Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1900 — DEATH IN EXPLOSION. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN EXPLOSION.

NORTHWESTERN POWER HOUSE IN CHICAGO WRECKED. Five Peraon3 Are Killed and Twenty More Injured—Flyina Boiler Strikes Coach of an Outgoing; Train —Darkness Covers the Scene. With a might}’ rush and roar a boiler in the power house of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway at Kinzie ant. Kingsbury Chicago, exploded at 5 o’clock Monday afternoon, killing five people aud injuring a score or more. All traffic at re local terminal of the road was suspended for two hours as a result of the accident. The 150-horse power metal structure which in some unknown manner caused the loss of life and consequent damage was hurled high into the air and earned a distance of nearly 100 feet. It struck the rear portion of a parlor car attached to an outgoing passenger train, destroying the coach and injuring five of the occupants, onp probably fatally. The explosion was so severe that it shook the surrounding buildings, the concussion breaking many windows. The power house is a complete wreck. Only portions of the east and’south walls are standing. Flying debris, bricks, stone and timbers with pieces of structural iron work were thrown several hundred feet. One of the four boilers of the battery—the one thrown upon the railroad tracks —exploded in what is known as a “headend” explosion. In this manner the force was distributed to f,he north and south. The north portion of the building was thus destroyed while the boiler tore its way through the south face and up into the air. % With the demolition of the north and south walls the roof fell, carrying the intervening floors with it. The fire remaining under the other three boil«rs ignited the mass of matter cast about it and this added new dangers to the horror. The flames were eagerly combated by the firemen, however, and very soon subdued, although they continued to smolder and break forth afresh for several hours afterward. Three of the men killed were section hands working on the tracks nearly 100 feet from the power house. Up into the air the big boiler, weighing several thousand pounds, was thrown. The group of section men scattered, but three were caught by a fence lining the railroad right of way, and their lives were crushed out in an instant. Tony Krause, fireman, was caught in the building and frightfully scalded and injured. He was hurried away for medical treatment, but died a few hours after the accident. Henry Schnur, a young man, 18 years of age, was employed in the auditor’s department of the railway company. He was just leaving work and on his way to catch an out-bound train for his home. He. passed the fated power house just as the explosion occurred. The full force of it seemed to envelope him. Eye witnesses said the unfortunate youth was tossed into the tiir twenty or thirty feet. To all intents safely and securely ensconced in the pretty parlor car of the passenger train which was just leaving the yards, were a group of passengers northward bound. Mr. and Mrs. Biskel of Sheboygan were returning to their home after a bridal tour. Mr. and Mrs. August C. Beck of Milwaukee and A. Levinson of Chicago were also among the passengers. They hfeard the noise and were looking out of the car windows when the coach was struck by a qloud of brick and debri/ Then came the crash when the boiler descended and struck the car. All these people were injured. The damage to the building and the parlor car is placed at $45,000. The insurance carried by the railroad company will cover about four-fifths of the loss. The great loss to the company will be through the temporary loss of the power house in the operation of the terminal lines of the road from Chicago avenue to the central passenger station.