San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1881-11-03
A Burning oil Trail.

Nov York, LAKE Ere q western Raa
road recently. A full train Of oil -
was coming east down the grade vhs,,
coupling gave way near the engine. r.
some unaccountable reason the ~
part Of the train broke into sevenl
pieces and the various tanks came DIN
hill at fearful rate of speed, the M
mentum increasing every second. n
engineer at once perceived the dana.
and allowed the engine to go its beA
speed. Finally, after an exciting m.
Of over two miles, the bottom Of Ia
grade was reached. The engineer soon
noticed that the runaway tanks wen
fast gaining on the engine, and beion
he could make enough distance the ans
tanks collided with the tanks which bad
remained attached to the engine. In
an instant the end tanks were on fire.
At first it was but small stream Of oil
running from leak in the tank over 4
hot journal, but before any sand could
be thrown ON it the fire communicated
to the oil in the tank. The engineer ct
once separated the unchanged tanks
from those which had been injured BY
the collision and removed them dis.
lance down the track. 50
All necessary precaution had been
taken to prevent the coming of other
trains, and help was at once telegraphed
for. The sudden jar of the collision
caused the tanks in the rear end of the
train to telescope and the oil to catch
fire, SO that the train was burning sin,
ultaneously at two places. The morn
ling express from the west soon came
along, and the passengers assisted the
train hands in fighting the flames by
throwing sand and dirt on the burning
cars. Plenty of assistance soon ar
rived from the neighboring villages, but
the heat soon became so intense that il
was impossible to get anywhere near
enough to them to give them battle.
The wrecking train with large
number of hands, soon arrived from
Jersey City, and every endeavor was
made to save as much property as pos.
sible. The flames shot up hundreds Of
feet into the air, and the few trees which
were in the neighborhood were soon
consumed. The flames Kissed and the
burning oil boiled out of the tanks un-
til the generation of gas became too
much and the tank exploded with a deaf
ening report. Luckily there were no
houses or other buildings in the neigh
borhood, and the damage was confined
to the crude petroleum, the tanks track
and ties. 1t made sad havoc with the
latter. As the oil burned to the ground
after the explosion it destroyed the
trucks of the cars, the wheels becoming
red hot in the blaze. The ties were
consumed and the rails curled up in
the heat like scraps of paper, the ground
being saturated with the oil.
The fire began at 8 o'clock in the
forenoon, and at noon it was apparent
that very little could be done toward
putting it out. The telegraph poles
had been destroyed and communication
with the Jersey City Office cut off. Men
were set to work building line Of wires
round the fire, and soon wire was in
working ORDER As a last resource
cannon was borrowed from neighbor-
ing iron work and the. train hands load
ing it with railroad iron, began bonn
bardment from the best point they
could find. Soon hole had been shot
in the tank nearest the fire and the oil
ran down the embankment where the
loose earth soon absorbed it. All the
cars possible had been moved away and
the extinguishing of the fire was soon
only question of time. When the
half empty tank exploded soon after it
caught fire the flames began to gradn-
ally die out. Five large tanks had been
consumed, and all that was left of them
was scrap iron. 1t was 3 o'clock last
evening before the work could be be-
gun on the hot earth, and it was III
o'clock before the express train left
with its hungry passengers. The fire
could be seen and the explosion heard
for miles about the confagration.