Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-25
A FATAL FLOW OF GAS.
Tears One Man to Pieces and Blows
Another Fully Thirty Feet.
FIRST ACCIDENT IN THE PINHOOK,
Three Suicides in Allegheny Within
Twenty-Four Hours.
MANY VIOLENT DEATHS IN ONE DAY

The first fatal accident in the new Pin.
hook natural gas field occurred yesterday
Scott Anderson, of this city, driller fol
the Equitable Gas Company, who has been
in the business for seven years and is well
known among oil and gas men in three
States, was literally torn to pieces by the
terrific force of the gas from new we'll on
the Kidd farm, at Milltown, two miles east
of Verona. Patrick Tube, the foreman on
the well, was seriously, if not fatally, in
jured at the same time.
The well is one which had been blowing
off since it was stfdck on Wednesday, the
pressure being SO great that no attempt to
even take gauge of it had been made until
yesterday. In the morning gate valve had
been put in place, to which the gauge was
attached at o'clock in the afternoon, and
quite a crowd interested in the new well
gathered to see the pressure taken.
Killed by the Flow of Gas.
At about o'clock the valve was grad
ually closed, but pebbles and sand thrown
up by the gas clogged the gate so that it
could not be closed entirely. After it had
been screwed up as tight as possible for a
half minute the gauge showed 210 pounds
pressure. At one minute it showed 315
pounds. In another minute it showed 500
pounds, but there it stopped. The crowd
left at once, supposing that was the pressure
limit, leaving only Anderson and Tuhe at
the we'll
About half hour later an explosion was
heard, and number of persons ran to the
scene, J. 7. Hovey being the first to arrive.
LII s. g.
derrick unconscious, his legs and arms
broken, a great hole torn in his side and his
face and breast filled with sand that had
been blown into the flesh. The force of the
gas had torn the shoes from his feet, the sole
of one shoe being ripped from the upper,
and his watch was broken to pieces, bits of
it being found all over the field. Anderson
died in few moments after the explosion.
Very Slight Hope for Life.
Tube was found 80 feet from the we'll.
One OF his legs is broken, his sight is gone,
the sand having been blown into his eye
balls, and he is internally injured. He is
at the West Penn Hospital and may die.
Tube is from Sardis, o.
Tube says the gauge had stopped regis
tering after reaching 500 pounds, but the
sound made by the gas escaping from the
narrow aperture between the gate and the
valve seat convinced them that the pressure
was growing. and they were just about to
open the valve when the accumulated pres
sure broke the three-quarter-inch gate
of the valve and tore it to
pieces. The six-inch gas pipe, IL feet long.
to which the valve had been attached, was
hurled 80 feet away. After the accident
the we'll was got under control, the casing
was anchored and at midnight the sound Of
escaping gas was heard at Verona, two miles
away.
The remains of Anderson were brought to
the city last night. and the Coroner will in
vestigate the case to-day. If the accident
had occurred while the crowd was about the
well the loss of life would have been great.