Show FIFTY PEOPLE BURNT TUE HORROR that OCCURRED L HARTFORD the harrowing story told by a survivor conn feb 18 just before daylight this morning the city was startled by tho sound of a monster explosion and immediately persons in that section near the capitol were further startled by the sound of crashing walls and falling timbers mingled with the screams of women and tho shouts of mon coming from the vicinity of high and allys streets which had been the site of the park central hotel those who hurried to the spot found a huge pile of stone and brick and splintered timbers from which white clouds of steam roso up streaked and blackened by wreaths of smoke that rapidly grew more dense then tongues of flame leaped out here and there gradually growing stronger until tha ruins were a roaring heap cries and moans came from the pile which made the bystanders sick with horror the fire department was soon on the scene and many streams of water were directed upon the flames As daylight came on the helpers at the ruins could see behind it the annex to the building in which were the house servants of the hotel and which was spared A portion of the tiers of rooms at the rear of the main building had remained standing but the partitions were torn away and the rooms opened to the air the floors of many of them had partly given way and tumbled tho occupants and furniture upon the confused ruin below the frightened employees were safely taken from the annex by ladders the flames were mastered by the firemen and sank down from sight within the ruins where the water yet hissed and steamed among the hot stones and bricks As soon as the rains were sufficiently cooled hundreds of willing hands set about the herculean task of removing the immense piles of masonry the enormous throng which had by this time gathered waited and watched with breathless suspense the first person rescued was george gaines a colored porter who died soon after being taken out helen leport jennie decker and jacob torpin were taken out and found to be only slightly injured cashael cranner jumped from the window breaking her leg at nine harris slime a traveler from philadelphia was rescued from beneath the mass of timbers with but slight injuries near him was found the dead body of D wight H bueil who had evidently been suffocated by this time the crowd of spectators had increased to such proportions as to impede the work f the rescuers accordingly the militia was ordered oat to aid the police and rendered excellent service daring the day and night keeping the crowd back within bounds by noon telegrams of anxious inquiry were pouring in from every part of the country and friends of those supposed to be in the ruins wore arriving on every train together with an immense crowd of curious people from the surrounding towns the lower floor of a large wool warehouse was made a temporary morgue the bodies were taken there as fast as recovered and an opportunity port unity offered for the identification by friends those not identified were taken in charge by the city the injured were promptly sent to the hospital the recovery of the bodies was slow owing to the immense accumulation of debris but at nearly regular intervals ono or two parties were found during the afternoon they were recovered in the order of the lits given this was devoid of the harrowing details and the hairbreadth and thrilling rescues attending an uncontrolled conflagration one terrible crash smoke flames auice 0 water i all was over for this reason the disaster simply overwhelms the magnitude of the calamity cannot be realized in fact its extent is not yet known the register of tho hotel is found and mr perry the night clerk is buried in the arums rums but from the best estimates that can be obtained from the landlords and others it is probable there ceru not far from fifty leonle in the hotel proper of these perhaps five may have escaped uninjured amid the confusion of the early morning hours which would leave forty five unaccounted for ten are in the hospital and up to this writing midnight sixteen dead bodies have been taken from the ruins leaving nineteen still missing but thero may be more than this the cause of the disaster was undoubtedly the explosion of a boiler in the basement no engineer was on duty at the time the custom being for the night engineer to bank bis fire and go to bed he does not sleep in the hotel this engineer alexander was arrested this afternoon on an indictment for manslaughter it has been conjectured that gaines the colored porter may dumns cold water into the overheated boiler ana thus causing the explosion but this is only a conjecture and games is dead the force of the explosion was terrific all the people in that part of the city were awakened by the shock huge stones were scattered and iron pipes bent and twisted windows in adjoining buildings and across the street were demolished 1 and paries of glass smashed two blocks away it is believed to night that mrs esou of was in the hotel with her five children and a servant she has not been seen if this proves true the aggregate loss of life would be raised by the addition of these seven victims the experiences of the survivors were remarkable and the escapes miraculous ra culous walter M gray occupied a room adjoining landlord beetch ams when he awoke he found the bed sinking with him when it became stationary he found himself pinned down by the ceiling and timbers in such a manner that ho was unable to move he soon heard the voices of mr and mrs ketcham and conversed with them concerning the chances of escape before they were rescued the water poured into the ruins by the firemen had nearly covered his face the complete list of bodies taken out to midnight is as follows dwight abbell geo gaines the colored porter geo engler of hartford john W houston a commercial traveler of boston J G hill a commercial traveler of buffalo louis EL bronson secretary of the hartford stove co his wife and child geoge ketchum brother of the landlord george W boot a commercial traveler from boston A S a commercial traveler from maximilian galady proprietor of the hartford herald and his wife mrs andrew P whiting and two unknown men the victims at the hospital are all doing well most of the injuries being superficial although all are suffering from the chill and exposure some of the bodies of the dead are much disfigured and burned but the faces of most of them are not injured and wear a lifelike life like expression the electric light has been put in around the ruins and the search will be vigorously pushed all night at 2 a m the list of dead has been increased to twenty five eighteen injured are in the hospital and ten persons are known to be still in the ruins feb 19 the body of dr perrin and another supposed to be mrs perrin have just been taken from the ruins two other bodies are in sight the second body was fully identified as that of mrs perrin another body that of wm boyle has been exhumed work is postponed to allow the taking down of the tottering walls which threaten death to the ex cavatora cava tors it is made evident that the building was of the most flimsy construction st none of the local insurance companies would touch it A large fragment of a boiler has been found showing an explosion was the cause of the catastrophe body no only one remaining ts unknown bufa has been partially identified as that of S dilloway Bil loway of cincinnati thayer and ristey the engineer and his assistant were arraigned in court this morning charged with manslaughter they declared they were not responsible for the explosion the remaining portion of the hotel proper has been palled down leaving only four stories of the annex this filled the excavation already made with an immense accumulation ot masonry and timbers and it is aery doubtful whether any more bodies can be recovered for many hours if any are buried in the rear part pendleton having appeared alive the bodies of night dark perry and whiting are the only ones believed to bo in the ruins no bodies have been recovered since noon |