Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-08-08
Twenty or More People Killed
and Many Fatally or Serious
ly Injured.
A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.
Wrecked Five Buildings in Philadel-
phia-Fire Burning the Debris Adds
to the Horror Believed That
Barrel OF Gasolene Caused
the Disaster.

Philadelphia, Aug. 5-A terrific cxplo
sion in a block of six buildings on Locust
street above 10th tonight completed
wrecked five of the structures and causCc
the death of from 10 to - or more persons
over two score of others were moro OF
less seriously injured. Some of those tax.
en- to tho hospitals will die 1t is cstimat.
cd that at least IS persons were in the tive
buildings when the explosion oCcurro d
and the exact number of dead will pr'oha
bly, not be known TOR "A hours. The build
ings were occupied as follows:
Locust street, No. zoos, IIousoman's poo
and billiard rooms.
NO. 1910, Morris Roscnthals second hanC
clothing store. occupied by Roscnthal, his
wife ana five children.
No. 10l., William Jones. colorcd rcstau
rant, occupied by the Jones and about
fifteen hoarders.
No. loi. George McCleiny's grocery
store, occupied by McClemy, clerk ant
servant girl.
No lQ16, Patrick Quiger's grocery store
occupied by Quiglcr, his wife, three chill
drcn and his uncle
No. 1918, Albert Mountains grocery an.
meat store. occupied 10y Mountain, moth
err sister and clerk.
The explosion occurred about $50 o'cocl
" hat exploded and how it happened i:
not known at this time. hut 1t is bClicvt {
to have been barrel of Edsolene in on,
of the grocery stores. With the exccp
tion Of No. zoos the front walls of tn,
buildings were blown outward into th'
streets while floors and walls We're blown
W and fell straight to the ground. Ev
cry building on tho opposite side of th'
street WAS more or less wrecked, but none
of them fell
y terrible cry went up from the ruins
the moment the explosion occurred
Women. children and men could he seoi
crawling from the debris, while the agon
ling cries Of others were heard in tn
VT, ckaGe From all surrounding buildings
injured people came running and fell II
the street unconscious.
To add to the horror fire broke out il
the debris the moment it settled to thu
ground, and in less than five minutes In
great pile was burning tiercely from en'
to end. A general alarm was turned in 10
fire apparatus and ambulanCes. and in tn
meantime the work of rescue was volun
tarily begun by those in the neighborhoO,
that We're not injured.
When the fremen reached the scene til,
flames had gained great Roadway and wer'
igniting the buildings across the stree
The fire, however, was soon under contro
and with the exception of a small blaz
here and there was eXtinguished in a few
minutes. The work of digging away th'
ruins was begun in earnest. Near the eds,
of the debris several Colored men were ia X
en- out and sent to the hospitals
While the tiremen and policemen were
digging into the debris ana hauling ava!
heavy timbers in several sections of IL,
wreckage, cries were heard coming from
the cellar Of Mountains grocery store I'll
ty men, with rope and tackle, were immc
diately put to work at that point and pull
ed away the roofing and flooring which hat
fallen into a maSsel heap. From the bot
tom Of the pile doubled up, were taken {
man and "A woman. The MAI
was able to speak but the woman wa
apparently dead. While the work of res
cue was going on in the exploded block
hospital attendants made a search on tn,
opposite side and almost score Of per
sons We're taken to the hospital.
jefferson and Pennsylvania hospitals
were soon crowded with the injured. Non
Of those taken to the hospitals have die,
up to midnight. Two hundred men ar.
now at work clearing away the wreckape
The buildings containing the pool rooms
clothing store ana the restaurant Wer
three-story brick structures, while tn
other three buildings were two and a hal
stories.
At $50 a m, the only known deaths ar
those at the hospitals that of an un
known colored woman ana a two-year- oil,
child. At the Pennsylvania hospital five o
the patients viii, it is thought die befor
morning. These are two Colored women
one colored man and two colorod children
These unfortunateS are 50 badly injured an,
undergoing such severe suffering that thei
names could not be obtained Others a
the various hospitals will also die. Anon,
these arc Samuel Gale, aged 400 white), an,
his daughter, Florence Gale, aged 90 Boil
are badly burned in addition to other in
1uries. OF the Rosenthal family. Minnie
aged -, was taken from the ruins seriousl,
injured and will die.
The father is also badly injured but ma,
recover. The other members of the fam
lily escaped unnjured
At 80 the police officials cannot add Il
the list of dead, but there are reports tina
number of bodies are still buried amon,
the ruins Large forces of firemen are a
work removing the vast amount of wreck
age. but at this writing have found n
bodies. There are many persons missin
according to the statement OF neighbo
or of those who are familiar with thoS
occupying the building. 1t is supposed tina
number Of bodies will be found i'm tn
ruins of the restaurants of colored patron
age. Quite number were seen I'm tn
place Immediately preceding the explosion
1t will require several hours hard work T.
remove the piles of roofing, flooring an
walls which fell into tho cellars of tn
wrecked buildings which covers the untor
tunate victims.
l'etween 40 and ~ persons are to-nieh
lying In the several hospitals sufferin,
more or less from injuries.
DR. DAVID KENNEDY DEAD.