The Daily soliphone., 1902-05-14
Fully Three Hundred Others More or Less Seriously Burned,
 Some Fatally
HOLOCAUST OCCURRED AT SHERADEN, PA
The Most FrightfuI Disaster III 'hc History of Greater PittsDurs' Caused by the TelescopinS or NaDhtha Tank Cars, Followed By n Series of Explosions.

Pittsburg, Pa., May 14.--Twenty- one persons are known to be dead and not less than 300 others injured as the result of the terrible naptha explosion at Sheraden Monday even- ing. Of the 300 injured, the physi- cians say at least 50 will die.
 This awful casualty record is the result of a series of four accidents eliminating in one of the most frightful disasters in the history of Greater Pittsburg. The telescoping of naptha tank cars in the yards of the Panhandle railroad company in Cork's Run was followed by the igni- ton of the naptha by on open switch lamp; by the flowing of the naptha, first free, then ignited, through the culvert leading to the Ohio river half mile away, and it's explosion with attendant damage to life and proper ty, and by the explosion of three other aptha tanks at the point ot original mishap after hundreds ot people had been attracted to the spot by the fire, which was sending up flames hundred feet high.
 The explosions were heard as far away as Duquesne Heights.
 Grim, ironic fate invited the popu- lace to Q magnificent spectacle so they might be made victims. The telescoping of the cars was one of those things not infrequently hap pens without consequences. It's Sub- ,yrn lamp is a matter which will later be given full investigation. The cause of the explosion at the point where it once again broke out into the open is still a matter of conjecture. It may be that the flame followed fast the naptha that had gone before, and resented the cramped quarters of the culvert's opening, sending out a sheet of naptha and flame that ruined half a dozen houses in the neighbor- hood, setting them on fire, and in turing not less than hundred people. The shock of the shot from this can non culvert was felt across the river in Allegheny, where windows were broken. The burning of the naptha at the fountain head, the two naptha tanks. was spectacular in the eX- treme It was a giant pillar of fire. People came from far and near to view the sight.
 Full two hours after the fire had started there came the second explo- sion. There were three naptha tanks in the immediate neighborhood of the ones that were telescoped and burning. They had been growing hotter and hotter, and efforts to get them out of range had been, for some reason, intellectual. With mighty splash of flame across the heavens, and noise that made the hills quake, the tanks let go almost at the same moment.
 From above there descended streams of burning naphtha, flaming timber, redhot iron, and the people on the hilltops were beaten down, one after another by the force of the flaming missiles. Maddened by pain, the injured ones darted hither and thither Those who escaped gave aid to the less fortunate, tore the burn
 
 flames, carried the desperately in- iured to more secure spots and sent for medical aid of which they were in need.
 Speedily all of the local hospitals were notified of the second and great CT catastrophe. 1t was soon seen that the ambulances of all the hos ,1e i'm, ln oit itxv hn o n to adequately give attention to the injured. Doctors were sent for in all directions and they were hurried to the spot on special engines provided by the railway company. The south ern division of the Pittsburg Railway Co.,, moreover. sent out a number of cars, especially for the transporta- tion for the injured and three were lined up both on the Sheraden road and the McKee's Rocks road, and the unfortunate ones were carried to them.
 Superintendent Mccarthy of the Panhandle Railroad Go. was asked regarding his theory for the cause of the explosion. He replied that as yet he had not decided what caused the explosion. The people about the place seem to think that the leaking naphtha caught from switch lamp or the firebox of one of the engines. They hold that the naphtha need not come in direct contact with light, but that fumes rising from it would catch from a light, even if it were high above where the naphtha flowed. Instead of burning upward, the ig- nited fumes would follow the column down to the base of supply or the running naphtha and then the com