Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-01-05
FOUR EXPLOSIONS.
Natures Dynamite on the Ram
page at Chicago.
TWENTY-sIX MEN BADLY sCORCHED

Natural Gas Gives an Exhibition in Big
Building - The Impalpable Explosive
Permeates the Air and Waits Its OPP
portunity = About $4,000 Worth of
Plate Glass Shattered, Besides the Casu-
alties-Some of the Victims May Die
List of Injured.
CHICAGO, Jan. 5-An explosion of
| natural gas in Donahue & Hennebery's s
| printing establishment yesterday after
noon MANNED a score of firemen and la
| borers. Some of these may die. Half of
| them are seriously injured, not the least
among them being Fire Marshal Swenie
himself, who had a narrow escape from the
full force of the explosion. The explosion
was in the plate vault of the printing and
| publishing establishment of Donahue g.
Hennebery, extending from 407 to 425 on
the east side of Dearborn street. The
vault~is located Immediately beneath the
sidewalk, which is formed of heavy iron
frames covered with glass and iron. Dur
| ing the early part of the afternoon three
employees of the Natural Gas company had
| been at work in this vault making con-
nections that were to be used in supplying
the boiler plant with fuel.
Indiana's Explosive Gets in Its Work.
| AS precaution the doors of the vault
were closed, Shortly after 2 o'clock Fore
man Robert Granger who was in charge
which adjoins the vault-noticed flames in
the vicinity of the brick wall which ex-
tends between the press room and the
| vault These flames had the appearance
of ignited gas that had escaped through the
faulty partition wall. Without waiting to
open the vault doors the foreman and en-
ployes ran upstairs and gave an alarm of
fire. They then returned to the basement
when some one-the flames still being no.
ticeable-threw open the vault door. la
stantly there was a tremendous explosion
and nearly all of the employees who were
in the vicinity, about ten in number, were
thrown to the floor, all sustaining more or
less serious injuries.
The Firemen Caught This Time
Within few moments members of the
fire Insurance patrol and those engine COM
panies who were on the spot, headed by
Chief Swenie, rushed to the basement for
the purpose, if possible, of preventing the
spread of flames to the air and elevator
shafts. They had no sooner reached tie
vicinity of the vault door than a second
and even stronger explosion followed,
and the firemen-as the employees of
the firm before them-were hurled with
terrific force to the floor With clothes on
fire, and the exposed portions of their bod
les roasted and torn, they were at once res
cued by the fresh arrivals and borne to
drug stores in the vicinity
Two More Follow Quickly.
While they were being taken from the
basement and within a few seconds Of the
other explosions came the third over
whelming combustion of the pent up gases
and the already lOosened iron work cover
ering the Vault was torn from its fasten-
ings. Chief Swenie had not yet left the
basement and while those of the injured
about him were caring for those who suf-
fered from third explosion he gave orders
for the men to retire from the vicinity of
the vault. 1t was none too soon. for as
they did so came the fourth and last
thunderous report, which tore apart the
sides of the vault and hurled the iron
plates of the massive sidewalk into the
street.
The Natural Dynamite Shut on.
The gas was finally shut off and within
a few moments what fire there was placed
uhuef CohtLoi' puC tue souJh END or the I'M
mense building had been strained and tori,
and the heavy plate glass in four of the eight
stories was lying i'll great masses on the
street below. Most of the injured men
were removed to the drug store of Roper
d Baxter at the corner of Dearborn and
Harrison streets, where in short time
thousands of people blockaded the streets,
and to this place all the physicians in the
vicinity had been summoned, together with
the ambnlances.