The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1900-07-06
VEREBLONNTOATOMS
Five Men Killed by the Explosion
of a Burning Oil Tank.
One of the Most Disastrous Acct
dents in the History of the Ohio
River Railroad Occurred at
ParkersburE, w. Va.

Parkersburg, w. Va, July 5.-The
most disastrous accident in the his
tory of the Ohio River railroad Oc-
CURED near the shops of that road at
7:21 o'clock Wednesday morning. The
terrible loss of life and injury to per-
son was caused by the explosion of a
burning car which had contained 5000
gallons of oil, but had been burning
for several hours. About 1886 o'clock
switch on which the oil car and sew
eral other cars had been placed was
left open and the sOuth-bOund freight
No. 35 ran into. the open switch and
set fire to the car. The front end of
the engine knocked in the end of the
tank, from which the oil caught fire.
The oil burned slowly, as the hole
was only a small one, and at o'clock
it was still burning. The officials
who met their untimely death a few
minutes later were near the car SUI
perintending the removal of the
wreckage and the clearing of the
track, when suddenly the whole tank
exploded. Gas had formed in the in
side of the big tank, and when the fire
reached it there was a terrific eXplo-
sion. The larger portion of the car
was blown about 100 yards down the
track. The dome of the car was
blown nearly 200 yards.
At the time the explosion occurred
there were 100 or more persons stand
ing around in close proximity of the
burning car, watching the flames and
the work of clearing the track. Many
of the crowd who were standing near
the car when it blew up were deluged
with the falling oil, but were not Sc
riously injured. The officials and
workmen of the road who were killed
were blown down the track nearly SO
yards and must have been instantly
killed by the terrible force of the ex-
plosiOn. They were standing right
where the explosion occurred and re-
ceived the full force of it. Some of
the men who were killed were blown
out into the cornfield and it was some
time before their bodies were found.
The killed were all frightfully man
gled. Their death was evidently
from the force of the explosion and
not from the burning oil, although
some of them showed evidences of
having been burned. Small fragments
of human bodies were picked up
around the scene of the explosion and
some charred fragments of bodies
which had evidently been blown off
and then burned.
Thesdead are:
J. H. Hamilton, general superiE-
tendent of the Ohio River railroad.
f. La Lime, master mechanic.
Chas. Mohler, yard master.
G. o. Shannon, known as ''Dick,"
extra train dispatcher.
Bradley Reeves, freight brakeman.
Geo. Chalk, a fireman, died about
noon at st. Luke's hospital.
Those most seriously injured are:
Jim Ruth, fireman, will die.
Will Carr, jr., engineer.
p. B. Dickson, fireman.
John Ruth, fireman..
Chas. Smith, fireman.
]. c. Cheuvront, yard engineer.
T. ]. Stafford, night yard master.
Jim Rayland, day yard conductor.
Y. d. Kelley, yard brakeman.
Geo. Huff, fireman.
Geo. Coleman, roundhouse foreman.
i. T. Hull, wrecking foreman.
Geo. Bradford, fireman, hands and
face burned; not dangerous.
About 40 others, men, women and
children, were slightly injured, some
burned, some hurt by the explosion.
The coroner's jury, which was i'm
paneled by Coroner Keever at 10
O'Clock, found the following verdict:
''The death of the before mentioned
parties was caused by the explosion
of an oil tank in the ,N,rds of the
Ohio River Railroad Co., about 1880
o'clock, July 4, 1900. Said tank sup
posed to contain refined oil shipped
from the Standard Oil Co., of this
city. We further find that the said
oil tank was set on fire by the engine
of freight train No. IS, south bound,
colliding with north end of said tank,
on the main track of said railroad.
We further find that the accident was
caused by the night yard crew being
asleep while on duty