The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-06
BY A lightning BOLT.
TWO AND A HALF MILLIONS WIPED
OUT IN
DAY
STANDARD OIL THE LOSER
Great Tanks Explode and HurI the
Burning OIL In Many Directions
Brave WOrlxmen Prevent Fur
Their Spread of Flames.

NEW YORK. July 5-More than 81 500 :
coo damage has already been done and a
number of persons have been severely
burned by fire that started in the
works of the Standard OIL company at
Constable Hook, Bayonne N. J., early
this morning. Twenty-three large oil
tanks, fifteen union tank-Iine cars, the
crude oil refinery, the compound sweat
ing plant. a Hungarian tenement and a
saloon have been utterly destroyed, and
the contents Of twenty-three huge oil
tanks are stir burning in a sea of flame
covering over hundred acres.
The crash of a lightning bolt as It
struck one of the connecting pipe lines
at 12:45 o'clock this morning was the
signal for the outburst of fire. Instantly
great mass OF flame appeared above
tanks 4. and 16. and swept in all direc-
lions. These tanks contained 1860 0o0
gallons of oil each. Tank No. was split
in two.
The flaming oil Immediately set the new
refinery on fire and swept across the
railroad tracks of the National Storage
company setting fire to tne trestles and
track. The whole mass of flame leaped
into the air for hundreds OF feet. and as
the blazing oil leaped and spread down
on the ground carried the flames with it.
SEA OF FLAME.
This sea OF fame ran around the Hun
garian tenement house in the rear of the
tanks. In an instant the structure was
doomed, the occupants barely having
time to get out Of the building alive, and
they rushed pell-mell over the ground TO
escape from the blazing sea that was
chasing them faster than any prairie
fire.
All about the yards the flames spread,
and in a short while ten tanks were burn
ing The Bayonne fire department was
almost helpless. The private fire depart
ment of the works. the fire apparatus al
Constable Hook. the General Chemical
company and the apparatus of the Tide
water Oil company played huge streams
on the blazing mass. AS this had but lit
tie effect on the flames, the men turned
the hose to the adjoining tanks. ard alsn
ut the edge of the flowing and burning
oil, In an effort to push 1t lack.
In few minutes a tleet Of tugs was
flying across the bay Heavy volumes of
gas-charged smoke, which frequently ig-
n:ted like huge suspended charges of
magnesium, drifted across New York bay.
and the sea of blazing oil was steadily
creeping toward the docks OF the oil
works Here lay over fifty vessels, Includ-
ing tank steamers and barges Lines were
made fast TO these and they were pulled
out into the bay
TO SAVE PIERS.
The flames had erept down to the wa
ter's edge, and even upon the water T.
self were great patches of burning OIL
that tapped their flames about and Il
fire to some OF the docks. The tugboat
captains did what they could to save the
piers, and then formed a semi-circls
around the burning oil and threw ont logs
to prevent 1t from spreading.
BY this time the flames on the tanks
had gained such Roadway that by the
middle of the day there were twenty-one
tanks burning. The burning fluid had its
way and as it crept on to the small
buildings in the yards. they were consum-
the Union Tank line and four cars Of the
the Union Tank line and four cars of
Central Railroad of New Jersey were
burned The new refinery, which was
partially destroyed, originally cost 81. 800
600, and recent improvements have added
considerably to its value. About one