Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-26
A STAND PIPE BURSTS.
Temple Aroused at an Early Hour By
Terrific Explosion.
Two Hundred and sevsnty-FIye Thous snd
Gallons Of Water sweep a Portion of
the Town-Gr"at Damage.

Specia to the Gazette.
TEMPLE, TEX, 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 moments warning and
with o shock which was felt distance of over
two miles, the stand pipe OF the Temple water
work. company bursted and the 2I5. 900
gallons of water contained therein
went foaming and kissing over
the doomed portion of our city carrying
in its course everything grea and small, pieces
of scaffoding, houses, barns, fences and inI-
mense sheets of boiler steel were carried and
thrown a distance of 40 feet. At the first roar
ing sound the entire town was awakened from
It's slumDers, but before they could realize the
danger at hand down
WITH MIGHTY CRASH
came the heavy teel standn!p., twenty feet in
diameter and $50 fset in height. II 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 t.
lend any al J., but they were powerless, a, 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 SHE and the other
and sixteen sections lying towards the street
each piece being torn and twisted as child
would piece of paper.
The houses in the vicinity where the accident
occu FRED suffered considerable damage from wa
ter and the shock. The house of hr. Tucker
shows 81 gns of very hsavy damage, being thrown
TEN OR FIFTEEN FEET
from its foundation, and having one side badly
demolished.
Tne house of o. T. Rigdon was crushed and
torn from its foundation. The shock caused q
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-
1,,&.. MI -
was confined to her bed SICK was hurriedly
taken to q neighoo house. AT about clock
the apparently extinguished flames in the house
took fresh start and the house, with contents,
became
A TOTAL LOSS.
The houses of Messrs. +. E. Sandford, E. B.
Greenhouse. E. Steiner and the Baptist church
suffered damage by water. The fences and
gardens around this part of town are O total
wreck.
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: Mr.. Thomas says he is wholly
unable to account for the accident. His firm,
Messrs. Thomas & German. at Houston, has
erected numerous standpipes over the en-
tire state and have never had a mishap.
Messrs. Ripley & Bronson OF St Louis furn-
ished the material, which is claimed to be the
very best of steel, every piece having been
tested and marked TO stand a pressure of 60. QUO
pounds, it being as good as any used for stand
pipes in the state.
NO FLAWS AIE APPARENT
in any of the broken and torn pieces. The solid
foundation still remains where it was placed
with the exception OF cash two feet long and
over a foot wide through the bottom. The
foundation at this pace is torn away ana
couple of large rocks thrown several feet from
where this opening is. ri
It 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 Sill 600. The waterworks COM
pany had not formally received it.
Mr.. Rigdon, who was burned, died this even
ing at O. clock and will be inferred tomorrow.