Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-03-13
Terrible. Result of Explosion of Oil
:. Near Oiean, N. Y.
BLAZING FLUID DRENCHES PEOPLE.
syectators Become Human Torches,
Drop in Their Tracks and
Perish - Many Persons
Are Injured.


Erie railroad Monday night, when an
oil train was wrecked and several oil !
cars exploded. scattering death and
destruction in every direction. Sew !
eral of the patients in the hospital !
are seripusly burned, one of them,
Richard Mcdonald, aged nine years, /
probably fatally.
The List of Dead.
The dead: John Stemlinger, aged
II years; Norman Brown, aged 10
years; John Tobin, aged 16; John Nc
Cready, aged 10 years; John McSia-
han, aged 10 years; Walter Swift,
aged 10 years; Michael Driscoll. aged
22 years; Walter Jackson, aged 13
years; Walter Roth. aged 16 years;
Richard Cornell, aged 10 years; Her
man Bollman, aged Is years; Rofelo
Quarinto; Carmen Sitliano, all of
Olean; Henry Gornder,S aged IS
years, Boardmanville.
At the hospital one of the patients
said young boy was blown into the
creek near him. He tried to save the
lad, but was unable to do so. The boy
was drowned.
Cause of the Disaster.
The scenes following the explosion
will never be forgotten by those who
saw them. 1t was about nine o'clock
in the evening when the train was
wrecked. An Erie freight train west
miles north of the city. AT first the
forward part of the train, released of
all the weight Of the cars behind,
sprang forward with increased speed.
Brakes were applied and the front
portion of the traf- was brought al
most to standstiu ut the iron bridge
across Clean creek.
The rear cars, gathering momentum
as they came down the hill, crashed
into the forward part of the train.
Most of the cars in the train were tank
cars filled with refined oil or gasoline.
They weighed thousands of tons. and
the impact was terrific. One of the
tank cars caught fire soon after the
collision. The flames shot high up in the
mir, presenting a brilliant spectacle.
In this early accident, SO far as can
crowd quickly gathered. Hundreds of
people from Clean, North Clean and
the surrounding countryside gathered
to watch the brilliant play of flames.
The Fatal Explosion.
| For two hours the people stood
massed together, and as the heat be-
came less intense the crowd began to
n1N 10
until about II o'clock some venture
some boys approached to within few
hundred feet Of the burning debris.
Suddenly there was terrific explo-
sion. Great masses of white flames
shot hundreds Of feet into the air and
literally rolled down the banked sides
of the track into the gully where the
spectators were standing. Men and
boys fell before the wave of white
light to rise no more. Huge pieces
of iron were hurled through the air,
moving down the human beings by
the score. Some managed to scramble
to their feet and get away, but others
lay still in death. The scene of agony
and horror at that moment was be-
yond description. A veritable rain of
fire came down upon the crowd. Men
and boys, with their clothing mass
of flames, ran shrieking down the
track, some of them falling to the
ground unconscious, while others groy-
eled in the ditch or jumped into the
creek in an endeavor to put out the
fire that was consuming them. Many
of those overwhelmed by the flames
dropped where they stood, and never
again moved.
The Call for Help.
AS soon as the telephone could be
reached all the doctors in the city were
summoned and the ambulances were
called out. Express wagons and other
vehicles We're pressed into service. In
the meantime those in the vicinity of
the wreck who escaped injury made
valiant efforts to rescue the wounded
who were still lying within reach of
the flames. Boys were burned to
death before their fathers eyes, while
the latter stood helpless to save them.
Men, SO badly injured by the flying
pieces of iron that they could not
move. lay in the gully with the flames
rolling down upon them until they
persisted.
1t was about one o'clock in the
morning when Deputy Sheriff Oster-
bout called for volunteers to remove
the dead and injured. Three times
as mary as We're called for stepped
forward. apd the grewsome work was
began. Jp q short time IS bodies had
been recovered and laid beside the
track. Some of them were so badly
burned npd distorted as to be scarcely
recognizable. Several bodies were
found in the ditch. The body of one
boy was fonnd too close to the flames
:" be approached, and in short time
u was burned to ashes. 1t is believed
Others were also incinerated. when
the last body had been rescued the
stretcher bearers formed procession
and started down the track toward
the ambulances and carriages. The
crowds fell back as they approached
and opened passageway for them.
The only sound that broke the still
ness while the head of the procession
filed past was an occasional sob or a
shuddering "Oh."
The remains of the dead arrived in
the city about three o'clock, and were
taken to undertaking establishments
to be prepared for burial.
MICHIGAN DEMnCp ATc