The Forrest City times., 1902-05-16
TNENTY.THR[E ARE DEAD.
Fully Three Hundred Others More or Less Seriously Burned,
 Some Fatally.
HOLOCAUST OCCURRED AT SHsRlOEN, PA
The Most FrfghtfuI Disaster in the History of Greater Pittsburg. Caused by the Teiescoping of Nsphtha Tank Cars. Followed Fly series Of Explosions.

Pittsburg. Pa, May 14.-Twenty- three persons are known to be held as the result of the terrible naphtha as the result of the terrible naptha explosion at Sheraden Monday even. ing. Of the 500 injured. the physi- eians say at least % will die.
 This awful casualty record is the result of series of four accidents eliminating in one of the most frightful disasters in the history of l Greater Pittsburg. The teleseoping of naphtha tank cars in the yards of the Panhandle railroad company in Cork's Run was followed by the igni- tion of the naphtha by on open switch lamp; by the flowing of the naphtha, culyert leading to the Ohio river half a mile away, and its explosion with attendant damage to life and proper ty. and by the explosion of three other naphtha tanks at the point of original mishap after hundreds of | 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 pepu- lace to a magnificent spectacle so they might be made victims. The telescoping of the ears was one of those thinks that not frequently hap pens without consequences. Is sub seqaent ignition by an open switch 1 lamp is d matter which will later be l given full investigation. The eaus" of the explosion at the point where il once again broke out into the open is still q matter of conjecture. It may be that the flame followed fast the naphtha that had gone before and resented the eramped quarters of the culYert's opening, sending cut a sheet of ofnapbtha and flame that ruined half dozen houses in the neighbor- 1 hood. setting them on fire. and in i turing not less than a hundred people. The shock of The shot from this can non culyert was felt across the river in Allegheny, where windows were broken. The burning of the naphtha at the fountain head,th two naphtha tanks, was spectacular in the cx- treme. II was 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 naphtha 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, fer some reason, intellectual. With a mighty splash of flame across the heavens and a noise that made the hills quake. the tanks let go almost at the same moment.
 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 ing clothes from them. beat out the flames, carried the desperately in Jured 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 er catastrophe. It was soon seen that the ambulances of all the hos pitals in the city would not be able 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 No., moreover, sent out d number of ears, especially for the transporta- ton 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 Co was asked regarding his theory for the cause of the explosion. He replied that as vet he had not decided what caused the explosion. The people about the place seem to think that the leaking naphtha caught from a switch Iamp or the fireboX of one of the engines. They hold that the naphtha need not come in direct contact with a light. but that fumes rising from it would catch from a light, even if it were high above where the naphtha flowed.