The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-06
IN TWO CITIES
CAUSE LOSS OF MANY LIVES
Explosions of Gas Kills an
Entire Family.
Starts a Big Fire and Creates a
Panic.

CHICAGO. Feb. Fifteen lives were
lost. many persons slightly injured
- two buildings at S72 and S74 Twen-
tv-second street were wrecked and $4,000
damage done by an explosion Of gas to-
night at the intersection Of Twenty-see-
ond street and Archer avenue.
By S:45 D. m. five bodies had been re-
covered from the ruins. They were all
of one family Not a member of the
family escaped.
The bodies recovered are those Of Otto
Trostle, the proprietor of the meat mar
ket at 376 Twenty-secOnd street, and
those of his family, consisting Of Mrs.
Otto Trostle. Otto Trostle, jr., Jennie
Trostle. Annie Trostle. Three other Tros-
tie children are believed to have persisted.
Persons who claim to know, assert that
there were three more persons in Tros-
tie meat market when the explosion
occurred.
Flames Add to Horror.
Three other explosions of gas followed
so quickly that it was hard to distin-
guish them. The first to explode was
main at Twenty-second street and Ar
cher avenue Then the manhole, half
block south on Archer avenue was thrown
into the air by a loud explosion
Flames Ieaped and roared from the
hole. The fire. spread rapidly and three
other. manholes We're blown into the air.
The flames from the first gas main shot
high into the air and reached, with the
aid of the wind, to the TrOstle butcher
shop. The building was three-story
frame structure and il had been weak
ened and nearly wrecked by the shock.
II is supposed that the occupants OF the
building were knocked unconscious or
were too panic-stricken to rush from the
The flames caught the weather-worn
timbers. The dry and rOtttng wood was
| food for the fire and IN an instant the
/ flames had envelopeG the structure Win
a roar the building collapsed and the DC
! Cupauts with one exception were carried
with il 10 the basement
The adjoining building, a two-story
structure fiared up, the next building
was wrapped in flames and then another
! structure caught fire. 1t seemed that the
/ whole block would be wiped out before
| the fremen could bring the blaze under
/ control
Fire Wall Checks the Flames.
A fire wall Of d brick building at Archer
| avenue and TWenty-second street held the
! fire in that direction On the west OF the
| burning buildings were two small one
] story cottages. They were a few feet
from the burning buildings and that gave
/ the hremen an opportunity OF heading OF
The EindoN glass throughout the neisa-
/ horhooj we're broken and bottles ana
glassware in the dwellings and stores
| were thrown down and broken
| Many persons in buildings near the eX-
| plosions were knocked down. Scores IF
| men and women, many Of them carry
ing children rushed TO the streets They
! were greeted by the glare of the fire from
! the manhOleS- Fearing further eXpiO-
sions the people rushed down the street.
/ MANY OF the women screaming with
/ fright.
On several street cars near the place
| the windows were smashed and the pas
seneers were severely shaken up When
/ people in the cars saw the flames guSh
from the ground all hands rushed for
the doors. A number of persons were
bruised and knocked down in the excite
ment One car filed with passengers was
| thrown from the tracks.
Blown OF the Earth.
Adjoining the Trostle building at %
/ Twenty-second street was tWo-stOr\
frame building, in which John Mcleod
had a saloon. II vanished in the same
second as the meat market II was re-
ported that one or two people were
killed here. but the story can not be SUD
| Stimulated.
In the ruins of the buildings occupied
By Trostle and Mcleod flames burned
so fiercely that even If the inmates hat
! not been killed by the first force OF tn
( explosion they must have met qulch
/ death by fire.
Beside the Thistle building. stood th'
Peoples hospital, small affair with Du
/ a few patients The building was badly
| racked and every window in il blowT
! out. but none Of the patients was I'D
/ jured. One Of the hospital attendants
sustained slight cuts, made by hyln'
glass The patients were hastily re-
moved to safer ground in the neighbor
hood by the fremen-
Many Were Cut by Glass.
: The list of injured might be extende'
to seventy-fve or 100 as there were mani
/ people in the neighborhOOd who wer
slightly injured from flying glass o
slight bruises caused by falls. but who's
y names have been reported Only one o
the bodies Of the dead-that of Little LEM
) TrOstle-has been recovered.
All shat is known Of the fate of tn
, other twelve reported dead IS that the,
are thought to have beeu-mOst Of then
are known TO have benin the demOl
ished houses and since the explosion II
trace of them have been found
The cause Of the explosion is unknoW
and IL has not vet been determine
= whether it was sewer gas or ILLUMINATING
gas Mains filled with the latter were IN
; | Stantly ablaZe after the explosion and
: succession of explosions followed. tn
! [ flames shooting up through the manhOie
: in the street. X viii be difficult to as
; certain whether illuminating gas eX
, ploded or whether the mains were broke
, by an explosion OF sewer gas.
, Many people living in the vicinity be
; heve that the first explosion was in
! main at Twenty-second street and Archie
, avenue