Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1901-08-09
FATAL EXPLOSION.
Five of Block of SIX buildings In
Philadelphia DemoIished-Mnny
Killed and Injured.

gasoline destroyed,a block of buildings
on Locust street, near Tenth, Monday
night, killed from ten to twenty per-
sons, injured so others, leveled five Of
the six buildings, filing Locust street
with debris, and damaged 100 other
houses. The explosion was followed by
fire, and the number of deaths will not
be exactly known for days. The police
and fire departments are tearing away
at the ruins.
Up to two n. m. four bodies had been
recovered from the ruins, three had
died in hospital, and the police say
dozen bodies are still buried under the
debris. OF the so persons in the hos
pitfalls nine will die before many hours,
and many others are fatally injured.
At two O'Clock the resouers came
across a colored woman, who was
alive and asked for water She is Liz
zie Watkins, aged 1s years. She had
been in the ruins for Az hours.
Al the buildings destroyed were
business houses with flats above them.
The streets were we'll filed when the
gasoline let go, and a. panic which ex-
! tended for blocks followed. Persons
rushing toward the scene found Lo-
Gust street filed with struggling peo-
pie, trampling the injured in their ef-
forts to get away. The buildings
wrecked are as follows:
Locust street, No. zoos, Housman's
pool and billiard rooms.
No. 1910. Morris Rosenthars second
hand clothing store, occupied by Ros-
enthal. his wife and five children.
No. 1912, william Jones colored res
taurant, occupied by Jones and about
Is boarders.
No. .1014, George McClemmy's grocery
store, occupied by McClemmick, clerk
and servant girl.
No. 1915, Patrick Quigley's grocery
store, occupied by Quigley, his wife,
three children and his uncle.
No. 1918, Albert Mountains grocery
and meat store, occupied by Mountain,
mother, sister and clerk.
The explosion occurred about 9:30
o'clock. What exploded and 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 zoos 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
radious of two blocks had window
panes shattered and were other
wise damaged. Every building 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 occurred. /.
Women, children and men, occupants
of the wrecked houses, could be seen
crawling from the debris, while the
, agonizing cries of others were heard in
the wreckage. From all the surround
ing buildings injured people came run
, ming and fell into the street uncon-
, scious. 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 appara tus
and ambulances, and in the meantime
, the work of rescue was voluntarily be-
gun by those in the neighborhood tha
were not injured. Here and there a
person was dragged from the ruins be-
fore the fire could reach the victim,
= several lives being saved by this
rompt work. When the firemen
reached the scene the flames had
reached great headway and were ignit-
9 ing the buildings across the street.
I The fire, however, was soon under con-
n troll, and, with the exception of a small
I blaze here and there, was extinguished ID
7, in few minutes.
The work of digging away the ruins
! was then begun in earnest. Near the
: edge of the debris several colored men
II were taken out and sent to the hos.
e pitfalls. While the fremen and police
: men were digging in the debris ant
e hauling away heavy timbers in severa
:. sections of the wreckage, cries were
q heard coming from the cellar of Noun
o tain's grocery store. Fifty men, with
II rope and tackle, were Immediately put
l. to work at that point, and pulled away
d the roofing and flooring which hat
l. fallen into q massed heap. From the
bottom of the pile, doubled up, wer,
taken n man and woman. The maj
was able to speak, but the woman wa.
apparently dead.
- While the work of rescue was GO
ing on in the exploded block, hospita
attendants and others made a searcl
of all the damaged houses on the ol
1t posite side of the street, and almost
le score of persons were taken to VAR
r Gus hospitals from these places. TIL
"a jefferson and the Pennsylvania hos
ID pitfalls, which are located nearest t
IN the scene of the explosion, were 500
lie crowded with the injured. None O
10 those taken to the hospital had die
N up to midnight Monday. Two hur
le dred men are now at work clearin
p away the wreckage.
RS The buildings containing the poe
h rooms, clothing store and the restal
IA | rant ware thrpp-StOrV brick stru,