The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-06-25
W., r~ 'aw" :! 4 MASSIVE VAULT
sIoN or GAS IN BROoKLrs.
One Man Hurled Acros. Room and Fatally
Injured - Another seriously and Several
slightly Hurt 90 stout Walls Crumbled.


At 81 o'clock yesterday morning there was
an explosion Of gas in the vault Of the Depart
ment OF Collection in the new municipal build
ing i'm Jornlemon street BROOKLYN. which fatally
Injured one man. seriously wounded a clerk.
and slightly Injured several other persons. The
vault was a fire proof apartment almost in the
centre Of the building. IL was IL feet long II
feet HIGH and & feet wide with walls ig inches
i, "s' W" 49, Wv" ~
thick. II was strongly built. ana had Tor its
ensterly wall the main partition from the cor
IL I, r.o, or,Lol o,.,r ,,.i,h hri.L ord
rluor' IL WIS hrcheu oN'r VIVA pii'A npu
cement. II was connected with the TAX
onice nv n bcnvv iron safe-door The
,,,.a l,.,. a. it,, ,t. or,o,to,, .,
Aluermen having IN charge 'nc ERECTION .,
the building had refused to have gns carried
into ,b, ,,,t, bocouse ,to foul mir ni,,ht nj anv
ill.,, ov,in,,,,ish a., no,oo and tho chamber
.'''0 oN.'nEuis" ''V ""'"V """ w 0'''I''' ~
| become filled with gas. that would explode on
| the lighting Of n match The vault was acrord-
tn'.i,. ALA ,,,,h ,ho ,,i1 ,osh hools aud o,hcr
| records OF the office. and Corporal Tanner. the
! Collector. nndin, TINT light was necessary i'm
| , ''''-'O '.i'''''' , - a., p, II. ,,
| the vault TO enable inc CLERKS 10 lhu what 'hey
wanted ordered Il two-light chandelier 10 be IN
SUI a., ..,,,,,..,. ,,.,,.,,,oa ,,,-o hoe
since the bulldlng was competed 'here nus
| been daily tinkering with the gas arrange
ments and on Saturday Inst John Kenny in
a.,
the employ OF Hurley the contractor ior tle
| plumbing was putting gas fixtures into the
| oi,o -, ,ha e,,,,rir,o,t,nt of R,,.ira In tho
uin'o Vi 'ne SupuIih'ohu''' VI "v'a'iS III .,'o
| third story. For this purpose ne turned OF the
| gas at the giant metre In the cellar. There was
| emo cou,nlni,t of tho ,vnnt of Iirht from, the
pit n"rar.,,o,,. ~o,nos and ,bo aos ,ras
| turned on again in the middle Of the day. but
Mt 1 o'clock IL was once more turned of At
| that time the one hEht on the chandeHer III inc
tax vault which was burning went out, and as
| the clerks had no occasion To- 20 to the vault
| again before half past No one noticed that the
| stop cock in the fixture was turned 50 us 20 per-
| mil the escaup Of gas Mr. Hamilton Reeve,
Jr.. the chief clerk IN the bill department. in
whose room the vault Is. locked the safe at half
past 2 o clock. and gaye the key T. Deputy Col
o'ciock. ana ali Of Saturday night sunday, and
S65sg NET F um GsgI Rney J Unlocked the
safe yesterday morning ut quarter TO o'clock
smell Of gas. ana look INK ri the Chandelier saw
one OF the cocks turned on. and he turned IL oil.
clerk emrloycl lbs Mr. A. y Wheeler. "a real es-
tate broker applied to Mr.. William i. Code. the
stamp clerk in the bill department.. for permits
sary 10 re, The permission OF the deputy Col
i~'ior who an h.iug APPLIED TO- directed Mr.
Eeovr NJ C"d" md Mr. Vincent thnn went To-
the vault. Mr. Reeve opened the door. aud Mr..
code and Mr. Vincent entered the vault Mr.
Code struck match. and was reaching To- light
tho gas ms the upl,ftel match touched the vol
nn,s II necuinuint.d gns above MS hend A
llue n. ht swept across the dusky interior OF
thS vault and n terrific explosion followed Ii
sounded 10 one like the explosion OF shell, TO
nnoihsr ike II thunder clan and 10 another Ike
th, disshnrrr of A whole mark of artillery. The
heavy walls Of the vault crumbied into dust. the
inrnt Tor nnout twelve feet was SWEPT like paper
| prr0ss The room. heavy walnut desks were
whisked over AGAINST Tia wall The crash me-
,rars inl- ~ tho ,v,,,lwork and tho sound oi tho
fniliur uluss ndded /, tho dim
An alarm of lire WAS sounded. for ut the in
slant n ,Xuloslou n curiius flame Oyrrsuregl
tho ceiling of the tnx-r0oni and shot up the
vantila;ing shaft, hut II died away In minute.
uers slowed in The uicnon- holes of the vault hit
clerk d. W Talmadge rapidly put ont the
flames by uniting the bundles Is soon ns the
dust and smoke cleared away q man WAS seen
AR. strate under the hanu Of debris his hand
extending from the bricks and cement about
him. He wa. tryiu, 10 work his WAY uut. 1t
was found To- be- Nj. ". l.. Code who was burned
about tie face. cut on the head. and bruised
internally
oliver = Vincent was shot clean across the
tax room head foremost He struck ON the
Dashboard OF the wall beuenth a window where
his body was found curlsd up In Il hemp. lie
Ms striptied rom 6is 6oiy. rNs-m his siiri
| and drawers His coat. split in halves WIS
found several feet away. Tho body had been
thrown against tie haseboard with such force
wood. Every window ln the bin Department. a
room 90 feet long hy 10 feet Wild. was blown
he R"iormel Ciur"H' ndinininr. WINS litinred
for thirty feet with shining particles of glass.
The windows I'm the lolyte 'huir Institute. as
wellas IN the church. were broken. Tho tele-
graphic bells throughout the building were
rupg and the clocks up stair. were stopped.
! For some minutes alter the explosion the
windows in the frs, story were throngcd with
clerks jumping oui OF them. They thought
that one of the boilers had burst. while W
stairs the clerks tn lughttha safe was iumhling
down from above. Cashier kushmore. IN the
Tax oficr darted ont Of - front window, hut
on rea hing the sidewalk he remembered that
there WIS about 400 100 bills on the desk. and
w WI n' AnmiIton Ry wo ',, ,s ' msr.i ,p
the safe door. was whirled about ten .ect away.
and his bushy, hair was So on fire. H. ran his
.I. H.aNa HHn.s