Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-30
A STAND PIPE BURSTS.
Temple Aroused at an Early Hour By
Terrific Explosion.
Two Hundred and Sevsnty-Fivs Thousand
Gallons Of Water sweep Portion OF
the Town-Great Damage.
spe cial to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
TEMPLE, Tx, Oct. 25.-Towards the quiet
and early part of the morning our town was
thrown into intense excitement. perhaps
greater than ever before experienced. At 3
O'Clock a m, without a moment warning aud
with a shock which was felt distance of over
two miles, the stand pipe of the Temple water
works company bursted and the 275. 900
gallons of water contained therein
went foaming and Kissing over
In its course everything great and small pieces
of scaffoiding. houses, barns. fences and i'm
mense sheets of boiler steel were carried and
ing sound the entire town was awakened from
its slumbers, but before they could realize the
danger at hand down
WITH MIGHTY CRASH
came the heavy teel standnipe, twenty feet in
diameter and $50 feet in height. 1t was only =
moments work. and one OF terrible destruction.
The Johnstown horror was revealed. large
crowd soon gathered from every direction, anx-
iously inquiring the cause of the shock and to
lend any ali, but they were powerless, as the
damage was done.
The STEEL when the pipe burst. was thrown
in every direction. eight sections to the right,
one to the left several to this side and the other
and sixteen sections lying towards the street
each piece being torn and twisted as a child
would piece of paper.
The houses in the vicinity where the accident
occurred suffered considerable damage from wa
ter and the shock. The house of Mr.. Tucker
shows signs of very heavy damage, being thrown
TEN OR FIFTEEN FEET
from its foundation, and having one side badly
demolished.
The house of o. t. Rigdon was crushed and
torn from Its foundation. The shock caused
lamp to be overturned, the oil being thrown
over him. He was seen enveloped In flames.
He rushed from the house into the street
and with the assistance OF several friends,
the flaming garments were extinguished.
The articles inside the house which were ig-
nised, were apparently out. Mrs. Rigdon. who
mi Nm n har had zInE &c.,
taken to a neighpor's house At about . O clock
the apparently extinguished flames in the house
took fresh start and the house, with contents,
became
The houses OF Messrs. F. E. SANFORD, E. B.
Gresthouse. E. Steiner and the Baptist church
suffered damage by water. The fences and
gardens around this part Of town 9 total
wreck,
Nothing. definite can be learned as to the
cause or why this terrible accident occurred.
Your correspondent, in conversation with Mr..
W. Thomas, the contractor, who had Just
completed the erection OF The standpipe learned
the following: MIR. Thomas SAYS ne is wholly
unable to account for the accident. His firm,
Messrs. Thomas & German. at Houston, has
erected numerous standpipes the en-
tire state and have never had mishap.
Messrs. Ripley & Bronson of St Louis furn-
ished the material, which is claimed to be the
tested and marked to stand pressure Of 60. go
pounds, it being as good as any used for stand
pipes in the state.
FLAWS ARE APPARENT
in any of the broken and torn pieces. The solid
foundation still remains where 1t was placed
with the exception of cash two feet long and
over foot wide through the bottom. The
foundation at this pace is torn away and a
couple OF large rocks thrown several feet from
where this opening Is.
1t is very strongly believed that dynamite was
used. but nothing definite has been reach ed so
far.
The loss is considerable, the standpipe alone
having cost over slI 600. The waterworks COM
pany had not formally received it.
Mr.. Rigdon, who was burned, died this even
ing ct O'Clock and will be inferred tomorrow.