The Penn's Grove record., 1903-03-13
KILLED BY OIL EXPLOSIONS
Horrible Disaster Follows a Collision
Near Clean, N. Y.
FIFTEEN PERSONS LOSE LIVES

A Burning Railroad Wreck Attracts Hun
dreds Whom the Tank Cars Burst-The
Sheets of Flame Instantly EnveI1p
The spectators-Thc Bodies of the VIC
Tins Burned Beyond Recognition.
Olean. N. Y.-Tifteen were killed and
forty persons were burned or bruised
by an explosion of oil following a
wreck Of the Erie Railroad north of this
city. Some Of the bodies were incirer-
ated and some were blown into the
creek by the explosion.
The following are dead: John Stem
linger, aged seventeen years; Norman
Brown, aged eighteen years; John To-
bin. aged sixteen years; John Nc
Cready, aged eighteen years; John Nc
Mahon, aged nineteen years; Walter
Swift. aged nineteen years; Michael
Briscoll, aged twenty-five years; Wal
ter Jackson, aged thirteen years; Wal
ter Roth, aged sixteen years; Richard
Connell, aged nineteen years; Herman
Bollman, aged fifteen years; Rofelo
Quarinto, Carmen Siteliano and Martin
Gallagher, all of Olean; Henry Golden,
aged eighteen years, of Boardmanville.
At the General Hospital one of the
patients said q young boy was blown
into the creek near him.
It was about 8 o'clock p. m. when an
Erie freight train west-bound broke in
two on the hill two miles north of the
city. At first the forward part Of the
train sprang forward with increased
speed. Brakes were applied and the
front portion was brought almost to a
standstill at the iron bridge across
Clean Creek. The rear cars, gathering
momentum as they came down the hill,
crashed into the front end Of the train.
Most of the-cars were tank cars filled
with refined oil or gasoline. One Of the
tanks caught fire soon after the COLI
sion. The exact cause of the fire is not
known, but it is supposed to have
started from a spark struck from the
grinding pieces of iron in the wreck
age. In a few minutes another car Of
gasoline caught fire and burst into
flames with a terrific report. Portions
of the iron domes of the cars were
hurled a distance of several hundred
feet. The flames shot high up in the
air, presenting a brilliant spectacle.
In this early accident, so far as can
be learned, no one was injured. A large
crowd quickly gathered. For two hours
the people stood massed together, fas-
cinated by the bright white flames that
shot hundreds of feet into the air. AS
the heat became less intense the crowd
began to edge closer to the wreckage,
until about IL o'clock some venture
some boys approached to within a few
hundred feet of the burning debris.
Suddenly there was a terrific explos-
ion. Great masses of white flames shot
hundreds of feet into the air and liter
ally rolled down the banked sides of the
track into the gully where the specta-
tors 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 with lightning
velocity, moving down human beings
by the score Some managed to scrani-
bic to their feet and get away from the
names, but others lay still in death.
The scene Of agony and horror at that
moment was beyond description.
A yeritable rain of fire came down
upon the crowd. Men and boys with
their clothing a mass of flames ran
down the track, shrieking in their
agony, some of them falling to the
ground unconscious, while others grow
elled in the ditch or jumped into the
creek III mad endeavor to put out the
ire that was consuming them. Many
OF those overwhelmed by the flames
probably knew what happened.
They dropped where they stood and
never again moved. The groans and
cries Of those MANNED or burned were
frightful to hear.
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 were pressed into service. In
the meantime those In the vicinity Of
the wreckage who escaped injury made
valiant efforts to rescue the wounded
who were still lying with reach Of the
whitening flames.
Nothing could be done to check the
flames. They began to die out about
midnight. A short distance west Of
the iron bridge a dead line was estab-
lished, beyond which no one was per-
t~0 " RAoo, % OAC VI LII OululuS
cars was still thought to be in danger
of exploding.
1t was about 1 o'clock in the morn
ing when Deputy Sheriff Osterhout
came forward and called for twenty
volunteers to carry stretchers on which
the dead and injured were to be borne
to the ambulances and wagons. Three
times as many as were called for
stepped forward. It was a gruesome
trip. A strong light was shining down
the track, but instead of serving to illu-
inmate, it seemed to blind the sight
with its dazzling whiteness.
In all fifteen bodies were recovered
and laid out beside the track. When
the last body had been rescued the
stretcher bearers formed a procession
and started down the track toward the
ambulances and carriages. The crowd
fell back and the only sound that broke
the stiffness was an occasional sob or
a shuddering "oh."
The remains of the dead arrived in
the city about 3 o'clock. and were takal,
to undertaking establishments. 1t will
be impossible to identify some Of the
dead.