The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-08-06
Explosion in Philadelphia Business
Section Carries Death to
Tenement Dwellers.
DAMAGED BUILDINGS ON FIRE.
Women and Children Rescued
From the Wreck, Many of Them
Burned Beyond Recognition
Injured Crowd Hospitals.

Philadelphia. Aug. "a terrific explosion
In block Of six buildings on Locust street.
above Tenth, tonight. completely wrecked
five of the structures and caused the death
Of from ten TO twenty or more persons.
Over two-score Of others were more or
less seriously injured. Some of those taken
to the hospital will die. 1t is estimated that
at least thirty-fve persons were in tho five
buildings when the explosion occurred. and
the exact number of dead will probably not
be known for twenty-four hours.
The explosion occurred about $50 o'clock.
What exploded anG how it happened is not
known at this time. but IT IS believed to
have been a barrel of gasoline in one OF
the three grocery stores.
With the explosion OF No. 1908, the front
walls Of the buildings were blown outward
into the street. while the floors and the
roofs were blown upward and fell straight
to the ground. Almost every building In a
radius of two blocks about the scene Of tho
explosion had window panes shattered and
was otherwise damaged. Every building on
the opposite side of Locust street was more
or less wrecked. but none Of them fell.
Fire Adds to the Horror.
A terrible cry went up from the ruins
the moment the explosion occurred. Wom-
en-, children and men. occupants of the
wrecked houses. could be seen crawling
from the debris. while the agonzing cries
of others were heard in the wreckage.
From all the surrounding buildings injured
people came running and fell into the street
unconscious.
To add to the horror. fire broke out In the
debris the moment II settled to the ground.
and in less than five minutes the great pile
was burning nercely from end to end. a
general alarm was turned In for fire appa-
ratus and ambulances. and In the meantime
the work of rescue was voluntarily begun
by those in the neighborhood that were not
injured. Here and there n person was
dragged from the ruins before the fire could
reach the victim. several lives being saved
by this prompt work. When the firemen
reached the scene the flames had reached
great headway and were igniting the build
ings across the street. The fire. however,
was soon under control. and with the ex-
ception of a small blaze here and there
the fire was extinguished in a few minutes
Rescuing Dead and Dying.
The work Of digging away the ruins was
then begun in earnest. Near the edge of the
debris several colored men were taken out
and sent to the hospitals. While the fire.
men aad policemen were digging In the
debris and hauling away heavy timbers IN
several sections Of the wreckage. cries were
heard coming from the cellar of Mountains
grocery store.
Fifty men. with rope and tackle. were i'm
mediately put to work at that point. and
pulled away the roofing and flooring which
had fallen into a massed heap. From the
bottom of the pile. doubled up. were taken
a man and a woman. The man was able to
speak. but the woman was apparently dead.
While the work of rescue was going on
in the exploded block. hospital attendants
and, others made a search of all the dam
aged houses on the opposite side Of the
street. and almost a score of persons were
taken to various hospitals from these places.