The Forrest City times., 1898-12-16
Scene OF DEVASTATION
New York City's Collapsed Gas Tank
Did an Enormous Amount
Of Damage.
FIVE MEN ARE KNOWN TO Be MISSING.
was Being Tested by Water Pressure,
when IL was Rent Assunder Like 30
Much Paper and the surrounding Ma
sonry Crumbled Away Like Clay.

sonry Crumbled Away Like Clay.
New York, Dec. 15.-When dawn
lighted up the district devastated by
the collapsing of the big gas tank of
the Consolidated Gas Co., q spectacle
of ruin was presented.
BARRICADED WITH DEBRIS.
Twenty-first street is barricaded by
twisted and bent iron stanchions, Cir
ders and uprights piled to a height of
25 feet. Twentieth street is also filled
with bricks. households goods and tim
bers piled high in one promiscuous
mass. Building department laborers
succeeded in clearing avenue \ 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 Fuldner there was six feet
of water. Three men on a raft fioated,
searching for the body of the missing
engineer. Pious Baum. who was in the
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 de-
bris.
THE MISSING VICTIMS.
George Brennan. timekeeper for W.
]. Logan of the Logan iron works,
Green Point, which constructed the
tank which collapsed.
Gustave Winke, 16 years old, son of
enc of the foremen of the Logan iron
works.
William O'Connell, foreman for the
Logan iron works.
James E. Lutener, who was sup
posed to be in the pit working when
the tank gave way.
Peter Corlin, workman. EMPLOYED
by the Consolidated Gas Co.
THE COLLAPSED TANK.
The tank that collapsed was IT'S
feet in diameter, 100 feet in height.
and the iron supporters over which
the immense cables ran were over 200
feet in height. The lower tank in
which the upper one fitted was 25 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. I'm
mense pipes had been pouring water
into the lower tank all day. The up
per tank or cap had risen about 25
feet. The workmen were preparing
TO leave the place when the mason
work of tie pit crumbled away like
clay.
A GREAT VOLUME OF WATER.
1t was said that there was 5000. 900
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 asunder 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 The
masonry and brick were thrown into
the street and piled into the railways
of the houses and buildings on the
Avenue a side. The rushing waters
cut off the rear of Fulner's furniture
factory, and huge slabs of asphalt
"cit SdlAitN ~. the water INTO Tie
buildings.
AN IRRESISTIBLE FORCE.
Tremendous iron beams and up
rights were swept by the water as if
they were SO much timber, and carried
away down Twentieth and Twenty
| first streets to the river front
At the foot of Twenty-first street
were two barges laden with coal. The
rushing water sent beams and joists
with such great force against these
coal-laden boats that they parted their
mornings. The steamer Paul Koch
was also lying at the foot of Twenty
first street,an her mornings were also
parted.
/ The arm and leg OF a man were
found in the entangled barricade on
| Twenty-first street.
William O'Connell, who was report
ed missing, has turned up all right.