Passaic City record., 1892-06-11

| CI1nglng to various objects, such as drift
wood, pieces of boards, timbers and any
other object they could lay hands on were
scores of human beings. their white and ter
ror-stricken countenances, desperate strug-
| zles and paintive, oul-piercing cries for
| aid all combining to create impressions in
| the minds of the beholders never to be
| forgotten. ~
The undertaking establishments of Da-
! wilson and McNitt have been turned into
! temporary morgues. With the exception of
| the bodies of seven Hebrews and two cail-
] dreN, all the bodies were taken there as fast
| as they were brought from the water.
Most of the bodies bear evidence of hav-
| ing met death from burning oil, many OF
| them burned almost beyond recognition and
! several of them in such terrible manner as
to leave the bodies nothing but blackened
| crisps, entirely without the least semblancs
| of the human form.
| One woman with babe closely clasped
| to her breast was burnt to a crisp. Another
woman found burned had prematurely'
| born babe by her side.
| No sooner was the true state of affairs
| apparent to the citizens than meeting was
| called and over $500 in cash contributed
| for the immediate relief OF the sufferers.
| Committees were chosen and the Rouse
Armory turned into a vast hospital and
sleeping and eating house. No less than 100
homeless people were cared for.
The loss in the country by washouts and
loss of bridges will bc enormous. There Is
not county or township bridge for many
miles that is not washed away, and the roads
in every direction are nearly impossible.
The above narrowing scenes were re-
peated on an even more dreadful scale at
Oil City, eighteen miles below Titusville, as
told by the following dispatches from the ILL
fated city: At11: 80 o'clock in the forenoon
city was distributed along the banks and
bridges of the Allegheny River and Oil
Greek watching the rise oe the food in both
streams, the chief cause of the rise of the
latter being due to the clou dburst above
Titusville, which resulted in the loss of
many lives in that city.
At the time mentioned an ominous cover
ing of oil made its appearance on the crest
of the food pouring down the Oil Creek
Valley, and the dangerous foreboding waves
of gas from distillate and benzine could be
seen above the surface of the stream, which,
at the bridge, is about 100 yards wide. Peo-
pie began slowly to fall back from the
bridge and the creek.
Hardly had they begun to do so when an
explosion was heari up the stream, which
was rapidly followed by two others, and
quick as flash of lightning the creek for a
distance of two miles was filed with an aw-
full mass of roaring flames and pillows of
smoke that rolled high above the creek and
river hills
Oil City is bounded on all sides by steep
hills. Oil Greek comes down the valley from
the north, and just before its junction here
with the Allegheny is crossed by bridge to
she Third Ward, which lies along the
west bank of the creek and the north
bank of the river. Almost all that portion
of the town was on fire within three min
utes from tn time of the explosion, and at
the time this dispatch was sent no one knew
how many of the inhabitants were lying
dead in the ruins Of their homes.
An eye witness at the time of the first ex-
plosion stood at the east end of the bridge.
Almost as quickly as the words can be writ
ten fully 5000 persons in that portion Of the
town were on the streets, wild with terror,
rushing to the hills. Men forgot that they
were men. and scores of men, women, and
children were knocked down and trampled
upon both by horses and persons in the mad
Eight for safety.
Just as this frantic throng had started up
Centre street second explosion occurred,
knocking many people down, shattering the
windows in the main part of the town, and
almost Transforming the day to night with
an immense covering Of smoke. Hundreds
Thought the day of Judgment had come, and
many prayers were heard mingled with
means and lamentations. The heat was in
tense and the awful spectacle presented to
the panic stricken people was that of cloud
burst of fire. bordered and overcapped by
great canopy of dense black smoke.
1t was no won Ter that people wept and
tainted, leaving everything behind them,
and ran or were helpei to the hills. And
after they were out of danger, and even
before 1t, came the anxiety and suspense
regarding relatives and friends who
had been along the creek watch
ing the food when the avalanche of
fame came. The food in the Oil Greek
Valley had inundated the upper portion Of
the town, flooding from fifty to ssventy-ive
houses on North Seneca street. Most of the
inmates reached places Of safety by the use
of boats or by swimming and wading, but
some of them We're yet in the upper stories
or in the water when the fire came and
them were seen to jump into the water to
escape death in the flames. From the
remnants of the only building remaining
in the waste after the flood was over three
persons were removed in boat se-
verely burned, but alive, namely, Mrs. Hawk
and daughter and Mr.. Hassenfritz. The dis
tillate and benzine on the creek came from
tank lifted by the food, and is supposed
to have been ignited by a spark from an
engine on the Lake Shore road. just above
and several tanks were set on fire up the
creek. The Bellevue Hotel the Petroleum
House, the Oil City barrel factory, the new
building of the Oil City tube works, the big
furniture and undertaking establishment of
G. Paul & Sons, and probably 100 other
dwelling houses have been totally destroyed.
Meadville, Penn, was swept by tbs worst
food in its history. A midday rain of great
volume swe!led every stream bank full and
the storm which followed in the evening
brought the fool In Meadville Mill
Run overfowed its banks and swept
the whole business portion Of the
city,. demolishing. dozen or more