The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-10
WERE BURNED IN OIL
MORE THAN A SCORE MET A TER
RIBLE DEATH.
STOOD WATCHING OIL FIRE
WHEN EXPLOSIONS 8 SCATTERED
BURNING OIL OVER THEM.

oil Train on the Erie Broke in
Tyo-sections Crashed Together
and There Was Fire-Great
Crowds Gathered Explosions
Cnme and Oil Was Scattered-Men
and Boys Became Columns of
FIame-BOdies Were Incinerated.
Twenty-Five Known to BE Killed.
clean. N. Y, March "a score or
more people were killed and a large
number were injured by an explosion
of oil here tonight.
A freight train on the Erie, made up
principally of tank cars filled with oil,
broke in two near this city about
o'clock. The two sections of the train
came together with a crash, and one
of the oil tanks was demolished. Fire
broke out almost instantly, and the
sky was lighted up for miles. A large
crowd of people left this city for the
scene of the fire.
While they were lined up along the
tracks a terrific explosion occurred.
The flames communicated quickly with
the other tank cars, and a second and
a third explosion followed each other
in rapid succession. Sheets of flame
shot out in all directions.
Scores of persons were caught with
in the zone of the fire and enveloped
in flames. Men and boys ran scream
ing down the tracks, with their cloth
ing mass of flames. Others fell where
they stood, overcome by the awful
heat. Just how many were killed is
not known, as many of the bodies were
incinerated.
story of Spectator.
Sydney Fisher, a prominent business
man, returned from the scene of the
fire at midnight. He said:
Il was attracted to the scene of the
fire between $3.50 and 10 o'clock. When
was within a quarter of mile of
the wrecked train there was terrific
explosion. Flames shot outwards and
upwards for great distance.
81 saw several persons who started
to run away drop on the railroad
tracks, and they never moved again
Otehrs who had been standing close to
the wreckage were hurled through the
air for hundreds of feet. The scene
was awful. Half a dozen young boys
ran down the tracks with their cloth
ing afire, resembling human torches.
l could hear their agonizing screams
distinctly from where 1 stood. They
ran some distance down the track and
then threw themselves to the ground
grovelling in the bitches in their
frantic efforts to extinguish the
flames. Then they lay still, some of
them unconscious, others dead. 1
don't know how many were killed, but
1 counted twenty bodies before came
away"
For the Dead and Injured.
Word was sent at once to Clean DO
lice headquarters by telephone. Ev-
cry doctor and ambulance in the city
was summoned. Grocery wagons and
carriages of all kinds were pressed
into service and everything possible
was done to bring the injured without
delay to the hospitals for treatment.
AT midnight the first of the in
Jured arrived at the hospital They
were four young boys. Their injuries
were frightful. Great patches of flesh
were burned off and hung in shreds
from their bodies.
1t will be difficult to ascertain the
names of a great many of the dead to-
night, as their bodies were burned to
ashes in the intense heat. A canvass
Is being made of the city as rapidly as
possible to find out the names of those
missing. There is great excitement in
the city, and the streets are thronged
with people.
Large crowds gathered at the hos
pital, and the faces of the injured
We're anxiously scanned as they were
borne into the building on stretchers
Heart-rending scenes were witnessed
when one of the poor, blistered bodies
was recognized by a father, a mother,
or brother. and it was with difficulty
that persons were restrained from in
vading the operating room.
The latest report of casualties places
the number of dead at twenty-five and
the injured at forty-five. Some of the
Injured will die.