The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-08-21
FnriOns Flames.
THE TERRIBLE CoNFLAGRATIoN AT
PARKER CITY ON SATURDAY.

danger which menaced this place with
destruction yesterday now seems to
have passed, though after the expert
ence of the last forty-eight hours,
nothing will give us an absolute feel
ing of security until the last vestiges
of the fire are removed. The smould-
ering ruins therefore, which still mark
the scene of yesterdays disasterous
conflagration are watched suspiciously
by many people who remember that
on Thursday evening the fire seemed
to have been mastered, but were rudely
wakened to a realization of the mis-
take yesterday. Originating by a
twenty thousand barrel tank being
struck by lightning, the flames spread
with the flow of the oil and soon en-
veloped wide tract, destroying an
other tank and several rigs which were
within its way. Another tank con-
tanning twenty-five thousand barrels
was ignited at this time, but it was
hoped that the efforts to subdue the
flames had succeeded. The terrible
devastation of Friday night and yes
tcrday shows how greatly we were
mistaken. At half past eight o'clock
this tank exploded. Workmen had
been engaged upon it all the time in
the effort to secure its safety, and at
the time of the explosion ten of them
were upon the top of the tank. They
were thrown distance of thirty feet,
and John Clifford, Austin Hines, VIM.
Austin, ID. Mcmahon and J. McPher-
son were severely injured by fire and
the fall. The burning oil now escaped
and made its way down two ravines
toward the city, threatening to sub
merge it, and creating the greatest con-
sternation. The people became panic
stricken. rushing wildly through the
streets, women and children giving
over to crying, screaming and the
most ahiect exhibition of fear and des-
pair. While this condition of affairs
prevailed on the streets some one sug-
gested that they make for the hills,
which was at once acted upon, and the
town was deserted to its fate, not an
effort being made to secure any of the
personal property. People started off
wildly as fleeing from impending
death, and the streets were fairly
packed with wild, ungovernable
mass of people forcing each other
other along toward the safety which
the hillside promised. Men dragged
their wives, women their little ones,
and the greatest confusion prevailed.
Those standing on the bluff, and
safe from all harm, describe the scene
when the river was literally on fire as
one grand beyond human conception
and beyond the power of pen to de-
scribe. 1t was awful in its sublimity,
breathless by the picture. The burn
ing oil toutched the Parker side at Il
point overhanging Mikes run, three
quarters of Il mile south, and the
flames ran so high that houses located
at this point, 300 feet down the river
bank, were endangered and were only
saved by the application of wet blan-
kets. In half an hour after the oil
reached the river 1t was divided by the
current and the fire began to hug both
shores, but it had spent its force and
all danger to the city had passed by.
The oil from this tank set fire to
another called the loading tank which
contained about 10000 barrels which
added to the fury of the flames. The
city was lighted up with the bright
ness of the sun. Thousands of people
from the surrounding country, at
tracted by the report of the explosion
which was heard for many miles, had
assembled in the town and joined the
residents in filling the streets. Be
sides the destruction by the fire consid-
cradle damage was inflicted by the ex-
plOsion. Pieces of iron were thrown
in every direction, some to II distance
of three miles, and the windows along
the river bank though on the opposite
side OF the stream were broken. Many
of these were French plate and Il quar-
ter of an inch thick, but they like the
less pretentious ones were shattered
into thousands of pieces. Only the
remnants of the tank and the scorched
hills on the east side to tell the tale of
the fearful conflagration, but the
thousands of persons who were almost
driven to distraction by the danger
which threatened them will need no
monument to make the memory of
this terrible affair an enduring one.
The loss will reach 500, 900, and will
be felt principally by the united lines.
1t is rumored thai two of the men
hurt by the explosion have died, but
the rumor cannot be traced to any re-
liable source. When the oil from the
Chalfant tank touched the river it
caused wave of water three feet
high to splash against The Parker
bank, raising boats high and dry upon
the shore. Forty feet of the Allegheny
Valley railroad were washed away by
the oil, and passengers had to be trans
ferred from one train to the other, and
| by boats to the Parker side to make
connections with the Parker and
Harms City line.
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