chicago Firemen Killed. Eight People Cre rotated. 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, azed 35; Henry Humphrey, aged 4 months; Miss Elizabeth Hurley, aged 26; Miss Christina Koerner, aged 48; Mrs. Mina Krithzmar, aged 32; R chard Krithzmar, aged 11; William Hurley, and Mary, a sister of Mrs. Humphrey, aged 45. Besides the killed, fourteep persons were injured, some of them very seriously The f Hlowinz were partly suffocated: Mrs. Ida Boehich, aged 22; Albert Koerner, aged 15; Miss Kate Koerner, aged 28; Willi*m Flanagan, aged 16; George Hurley, aged 50; Mrs. Eliza Hurley, aged 55; Mrs Kate Limbacher, aged 26; Katie Limbacher, aged 6; Martha and Alfred Krithzmar, aged respectively 8 and 12 years; an Infant child of Mrs. lioehich’s. The following had each a leg broken by jumping from winnows: Pauline Koerner, aged 18; Willie Liehmpuhl, aged 7; and Rosalie Humphrey, aged 24. At the time of the Are there were eight families In the house, with a total of thirty-six souls. One man saved his wife and three children by tossing them, one at a time, from a second-story, window, into the arms of a stalwart hero named Allen, who caught them on the fly as fast as they came to him.

Terrible Destruction by an Exploding Boiler. The city of Galveston, Tex., was shook from center to ettburbs, 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 smoke, fire, dust, and debris, from which shot the bodies of men and missiles of 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-house 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-stor.v 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 oomdore, 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 Rouse. At Watertown, Seneca County, N. Y., the dwelling of Mr. James A. Logan was burned, shortly after midnight. The honse 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. Logan banging-out of the second-story window, burned to a crisp. After the fire was got under control search was made for the other trodles. 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 been overcome by the heat and smoke and both were burned past recognition. Two Chicago Firemen Killed. 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 master 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 put to work to search the rains. Alter two hours of hard work two bodies were found, and they were identified as those of Bird and Mulvey. The bodies were nadly crushed and mutilated. Falling floors injured a number of the other firemen. While runlnu to the fire Bullwinkle’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.