The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-02-06
Building Was BLOWN
TO kIHDLINC wood
Fierce Explosion Came With
out Warning.
THIRTEEN LIVES LOST
Flames from Gas Main Leaped
High Into the Air.
WINDOWS OF CARS SMASHED
Passengers Hade Rush for Doors and seyera
We're Hurt In the Jam-Fire Followed
Explosion, aud buildings We're
Soon Mreathsd in Flames.
Loss OF Life May
Be Greater.
WINDOWS OF CARS SMASHED
fEy Associated PrnsB,)

CHICAGO Feb. 5.-Thirteen lives were
lost, many people slightly injured. two
buildings at Nos S72 and 374 Twenty
second Street were wrecked and $4,000
damage was done by an explosion of
gas Tonight at the intersection OF TWen-
ty-second Street and Archer Avenue.
Following are the dead:
OTTO .TROSTEL. So years old, butcher.
Mrs. OTTO TROSTEL, 35 years old.
OTTO TROSTEL. Jr., 2 years old
LENA TROsTEL. Z years old.
ANNIE TROSTEL, years old.
MAMIE TROSTEL, II years old.
FRED. .TROSTEL, butcher, nephew of
Otto Trostel; % years old.
SOPHIA KNIGHT, domestic in Trostel
family.
1.-4l<Y RosENTHAL, 80 years old. No.
Gil Purple Street
Mrs NJ KAUFERT, No. s74 Twenty
second Street.
EDW. -KaGFERT, IL years old.
MAMIE KAUFERT, years old.
ANDREW KOLB, roomer with Mrs.
Kaufert
FEW BODIES FOUND.
Only one of the bodies of the dead
that of little Lena Trostel-has been re-
covered. All that is known of the fate
of the other twelve reported dead is that
they are thought to- have-the most OF
them are known to have-been in the de-
demolished houses, and since the exPlo-
sion no trace Of them has been found.
The cause of the explosion is unknown,
and 1t has not yet been determined wheth-
er it was sewer gas sor Illuminating gas.
Mains filled with the. latter were instant
ly ablaze after the explosion, and a sue
cesSion of explosions followed. the flames
shooting uu through the nanholeS in
the street. It will be difficult to ascer.
tain whether the illuminating gas ex-
en- by the explosion of the sewer gas.
Many people living in the vicinity be
ieve that the first explosion was in 4
main at tTwentysecond Street and Archer
Avenue.
&OTHER EXPLOSIONS,
Two other explosions of gas followed
so quickly that it was hard to dfstin-
guish them. First to explode was a main
at Twenty-second Street and Archer Ave
nue.. Then the manhole half a block
south on Archer Avenue was thrown
into the air by a loud explosion
The flames. from the first gas main
shot high into thesair and reached, with
the aid OF the etwind, the Trostle butcher
Shop. The building was three-story
frame structure, and it had been weak
ened and. nearly wrecked by the shock.
With d. roar the building collapsed and
the occupants, with one exception, were
carried with it to the basement. The ad-
joining buildings, "a tWO-S story structure,
| t1ared up, the next building was wreathed
| in flames and then another structure
| caught fire.
On several street-cars near the place
! the windows were smashed and the pas
| sengers severely shaken up. When peo-
| pie in the cars sa W the flames gush from
| the ground, all hands rushed for the
ioOrs. A number Of persons were bruised
| and knocked down tn the excited exit.
| One car filed with passengers was
| brown from the track.
| WHOLE FAMILY PERISHED.
Among the dead are supposed to be
The three children of the Trostle fami-
| ly, whose bodies have not yet been re-
| covered It Is not known positively tina
they were in the house at the time, but
| a search Of the neighborhood has not
| shown any trace of them. There were
six children in the family. and there is
little doubt that all the eight members
| of the family Were killed. The three
| ,ther people who are said to be dead
| ire supposed to be customers in the meat
| market at the time of the explosion.
The direct cause Of the explosion is not
Known, but all indications show that il
| was due to escaping gas in the base
nent if the Trostle house. The explo-
| sion came without an instant's warn
| ng. Adjoining the Trostle building on
he west at No. 274 Twenty-second Stree,
| :as two-story frame building in which
Ohm Mcleod had a saloon; it vanished
the same second as the meat market
|, was reported that one or two peopl,
we're killed here. but the story could not
| be substantiated- s=.....