St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-02
FATAL GAS EXPLOSION.
A Terrible and Fatal Explosion of
Natural Gas at Pittsburg Yes
terday Morning.
Seven Persons Fatally and Eight Ser
iously Injured, and Many Build
ings Wrecked.
Three Persons Killed and Two Fatally In
jured in Railway Accident ON the
Lake Shore.
Two Boys Killed by Falling Over an EN-
bankment in Pittsburg Miscellaneous
Casualty Record.

PITTsBURa, Jan. 31.-Natural gas is re-
| sponsible for another terrible explosion,
which at this hour seems to involve not only
wreck of houses, but serious loss Of life,
and maimings which will follow the victims
to their graves. Shortly before II o'clock
there was an alarm on the big bell in the
municipal ball tower, but ii was of such an IT.
regular character that even Chief Evans
! who was In the Iotuuda of the hall at the
time, was at loss to know where it came
from. In moment word was transmitted
| 10y telephone at the mayors office, and at the
| engine houses that a disastrous explosion of
| natural gas had occurred at the forks Of the
road, otherwise known as Thirty-fourth
and Butler streets, and that there had been a
serious loss of life, as well as great destruc-
ton of property. The meager details which
could be secured over the telephone were to
the effect that the explosion occurred
| In August Ruh's saloon, No. 1851 Pennsyl-
vania avenue, and that the adjoining build
| ing had also been wrecked by the explosion.
| The conclusion created the widest excite
| ment in the immediate vicinity, and hun
! dreds of people gathered about, as the ruins
] had taken fire, and rumors were current
| that number of persons were buried in the
| debris. Just few moments after that oc
currence, Citizens line car passed in front
of the wrecked buildings filed with passen-
gers. A second explosion occurred anu the
car was thrown from the track by the force
of the upheaval. The CONSERVATION amoug
the passe gers was more than panic and
scarcely one Of the whole number escaped
without more or less injury. The driver
wes blown from his position and so severely
injured that he may not recover. At the
same time, pieces of timber and 4 ying de-
| bris of all kinds
VERB HURLED IN THE AIR
by the second explosion, and caused great
havoc among those who had gathered in the
vicinity, and the list of In ured was sweled
| until it had reached between twenty and
| thirty. Several other eruptions followed, and
! the mum Der of houses EN- braced was increased
to ten or fifteen. About twenty minutes
| past IL the signal that the fire had been eX
| tiuguished was sent in, but scarcely ten min
utes had elapsed until another alarm was
| sounded from the same box, and additional
steamers hurried to the spot, not only TO aid
in extiugushiug the flames, but to assist in
aiding and caring for the injured, and hunt
ing for those who were supposed to be buried
under the buildings which have been in
volved in the general destruction.
DETAILS OF THE EXPLOSION.
The explosion occurred in three houses.
One was the Iron City hotel and saloon
operated by an Englishman named George
Morris. Ii was a low frame building. twelve
| feet front and thirty feet deep. 1t had kitchen
| and dining room in the basement; above the
| barroom were two bedrooms, next to this was
! the meat shop of Mrs. Hammersdorfer,
which building is just like the one occupied
| by Morris. Across Thirty-third street was
the saloon Of George Mueller. He lived in
four story brick house, the barroom being
on the first floor, and the
tobacco mandatory, also operated
| by Mueller, ON the second floor. Above this
aud In the front OF the second floor was
sleeping apartment. The first explosion was
in the cellar of Mrs. Hammersdorfer, about
1890 a. IN. Mrs. Hammersdorfer sent her
sister, Mary Smolder, into the cellar for a
basket When she reached the cellar she
struck match and instantly there was loud
explosion and the little building was almost
shaken apart. The proprietress was thrown
across her shop; plastering, glass and loose
articles came crashing in from all sides, and
The girl In the cellar screamed wildly Before
the people could recover self-possession there
was another terrible explosion. 1t came from
the cellar of Morris saloon and wrecked the
| basement. Miss Morris, who was getting
dinner ready, was thrown against the door
| and badly bruised. Her little baby was
thrown through the window and more or less
cut and bruised. Morris himself was In bed
| at the time and he was blown out ON the
| floor, but was not seriously injured. The
| bar room was crowded with people who were
thrown about like ten pins. Mrs. Hammers
dorfer went TO aid her sister and pulled her
up from the cellar. Her little daughter Liz
zie, was blown against the wall and was COW
cred with debris, and badly hurt about the
head and face. Miss Smolder, the girl who
went TO the cellar, is badly injured and cam
not recover. In the meantime
THIRD EXPLOSION
occurred In George Mueller's saloon, across
| the street. In the saloon at the time were
Anna Mueller, daughter Of the proprietor;
Lizzie Elmoth, a cook; DR.. Ziegler, Of Ale
| gheny, and Jack Stern, mill worker. Miss
| Mueller was just going down cellar when the
| explosion occurred. She fell down the stairs
and was caught by her feet, where she hung
screaming. Charles Ruth barkeeper, heard
| her scream and ran into the room, which by
this time was IN flames. He made his way
| through the falling ruins aud debris to the
cellar way and rescued her. DR.. Ziegler was
blown against the wall and injured inter-
naly Lizzie Eluoth was burned about the
! face and bead. Jack Stern was so terribly
burned that his death is only question OF a
few hours
When the third explosion occurred Cti-
Zens passenger car number 80 was just pass
ing. beer keg blown from one saloon
and bit the driver, VIM. Kota and knocked
him senseless. August Horn, J. Stein. Mile
Oxensbert, girl, j. Conrad, Willie Patton,
with Geo. ZDZer, were passing along Penn
sylvania avenue, and all were more or less
| injured By the flying debris Of the explosion.
The houses of Morris and Mueller were badly
wrecked, and every house within square
was more or less damaged. Among the
! number were Ebert's saloon, Lawrence bank,
Tess drug store, Giles confectionery and
| Peytou's saloon. No one was killed outright,
but four or five will die.
Stein, who was in Mueler's bar room, is
( now reported dead.
There is intense excitement in the neigh
| borhood and a gang of men have been
| formed among citizens 10 tear up the gas
/ pipcs tonight. The loss U building and stock
| is from sl5, 900 TO 800, coo. The gas fire is
still burning In the sewers.
LIST OF THE INJURED.
| The complete list Of the persons injured By
the gas explosions to-day is as follows:
Dr. Ziegler, Of Allegheny, blown into the
air. jaw badly cut and injured internally.
William KOts, conductor citizens line,
| knocked of the car BY beer keg aud badly
/ hurt
George Morris, barkeeper at Muelier's
saloon, badly cut By broken glass; James
| Stein, severely cut about the head, probably
/ fatally hurt.
Gust Horn, cut and burned about the head,
/ net seriously hurt.
George Ringer, e baker, eye cut and ter