The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1898-12-16
A GAS TANK BURSTS.
A Tidal Wave Follows That Carries
Death and Destruction.
MANY PERSONS KILLED AND INJURED
The Contractor and CHIEF Engineer Placed
Under Arrest. Charged with Homicide
-Nswpapsr Omoes and Places Us
ing Gas Aforementioned

New York, Dec. IA-The great steel
gas tank Of the Consolidated Gas COM
pany, the largest Of its kind in the
world, collapsed at $50 o'clock yester-
day afternoon 1t went down with q
crash and roar like a great explosion
Masonry Of granite blocks and bricks
to the height Of so feet fell like q
child's toy house Of blocks, and loOs-
ened from bondage 5000, 600 gallons
Of water, which deluged the streets
and in a ten-fOOt tidal wave carried
death and destruction through the sur
rounding neigh bOrhOOd. It is not
known how many were killed and in
jured. The dead so far recovered are;
Andrew Wendt, workman: Rus Baum,
engineer in adjacent factory; John
Gray, T5 years old, Waterman, Man
haitian.
A gang Of men were at work under
a foreman filling the pit with water to
make the first water test" The
great tank seemed to Withstand the
test well The labOrers were even be-
ginning to gather up their tools to
knock of. There were many people
on the streets and crowded street cars
coming and going. Suddenly came
an awful crash. The men below
had scarcely time to fly from be-
meath the falling walls ere they were
picked up by the mass Of rolling water
and hurled hundreds of feet away.
Into the Easements, the first and sec
ond floors of factories and tenements
rushed the flood. Workmen were shot
out of the factory windows and carried
a block or more as if they were straws.
e Ia lot
from the first floors and almost
drowned.
w J. Logan, of the Logan iron
works, of Green Point. l. L, the con-
tractor who was building the tank,
arrived on the scene within a few
minutes after the collapse and was at
once placed under arrest. William H.
Bradley, chief engineer Of the Con-
sOlidated Gas company, and said
to be jointly responsible for the work
with Contractor Logan. was also
placed under arrest They were
charged with homicide and their bail
was placed at SO, GOO.
After the masonry Of the tank col
laPsed .the tank proper careened and
fell in a battered heap to one side
The giant uprights were bent as il
made of paper, the whole making one
great mass Of scrap iron. The loss OF
the tank is said to be complete-S3OO,-
600. The collapse Of the tank caused
the rupture of some of the great water
mains, which were constructed to feed
il, and for some time these poured
their contents into the streets. Even
tually they were closed.
The downtown district suffered
greatly on account Of the accident,
for all the gas supplied by the ConsOl-
idated company in that part of the
city was shut off. This affected the
downtown restaurants, the downtown
hotels, the elevated stations, all the
ferry houses and whatever business
houses are in the habit of doing busi-
ness at night
The morning newspapers suffered
more than anyone else. Those that
use lineotypes had a vast amount of
trouble as a result Of the failure Of the
gas pressure. Some Of the newspapers
were supplied with gasoline burners
adapted for use in connection with
the linotype in towns where gas can
not be readily obtained, and for time
it appeared as though the return to
Old-fashiOned methods of setting type
by hand would be inevitable Finally,
however, by shifting the burners and
elevating them, enough heat was gen.
Grated 70 heat the metal and the work
Of composition proceeded