Buried In The Ruins

C2USHED AND CBEMATED. Haetford, Conn., Eeb. 19.-Just bef ore dawn Monday morning the Park Central Hotel, at High and Allyn streets, filled with sleepinTf people, was shattered by a forcé not yet ascertained, and in the darknesa ; and ruin men, women and children ! ■vere cruehed and maimed and burned by flames. The people, awakened by the great noise of an explosión, the crash of falling walls and timbera, the screams of women and of men, hurried to the scène and found upon the site of the hotel a huge jile of Ftone and brick and gplintered timbers, trom which aróse j white clouds of steain, streaked and ' blackened by wreathe of sraoke that rapidly grew dark and blacker and more dense. Then tongues of flame ieaped here and there from out the ruin and grew bolder and more strong until the ruin waa a roaring furnace. ïhe nlamor of flre-bella added to the excitement. and Boon a throng of people rushed to the rutas and, uerved by cries and moans and wild screams coming from the ruins, strong arma began the work of rescue. Streams of water played upon the llames, and steam for a time hid the ruins from sight, but the daylight grew apace and soon the helpers could see, behind the ruin, the annex to the building, which had housed the help of the hostelry and which had been epared. A portion of the tier of rooms at the rear of the maln building had remalned standing, but the partltions had been torn away and the rooms were open to the air. The floors of many of them, partly giving way, had tumbled out the occupants and furnlture upon the conf used heap below. The exploBlon had demolished the stair-case of thla annex, but the frightened employés were safely taken out by the aeiial ladder. The magnitude of the calamity can not be realized, and, in fact, its extent is not yet known. The register of the hotel is not yet found, and Night Clerk Perry is buried in the ruins. But from the best estimates that can be procuxed from the landlord and others it ia probable that there were not far from tifty people in the hotel proper. Of these, perhaps flve have escaped uninjured, leavlng forty-five to be accounted for. Ten are in the hospital, and up to 11 p. m. sixteen dead bodies have been taken from the ruins, leaving nineteen still missing. But there may be several more than this. Mr. Andrew F. Whiting, actuary of the Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company; liev. Dr Lavallette rerrin, agrent Of the Memorial Hall Association, and wife, and Edward Perry, the night clerk, are known to be etlll in the ratas. The complete list of the bodies taken out up to 11:80 p. m. is as follows: Dwight A. Bua.l, a Jewelr at Hartford; George Ga nes, cocorea poner or the h-tel; J. George Enger, a druf? elerti or Hertford; John W. Housman, traveler lor the E vere Rubber Company of Boston; J. C. Hill, of Búllalo, N. Y. supposed to be commercial traveler; Louis H. Biot.son, seoretary ot the IJat-tford Stove and Plumbing Company, bis wife and chikl; George Ketchum, a brother of tbe lundlord; Edd;o Ketchum, aged 11, son of the landlord; George W. Root, of Brockpurt, N. Y , traveler for White, Williams &O., B iston ; A. H. Tillotson, traveler for tne Merrll Chem cal Company of Cncnnati; Mnx mil an Ualody, propr etor of the Hartofor . Herold, ani w b; Mrs. Andrew F. Wliilii.g, her body was buined to a erisp. Two unknown persons are aiHonx the dead. The victims at the hospital are all doing well, most of the Injuries being superficial, although all are suffering from chili and exposure. They number ten. ïhe cause of the disaster was undoubtedly the explosión of tue boiler in the basement This boiler, of Hi-horse-power, was built by the 1'itkinB, of this city, in 1882. It was inspected by an oflicer In the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company last August and was then pronounced all right No ejigineer was on duty at the time of the explogion, the cuetom being for the night engineer to bank his fires at night and go to bed. He does not sleep in the hotel. This engineer, Alexander Thuer, was arrested Monday afternoon on an indictmeiit charging manslaughter, and is locked up at the pólice station. Haktford, Conn., Feb. 3(1.- No bodies have been found sirnce noon yesterday, though forty men aie at work removing debris. The only bodies known to be in the ruins are those of night c erk Perry and Mr. Whiting. Twenty bodies have been recovered and all identiüed. The ten injured persons at the hospital are apparently doing wel!.