Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-12-14
GAS TANK COLLAPSES
Let's Loose 100000 Gallons of
Water and Floods New
York for Blocks.
THREEPERsCEs KNOWN FoBEDEAD
Three Others Are Missing and Twenty
Two Injured or Nearly DrOwned-FIood
Rises to Second Stories and Carries Peo-
pie Away-Part of the Town in Dark
ness-EiSht Men step to Their Death in
Front of a Train.

Front of a Train.
New York. Dec. 1.-THE great steel
gas tank Of the Consolidated Gas com
pary. at Avenue a and Twentieth
street, the largest Of its kind in the
world. collapsed Ut $50 2. II. yesterday.
II went down with = crash and roar
Ike a great explosion. Masonry Of
granite blocks ard bricks TO the height
o: nifty feet fell like child's toy house.
and lo-sed from bondage S.Oc0. 600 gal
lors OF water. deIuged the streets. and
in a ten-foct tidal wave carried death
and destruction through the surround
ing neighborho,d. It is not known how
many were killed and injured. The dead
SO far recovered are: John Gray. 30
years old; Andrew Wendt. workman;
Plus Baum. engineer N an adjacent
factory.
The injured are: Catherine O'Don-
nell. years old. leg fractured. con-
tusiC -: Mary Ann O'Ccunel. boGy bad
" lacerated: Timothy Dunn. general
confusion :. John Wagner. general con-
tusions: William Kane. face lacerated:
Charles QuIEg. severely injured about
the body and face; Peter Walker. dis
located shoulder. About fifteen others
so far as has been learned were injured
more or less severely or almost drowned.
James O'Connor. foreman in Fu.Grer's
factory. adjoining: George Bremer.
timekeeper. and George WinkIe. l. years
old, are missing.
Flood Was Two stories Deep.
The steel tank was I1S feet in diameter
and 100 feet high. Rising cut OF the
ground to a height of fifty feet was a
great circular w1u o. granite and brick
many feet in thickness. This was
OF
= gang of men was at work
under a foreman fIiaE the pit
with water to make the first water
test" The great tank seemed to with
stand the test well. The IaboTcrs were
even beginning 20 gather up their tools
to knock off. Therc were many people
on the streets. and crowded street cars
coming and going. Suddenly came an
awful crash. The men below had
falling walls ere they were picked up
by the mass of rolling water ard hurled
hundreds of feet away. Into the base
ment. the first and second floors of fac
tories ard tenements rushed the food.
shut or the Gas supply.
Worlsmen were shot out cf the factory
windows and carried a beck OF more as
II mere stra VS.. Women were washed
out Of the fats from the first floors and
almost drowned. The loss Of the tank IS
said To be comp,ete-S3gO O.oO9. The col
lapse Of the tank caused the rupture of
some OF the great water mains which .
We're constructed tofeed IL and for soma
time these poured their torrents into
the streets. The Gowr-town district ,
suffered greatly on account Of the ac-
cident. for all the gas supplied by the
Consolidated company in that part OF
the city was smut OF. This affected the !
downtown restaurants. hotels, elevated !
stations etc. The morning newspapers
more than any one els. Those !
that use linotypes had vast amount Of (.
trouble as a result of the failure OF the !
gas presSt1r.4