BOILER CATASTROPHE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12859, 6 May 1905, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOILER CATASTROPHE.

TERRIBLE SCENES AT AN EXPLOSION IN A FACTORY. SIXTY VICTIMS. New York, March 20.—A boiler at Messrs. Gravers' shoe factory, Brockton, Massachusetts, blew iip to-day. wrecking the building and killing at least sixty people. It is feared that the death-roll may reach a hundred.. So great was the force of the explosion that an immense fragment of the boiler passed clean through a building situated some distance away, and was carried about fifty yards beyond. After the explosion, the building, which was of wood, burst into flames. So fierce was the heat and so vapidly did the fire spread that it was impossible to rescue many of the imprisoned workpeople. Among the most heroic efforts made were those of a Roman Catholic curat*. Father Rourke. He secured a ladder, and single, handed brought out of the ruins, one bv one, eight women. For a ninth time he'returned, and was on the point of descending with another woman when flames burst through the window and overwhelmed him. He released his hold, and the woman he was carrying fell back into the flames, and was consumed. At another window three women were seen to topple over into the raging furnace beneath them. A workman sacrificed his life to save a girl. They were both pinned under a quantity of wreckage, and the man found that it was possible, by their united efforts, for one of them to escape. Forcing up th» beam, the man pushed out the girl, whereupon the debris fell again upon him, and he remained there fast until he was incinerated. .; £

The remains of the victims that have been recovered are all unrecognisable. Not a scrap of clothing is left. All there is in most cases are a few charred bones. These have been carefully gathered together and placed in boxes, which'have been taken to the morgue. Among the victims is David Rockwell, the engineer, who was pub under arrest by the police. His condition was so serious that he was taken to the prison hospital, and he died there while undergoing an operation.

It is stated that the exploded boiler had been out of use, and that the fires were s lighted last night for the first time for several months.

In all 400 people were employed at the works, and of these about 250 have been accounted for. It is still impcssib'.e to enter parts of the building, where many of the employees were engaged, and officials of the firm express fear that the bodies of many of the hands are lying in the ruins.