The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-12-14
FLOOD TURNED LOOSE
On New York Streets by Burst
ing of a Tank Holding 81
100000 Gallons of
Water.

New York, Dec. IA big tank OF
the Consolidated Gas company at First
avenue and Twenty-first street col
lapsed shortly before o'clock last
evening. The tank that collapsed was
175 feet in diameter, 100 feet in height,
and the iron supports over which the
immense cables ran were over 200 feet
in height. The lower tank into which
the upper one fitted was % feet in
height and rested on mason work of the
pit. This pit is $50 feet deep. The
builders were testing the strength of
the tank with water pressure. Immense
pipes had been pouring water into the
lower tank all day. The upper tank or
cap had risen about % feet. The work.
men were preparing to leave the place
when the mason work of the pit crun-
bled away like clay. It was said that
there was 100000 gallons of water in
the tank at the time of the break. The
water was over Sc feet in depth. The
steel plates of the tank were rent asun-
der by the pressure like so much paper.
The great force Of the water vented it
self on the rear walls of the buildings
on Avenue A, and all were torn away
with the exception of part of the rear
of the gas company'S engine house. The
masonry and brick were thrown into
the street and piled into the Railways
Of the houses and the buildings on Ay-
enue A side. The rushing waters cut
the rear of F'uldner's furniture factory
and huge slabs Of asphalt were carried
by the water into the buildings.
Tremendous iron beams and uprights
were swept by the water If they
were so much timber and carried away
down Twentieth and Twenty-frst
street to the river front.
At the foot of TWenty-frSt street
were two barges laden with coal. The
rushing waters forced the beams and
joists with such great force against
these coaI-laden boats that they parted
their moorings. The steamer Paul Koch
was also lying at the foot of Twenty
first street and her moOrings were also
parted.
When dawn lighted up the district to-
day a spectacle of ruin was presented.
TWenty-first street is barricaded by
twisted and bent iron stanchions Cir
ders and uprights piled to a height of
70 feet. Twentieth street is also filled
with bricks, household goods and tim
bers piled in one promiscuous mass.
Building department labOrers succeeded
in clearing Avenue A, so that the cars
could pass. All night long hundreds of
men worked assidUously to discover the
bodies that might be in the ruins. In
the basement of the furniture factory
of Henry FuIdner there was six feet of
water. Three men on raft fioated.
searching for the body of the missing
basement attending to his duties when
the deluge from the tank swept away
the rear wall of the building. His body
was found under a mass of debris.
The missing are; George Brennan,
time keeper for w. J. Logan of the
Logan Iron Works, Greenpoint, which
constructed the tank which collapsed.
Gustave Weinike, 16 years old, son of
one Of the foremen of the Logan Iron
Works.
James z. Lutener, who was supposed
to be in the pit working when the tank
gave way.
Peter Corlin, a workman employed by
the Consolidated Gas company.
The arm and leg of a man was found
in the tangled barricade on Twenty-first
street today.