Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-25
RIVER oF HI4AzfSG OIL.
Cars Crashed and Released ee,ooO Gal
 ions of the Fluid.

1ons of the Fluid.
 New York, March o5.-More than 60,OO0 gallons of blazing petroleum, sizzling, smoking and cutting deep fur rows in the earth, almost wiped the village of Glen Gardner, N. J., out of existence early yesterday morning. The people, aroused from their beds by series of loud explosions, ran from their houses and were terrified by the spectacle they beheld. From the tracks of the Central railroad, which run on an embankment overlooking the village, a hundred rivers of lurid flame were cutting courses and flowing to the houses that faced the railroad.
 These homes in the valley-many of them picturesque cottages - were ablaze in ten minutes after the will lagers were first alarmed. There were nine of the buildings, including the postofice. All were destroyed, and so quickly that the occupants had barely time to escape with their lives. Nothing was saved, not even the post age stamps and money in the postotfice.
 It was peculiar and unusual hap pening. A train of twentytwo oil tank cars. each tank containing $500 gallons of oil, drawn by heavy en- zine, was approaching Glen Gardner, few minutes before o'clock, when the coupling on the middle car broke and the train parted. The engineer, looking back, saw what had happened. He knew there was a curve at the village where the road goes down the mountain side, and he opened the throttle so as to run away with the part of the train still under his con- trol, and avoid having it's rear end smashed by the cars in the fugitive section.
 Through some misunderstanding he received n flag signal from the section behind him, just as he got to the curve. and abreast of the little village in the valley: Taking this to mean that the conductor of the cars which had brok- en away had put on brakes, he slowed down and was just coming to stand | still when he saw that instead of being under the control of the brakes the sec | tion was not only following him, but 1 increasing in speed every moment. Wide open he threw the throttle. The sand was. poured out on the track in a stream. The big driving wheels whizzed around and around, but got no hold. On came the flying section. The tank on it's first car lOomed up like a giant torpedo. The lever was pushed over to the last notch and the | locomotive began to gain headway, panting and straining like thing of life. But the effort came too late. The wheels revolved, slipped and re- volved, and then. before either the en- gineer or his fireman had time to leap the runaway had overtaken them.
 There was a mighty crash as the ] forward car struck the rear of the car from which it had parted. Like two armleSS monsters the tanks rose straight up in the air, swayed for q moment, and then burst with terrific detonation. As the tanks were torn asunder a sheet of flame Sprang from their riveted heads. The oil had been set on fire by the force of the concus- sion.
 The cars in the rear piled up in a confused mass on top of the tanks, which had rolled from their sides, with the oil pouring from great rents in their sides. Two minutes after the explosion came a second, then another and another, until seventeen of the tanks had exploded.
 As the fluid ran out it took fire, and the thousands of gallons went blaz- ing down the mOuntainside into the village. The blaze spread from one end of the train to the other almost with the rapdity of flash of gun powder. \ great roll of thick. black smoke arose and hung like a pail over the burning houses.
 The bursting of the tanks was like the firing of an admiraFs salute with 13-inch guns, and it was a fortunate signal for the sleeping villagers. Those who were not awakened by the crash were routed out by their neighbors and everybody escaped without acci dent or injury.
 Every man in the village set to work with the railroaders to fight the fire Water did no good, and all the shovels that could be obtained were dragged out to fight the burning oil with earth Dams were hastily thrown up to pre- vent the spread of the oil.
 Word was sent to Somerville and to Washington and the fire departments of those places were hurried to Glen Gardner. They fought back the flames on the embankment, while the dam ming and ditching was continued tc divert the oil or hold it in check to l UuFu up OH Iue area alrodOy destroyed
 It was day of ceaseless effort. and darkness had fallen after a twelve hour battle before the danger was over. Long after the buildings which were destroyed had been reduced tc ashes the oil itself threatened to spread and it was only by constant effort that it was kept within circumscribed linn it's. s
 When the flames at last were under control, three dwellings, those of F A. Reeves. Mrs Beavers and Miss s Smith. were wiped out. Masonic tenn pie had tumbled in and the ruins were burned to ashes. and with it the gen eral store of Samuel l.. sVilet, with its stock of groceries, farming implements and dry goods. The postoftice and al that it contained was wiped out. Tht drug store of Mrs E. l.. Pittenger was also burned down. William F. Car ling's hardware and agricultural imple ments store went with the rest C F. Krauss's butcher shop and the Gler Gardner lumber and coal yard fed tht fire. and with these went barns anG