The bee., 1901-08-08
h TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
A Block Of Six Buildings in Phila'
delphia in Ruins as the Re-
suit of an Explosion.
UPWARDS OF TWENTY PERSONS KILLED,

ousiy Injured-The Ruins Took Firt
Forming Funeral Pyre for some Of
the Victims-Herolc Rcscues by Fire
men and Others.
Philadelphia, Aug. Ga terrific cX
plosion in a block of six, buildings or
Locust street. above Tenth. last night
completely wrecked five of the struc'
lures and caused the death of from ter
to twenty or more persons. Over TIVE
score of others were more or less
seriously injured. Some of those taken
to the hospital will die. 1t is esti
mated that at least thirty-five persons
were in the six buildings when the
explosion occurred, and the exact
number of dead will probably not be
known for "a hours.
The explosion occurred about $3.50
o'clock. What exploded and how it
happened is not known at this time,
but it is believed to have been a bar
rel of gasoline in one of the three
grocery stores. With the explosion of
No. 100s, the front walls of the build
ings were blown outward into the
street, while the floors and roofs were
blown upward and fell straight to the
ground.
Almost every building in a radius
of two blocks about the scene of the
explosion had window panes shattered
and otherwise damaged. Every build
ing on the opposite side of Locust
street was more or less wrecked, but
none of them fell.
a terrible cry went up from the
ruins the moment the explosion oc-
CURED. Women, children and men,
occupants of the wrecked houses,
ccrld be seen crawling from the
dcnrls, Vale the agonizing cries of
others were heard in the wreckage.
From all the surrounding buildings
Injured people came running and fell
in the street unconscious.
To add to the horror, fire broke out
in the debris the moment it settled
to the ground, and in less than five
minutes the great pile was burning
fiercely 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 vol
UNFAIRLY begun by those in the neigh
borhood who were not injured. Here
and there 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 made great headway
and were igniting the buildings across
the street. The fire, however, was
soon under control, and with the ex-
ception of a small blaze here and
there was eXtinguished in few min
utes.
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 firemen and policemen
were digging in the debris and haul
ing away heavy timbers in several Sec
tions of the werckage, cries were
heard coming from the cellar of
Mountains grocery store. Fifty men,
with rope and tackle, were immedi-
ately 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 man and 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 at
tendants and others made a search of
all the damaged houses on the oppo-
site side of the street, and almost 4
score of persons were taken to various
hospitals from these plnces.