The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1893-11-02
A GIG FIRE
Started ~ tAe Explosion Of Barrel 81
Whisky-Seven Hundred Thous~nd Dol
iare OF Pietsburgh Property Destroyed.

Whisky-Seven Hundre6 ThousanA Dol-
Lars Of Pittsburgh Property Destroyed
PITTSBURGH, Get 2a-The e1plo ION
of a barrel OF whisky in the scven-slory
warehouse Of the Chautauqus Lake Ice
Co., Friday afternoon caused the ;lc-
struction Of 500. 900 worth Of prov rty
and serious injury TO eight pers'nA
Several of the injured, 1t is feared sill
die. A score OK more Of Others us
tanned slight cuts and bruises, or wore
trampled on by the mob surroun' 'ns
buildings Those seriously hurt &c:
T. J. Heilman, dropped frou, the t.ird
door 30 the ground; hands and 100
terribly burned. His injuries COZ, i'd
cred fatal
Martin Griffith. dangerously burned.
Edward Specs, body and head b,,i!y
burned; may not recover.
William Cox, dangerously burned
about face and body.
William Smith. painfully burned; Ill
recover. These men were all rcs .ed
from the burning building by tho .:re'
men.
Lieutenant Frank McCann. Of IN
CINE Company No 7, struck BY fal ng
bricks, and left leg fractured.
William Wlsman, struck by tal ng
t!mbers, and skull fractured; dar or
ouA
John Reiscche, boy, badly hurt by
falling &imbera
Il was just twenty minutes .ftor 40
o'clock when the employees of the ! I'd
floor Of the Chataquua Lake lea -
building were startled by r loud re RI
md almost in All instant the 70
room was sblaxe. The men gu! ,ly
ga7o che alarm and then stnrtod or
the atairs. but the flames had alro dy
cut of their escape and the only nj y,
OF exit loft them were the wind -.
dfty feet from tho ground. by lis
time the heat was so intcuse that ~
wero forced TO creep out upon the IN
dow-aills and hang by their handxv Ill
the hre department arrived. The Z; 'as
bursting from tho windows ia cd
their hands and faces but they / 20
there until tho men Of truck + got III
ders and brought them down.
The fro by this time had sprcnc to
the seven-story building Of tho T ts-
burgh Storage co. adjoining, aud IA
structures, 200 feet long and 100 Ut
deep. were burning fiercely. Two 20
districts were then summoned, ant IA
twenty minutes water was pouring IA
tho flames from nearly score o! p
ginea At Q o'clock it looked as tAo Ia
tho whole block, from Twcifth st 'cs
to Thirteenth and from riko 10
Pom avenue was doomed. ana 10
residents were notified to move ont %
add 70 the excitement. 1t was discov. d
that large tank Of ammonia was (.
Gated in the cellar OF the ice compa -
building, and the police, fearing an x.
plosion. quickly ordered the occup" ,ts
of the houses on Twelfth street to "
cate. All tho houses In the neigh -
hood are a cheap class OF toncnt rs
and are crowded nearly to suffocat "a
by Polish Jews and Slavs When toy
were told to move out panic II :.
scribabie started among thcm. llo' :.
hold goods, store goods, children |
every thing that could be- carried A. y
was rushed to place OF safety
At $50 Tho walls on the Mullc ~
alley side fell in with crash, an i.
few minutes later tho eastern W
camo down. The debris buried = !. .!
row Of tencments in the alloy, NJ =
three-story brick dwelling on r a.
teenth street. The tenements ="
occupied by twenty families, ~
fortunately they had bcan ;.
serted some time before tho ": 6
fell IN Not one OF the fam!lies hr u
chance to save any Of their goods. r'"'
ell their furniture was destroyed. : .
ruins took fro Immediately. and e. y
while the entire tenement distr!c' IL
Penn avenue was threatened with :.
struction. BY hard WORK the i're" n
succeeded in drowning out these fan. :.
and tho Are was confined to tho bu :
ings Of the storage and ice cOlnpan'..%.
1t was dark, however, before tho rs
waa completely under control and vt
danger over