Woodruff County news., 1901-08-08
A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
A Block of Six Buildings in Phila- delphia in Ruins as the Re-
 suit of an Explosion.
UPWARDS OF TWENTY PERSONS KILLED.
Over Two Score Others More or Less Seri- ousy IDjured-The Ruins Took Fire, Forming a Funeral Pyre for Some of the Victims-Heroic Rescues by Fire men and Others.

the Victims-Heroic Rescues by Fire
 men and Others.
 Philadelphia, Aug. GA terrific eX- plosion in a block of six buildings on Locust street, above Tenth, last night, completely wrecked five of the struct ures 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. It 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 24 hours.
 The buildings were occupied as fol- lows:
 No. 10oS-Houseman's pool and bil- Hard rooms.
 No. 1010-Morris RosenthaPs sec- ond-hand clothing store; occupied by Rosenthal, his wife and five children.
 No. 1012-William Jones, colored restaurant; occupied by Jones and about fifteen boarders.
 No. 1014-George McClemmy's gro- cery store, occupied by McClemmy, clerk and servant girl.
 No. 1016-Patrick Quigley's grocery store; occupied by Quigley, his wife, three children and his uncle.
 No. 101S-Albert Mountains grocery and meat market, occupied by Noun tain, his mother, sister and clerk.
 The explosion occurred about 9:3O o'clock. What exploded and how it happened is not know at this time, but it is believed to have been a bar Tel 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 Shlown upward and fell straight to the ground.
 Almost every building in a radius of two blocks about the scene of the explosion had windowpanes 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, could be seen crawling from the debris, while the agonizing cries of others were heard in the wreckage.
 From all the surrounding buildings n Fol 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 untarily begun by those in the neigh borhood that were not injured. Here and there a person was dragged from the ruins before the fire could reach the victim, several lives being saved by this prompt work.
 z 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 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 at tendants and others made search of all the damaged houses on the oppo- site side of the street, and almost a score of persons were taken to various hospitals from these places.
 The Jefferson and the Pennsylvania hospitals, which are located nearest to the scene of the explosion, were soon crowded with the injured.
 None of those taken to the hospitals had died up to midnight.
 Two hundred men are now at work clearing away the wreckage.
 The buildings containing the pool rooms, clothing store and the restau- rant were three story brick struct- ures, while the other three building were two and one-half stories,