Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1891 — HOTEL WRECKED. [ARTICLE]

HOTEL WRECKED.

Strange and Fetal Natural tiaa Accident mt Findlay, Ohio, Tbo first disaster Findlay, Ohio, has ex* perienced from the use of natural gas occurred shortly before 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon, while the guests of the Hotel Mar*’.n were w aiting to be summoned to dinner. Bunday morning it was discovered that gas was escaping from a leaking

pipe somewhere into the dinins room, and Marvin, the owner of the building, with ■ the plumbers, spent the entire forenoon trying to locate the leak. At about 10 o’clock they entered a chamber underneath the dining room, and found such an accumulation of gas that they could no breathe, and it was suggested that a bole be sawed through the floor Into the dining room in order to obtain fresh air. This was done, and just as the hole was made, one of the diningroom girls, who was sweeping the floor,, stepped upon a match, and hi an instant an explosion occurred that not only wrecked the building, but killed two girls and maimed and injured a dozen other employes. The force of the explosion was so great that itblew out the flame of the ignited gas, and no fire followed the awful ruin which the shock caused. The whole city was rocked, as if by. an earthquake, by the coneussidn, and all the windows on the square were demolished. The Wreck of the hotel building was all but complete

the ouly rooms iD the house escaping destruction being the parlors and the office. Had the explosion occurred ten minutes later the loss of life would have been frightful, as nearly a hundred people were waiting in the rooms to be called to dinner As a matter of fact, one of the clerks Frank Poundstooe, was on his way to make this announcement when the explosion occurred, and he was caught in the falling debris, being one of the painfully injured. When the work of removing the dead and rescuing the injured was begun it was found that Katie Walters, a waitress, had been killed outright. Ella Johnson, a dining-room girl, was found alive under a mass of brick and mortar, but she died shortly after being carried to a place of safety. Kate Rooney, another dining-room girl, was also fatally injured, but is alive. The loss will aggregate $25,030.