The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-06
TERRIBLE EXPLOSION
MANY LOSE LIFE AND MANY MORE
INJURED.
ITS ORIGIN YET A MYSTERY.
BUT SUPPOSED TO BE A BARRED
OF GASOLINE.

in Philadelphia Wrecked Last
Night without Warming and Fire
in the Ruins Added Horror to the
scene-The Fronts Blown Outward
and the Roofs and Floors Fell
Straight to the Ground.
Philadelphia, Aug. 5.--A terrific ex-
plosion in block of six buildings on
Locust street above Tenth, tonight
completely wrecked five structures and
caused the death of from ten to twenty
or more persons. over two score of
Others were more or less seriously in
jured. Some of those taken to the hos
pital will die. 1t is estimated that at
least thirty-five persons were in the
five buildings when the explosion oc-
Cured and the exact number of dead
will probably not be known for twen-
ty-four hours.
The buildings are occupied as fol-
lows:
Locust street, No. 1908, Housemans S
pool and billiard rooms: 1910, Morris
Rosenthars secondhand clothing
store, occupied by Rosenthal, his wife
and five children; 1912, William Jones,
and about fifteen boarders; 1914.
George McClemmy's grocery store, oc-
cupied by McClemmy. clerk and SER
want girl; 1915, Patrick Quigley's gro
Gerry store, occupied by Quigley, his
wife, three children and his uncle; 1918,
Albert Mountains grocery and meat
store, occupied by Mountain. mother
sister and clerk.
Mysterious Explosion.
The explosion occurred about $50
O'Clock. What exploded and how it hap
pened 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 exception of No. zoos
the front walls of the buildings were
blown outward into the street, while
the floors and the roofs were blown up
ward and fell straight to the ground.
Almost every building in a radius of
two bloocks about the scene of the
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.
0r1es ErOm the Ruins.
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 ruins while the ag-
onizing cries of others were heard in
the wreckage. From all the surround
ing buildings injured people came run
ming and fell in the street. uncon-
scious. To add to the horror fire broke
out in the wreckage the moment it set
tied to the ground, and in less than
fifteen minutes the fireat pile twas
burning fiercely from end to end. A
general alarm was turned in for fire
apparatus and ambulances, and in the
meantime the work of rescue Hvas vol
unfairly begun by those in the neigh
borhood that were not injured. Here
and there person was dragged
from the ruins before the fire could
reach the victim, several being saved
by this prompt work. When the fire.
men reached the scene the flames had
reached great headway and were ignit-
ing the buildings across the street. The
fire, however, was soon under control,
and with the exception of small blaze
here and there, the fire was extin-
guished in a few minutes.
The work of digging away the ruins
was then begun in earnest. Near the
edge of the wreckage several negroes
were taken out and sent to the hos
pitfalls. While the flremen and police
men were digging into the debris and
hauling away heavy timbers in sew
eral sections of the wreckage, cries
were heard coming from the cellar of
Mountains grocery store. Fifty men
with rope and tackle were imme-
diately put to work at that
@f,,N LII
and flooring, which had fallen into
masesd 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 block where the explosion
occurred, hospital attendants and 9TH
ers made a search of all the damaged
houses on the opposite side of the
street. and almost a score of people
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 hospital has died
up to midnight. Two hundred men are
now at work clearing away the ruins.
Inc Ine pool
rooms, clothing store and the restau-
rant were three-story brick structures,
while the other three buildings were
two and one-half stories.
At 1870 a. m. the only known deaths
are those at the hospitals. that of an
unknown negro woman and a 2-year-
old colored child. At the Pennsylvania
Hospital five of the patients will, II is
thought, die before morning.
Up to lao a. m. the police or fire Of
ficials cannot add to the list of the
dead, but are positive that number
of bodies are still buried under the
ruins. Large forces Of firemen and po-
licemen are working, removing the
vast amount of wreckage. but at this
writing have found no bodies. There
are many persons missing. according to
the statements of neighbors or of those
who were familiar with the movements
OF those occupying the buildings.