Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1900-11-01
THIRTY ARE KILLED
TERRIFIC EXPLOSIONS FOLLOW FIRE
IN NEW YORK CITY.

TERRIFIC EXPLOSIONS FOLLOW FIRE
IN NEW YORK CITY.
Lower Portion of Manhattan Shaken by
Force of Concus sjion--Thirty-Five Per-
| sons Missing and One Hundred on the
/ List of Injured.
/ New York, Oct. 3O.-The long list of
| fire horrors that have occurred in and
around the city of New York, a list
that includes the Royal hotel fire, the
| Park place disaster and the Windsor
/ and Hoboken fires, was added to yes
terday and explosions that shook the
lower end of Manhattan like an earth
quake, hurled seven-story building
into the air and set fire to two blocks
i of buildings. with a loss of life that
only the efforts of hundreds Of men
/ who We're rushed to the work of dig
ging away the ruins as soon as the fire
was extinguished will reveal The
big building of Tarrant & Co. makers
of medicinal specialties, standing at
the northwest corner of Greenwich and
Warren streets, and filed with chem
1 icals, took fire in some way that may
never be known at about 1915 yester-
day. 1t was 16 minutes after noon
that citizen rushed into the house of
n fire engine 20. %. on Chambers street,
| near Greenwich, and shouted that Tar
rants drug Louise was on fire. He had
seen column of black smoke COM
ing from third story window. An
alarm was turned in, soon after Sec
Iond and third alarms Were turned in.
One fire company had just arrived
when a terrific explosion occurred and
threw the entire engines crew down
the stairways The firemen, realizing
the danger of their position, rushed out
of the building to the street. The ex-
plosion had filled the street in front
with a shower of falling glass and
small debris, which sent the crowd
(which was already gathered on the
opposite sidewalks fleeing for safety.
Engineer Rocksberry was unfasten-
ing the horses and Fireman Brown
was turning the safety valve of the
engine when the explosion occurred
and covered them with shower of
glass. Both were injured, as was an
other fireman belonging to the COM
pany.
Close Call for Fireman.
Captain Devanney Of the company
4 ordered his crew hack into the build
ling again. They We're dragging the
4 line to the doorway for the second time
d when came another explosion, more
terrific than the first, and the whole
4 crew was hurled across Greenwich
) street, Devanney being so badly in
jured that he was sent to a hospital.
lin the meantime the other engines
that had responded to the alarm had
collected and the fremen were busy
rescuing people from surrounding
: buildings. Firemen had already taken
many girls down the only fire escape
q upon the building and more persons
y had been carried down the escapes Of
y the Home Made restaurant, next door,
" and the buildings adjoining on Warren
: street. The second explosion occurred
about five minutes after the first.
From the accounts of witnesses the
building seemed to leap into the air
i uuO Ill llluSSGS VI OiiSh w uAAs
. :, timbers and stones We're falling into
= the street The force of the explosion
tore away the walls OF the big COM
), mission storehouses fronting on Wash
: ington street and caused them to col
: lapse, falling all at once in mass of
timbers, boxes and barrels, from which
the flames burst out from the Tarrant
I building like the belching of cannon.
Across Warren street to the oppo-
site buildings the flames leaped, set
: ting them all atire ut once. the force
! of the explosion demolishing windows
and all wooden structures about the
houses In moment Warren street
= . was choked with Il mass OF debris and
= the whole place was atiame. The great
explosion was followed by half 8
= dozen more, scarcely less intense, ant
L by countless number of smaller ones
j, BY this time the fire apparatus was ar
: irving from every direction Deput!
: Chief Ahearn came about two minute.
after the second series of explosions
and he at once ordered fifth alarm
'e sent out, followed by general cal
ne for ambulances. The explosion ant
8 fire together had now assumed the pro
II portions of great catastrophe and i
u was thought that hundreds of lives hat
es been lost Throngs of people wer
Oh rushing about in the nearby streets
'h many of them panic stricken, fieein!
Us from the fire. They mingled in tn
rs crowd that was rushing down iron
o1 Broadway to see what had happened
d. The explosion blew down dozel
TO buildings and badly damaged scor
III of others. The loss of life is no
IS known, but from all sources of infol
re nation it is gathered that the bodie
of 80 persons are in the ruins, althoug
ea because of the hot debris and the slow
ss ness of moving it. no bodies had bee
he recovered Chief Croker of the fir
in department said that the property los
al is fully $1,500,O0O.