The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-09-12
An AWFUL EXPLOSION.
1t Results in the Wreck Of Three
Philadelphia Buildings.
PROBABLY A DOZEN KILLED.
Aftep tho Recovery of Four Bodies the
Search Was Suspended Temporarily.
The Disaster Was Caused by an Ex-
plosiOn of Gasoline.

Tie Disaster Was Caused by an Ex-
plosion of Gasoline.
Philadelphia Sept. 12-By the explo.
sion OF 40 gallons of gasoline in the
cellar of q grocery store at 1444 South
street last night surely -four and poss-
bly, dozen more lives were lost. AS
an immediate consequence of the ex-
plosion the building where 1t occurred
and those adjoining it on either side
collapsed. Four bodies have thus far
been recovered from the ruins, and
three of these identified. as follows:
Samuel Schattenstein, keeper of the
grocery store; his 19year-old son. Alb
raham; a 10months old child named
Goldberg. The fourth body was that
of girl about 10 years old
How the explosion occurred is yet
unknown. The front of 14i4 was i'm
mediately blown out. and this was fol-
lowed by the collapse of that structure
and Nos. 1ii2. occupied by Morris Gold
berg's furniture store, and 1446, Louis
Sallonose's shoe store. The west wall
of A4O. occupied by l.. Wanger's cloth
ing store, was also blown out All the
buildings were of brick, three stories
in height
In the confusion and excitement fol-
lowing the disaster II is as yet impos-
sible to secure anything like an accu-
rate census of the occupants, but 1t is
generally stated that the upper floors
were crowded with families, huddlei
together in tenement fashion. Coming
as it did at the supper hour. it is feared
the loss of life was heavy. The list of
injured will BE- long. They We're taken
to all the hospitals within radius of
mile.
After the recovery of the four bodies
the authorities decided to postpone the
search for additional victims until TO-
day, thus ohviatinE the dangers and
dalays of working upon the mass cf
debris and Wr"ckage in the darkness.
The corpsas uf SSchattenstrin and his
son were picked up on The STEPS Of
No. 14ii. The unidentified 1O-year-old
giri was found pinioned by a mass Of
ttmbers h the rear of the same build
ing. and The Goldberg child died whin
being taken tn a hospital.
The Injured at the howard hospital
Alexander 81 hatter$tcin, aged 6 years,
broken nose and lacrratiCn of scalp:
Alexander s;chattcnstcin, aged years
laccratcd scalp, condition serious;
Mary Hcaly. aged G5 years, fractured
leg: Annie M"phllumy, 10 years, tI;ri.
fusion of ankle Harry Rothermcl, II
years. lNCerat"d scalp; Maggi" Gold
berg. 20 years. lacorlted scalp; Sarah
Goldberg. IA years, lac"raled scalp
and confused ankle.
AT the Jefferson hos7!tal are A. F.
Fish. 50 years. a fireman, lacerated
wound Of scalp. and Yctta Goldberg .
years confusion of leg and back and
laccrat"d wound of scalp.
Estimates of the number of missing
vary from six to 1S.
The accepted theory of the accident is
that Schattersiein went into the cellar
with lighted lamp, which ignitad the
fumes of the gasoline. From the pO-
sition of his body and that of his SON,
on the front steps, It Is thought they
were emerging from the house when
caught by the falling walls.
The collapse Of the buildings occurred
within two minutes of the explosion,
and the OCCUPANTS had little time or
chance to escape. Mrs. Goldberg
snatched up her 10-months-old child In
her arms and rushed for an exit. but
the child wes so badly injured that 1t
died while being borne to hospital.
Strangely enough. the mother escaped
with only trifling injuries.
At 6:45 O'Clock last night sergeant
of police was talking to one of his men
on the opposite side of the street when.
without a moments warning, there was
a terrific explosion. which, almost be-
fore they could turn their heads, was
followed by thunderous crash. Min
gled with this were the cries of human
beings. Without loss of time one of
the policemen struck the fire alarm at
box near by, while the other rang for
ambulanccs. The engines and six of
the hospital wagons were there within
20 minutes, and large force of pO-
licemen, also summoned to the scene,
had the street roped off from corner TO
corner.
The work of rescue was begun forth
with, but was temporarily abandoned
later when twilight had dcepened into
night All of the dead and injured were
In the buildings at the time of the dis
aster, and. as the walls collapsed al
most Of perpendicular direction, no
passersby were injured by flying de-
bris.
The force of the explosion was so
great, however, that all the windows
in the houses across the street were
broken by the concussion.