Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-11
Emp DYES blamed
coroner's Verdict Regarding
Pintsch Gas Explosion
WAS LACK. OF CAUTION
stss - 80 siI 49, - ~ sa.
ENGINEERS DEATH PRIME CAUSE
OF. INVESTIGATION.
Many Witnesses Examined by Jury
This Morning Gasometer Pump
ed Almost Free Of Gas.
WAS LACK OF CAUTION

I Pintsch gas works 1919 and e streets
southwest. early last Friday morning. which
| resulted In the death of Stephen Henderson.
| of Alexandria, Joseph Cumberland. Charles
w. Grigsby and an unidentified colored man.
| After hearing a number of witnesses and
after celebrating ten minutes the jury this
| afternoon decided that the explosion at the
:Pintsch gas works was "due to lack Of eau
| ton on the part of the employees in charge
of the plant at the time Of the accident
I 1t Will be recalled that Friday morning,
| April.,, at about 4:35 O'Clock, tremendous
explosion occurred in the boiler room of
the southern portion of the Pintsch gas
/ works, fronting on Water street, which re-
suited in the destruction of life and of the
| entire publication plant by fire, which i'm
mediately started. Henderson, Cumberland
| and the unidentified negro were in the en-
! CINE room at the time when the explosion
which resulted in their deaths occurred
| without warning. The men were chatting
away pleasantly when deafening report
was heard and in a jiffy the entire plant
was filed with flames and fumes of gas.
| Henson was on THE outside Of the building
and lost his life in an attempt to save the
| life of one of his coworkers
Inc jury was composed of F. K. Ray
| mond. charles Jacobsen, c. E. Wood, F. S.
! Donaldson, Francis Reside and J. F. Jar
ner. and full and Complete inquiry was
| begun. II
The First Witness.
| Warren Horstman of 1912 Union street
southwest, survivor of the accident was
| the first witness. He told of the explosion
at the gas works, and said he was standing
| near the engine room door just before the
| explosion. He had been around the plant
all morning. and had been with the COM
pany two or three years. At the time of
the actual explosion he was twenty-five or
| thirty feet from the building. Things were
! working all right. the said and there was
no suggestion of anything being out of re-
r.-s q haf
but did not know him. The plant had no:
| been shut. down for, repairs since the new
engine was put In; III,
| The witness idea, of the cause of the ac
| cident was that a. gasometer which holds
| gas was pumped gtoe low. This, he said,
was probably the !, fault of the engineer.
He thought it to be dangerous, and others
| tried to stop it. Witness made an effort tn
get Cumberland, fsont, but he would MOI
come; so, fearing ans explosion. he got out.
| couldn't get to Henderson to cali him out
| He had. he said, enough warming to get
out, from his knowledge of conditions
They. wanted him 10 come in he added
| but he saw there was danger and de-
clined.
Liquid was thrrew't, in four-foot stream
| when there should pave been no liquid
a nea e tFeupls in
ns s. sGf hs wsas
| He knew there yas a stoppage in a pire
| by the showing Of the gauge The engineer
| and others were supposed to watch the
gauge. .
The explosion occurred fifteen minutes
after the gauge Indicated that something
| was wrong. He had never seen the indi-
Gator show trouble of a like nature before.
| 1t had. however, showed stoppage.
| Henderson was In charge, and 1t was his
| explosion Cumberland was pulled out, but
! went back Witness believed Henderson
| was overcome by gas. When Cumberland
| got out he appeared dazed, and wanted TO
| get back to remedy the trouble with
leakage.
| the explosion occurred three minutes
after Cumberland went back. Witness
thought he knew what was coming and
ran. Floors were full of liquid at this
| time, and witness said he knew something
| was going to happen The liquid was al
The EXPLOSION knocked witness fully if
| teen feet. He got UP and kept on running.
Grigsby was running behind him in blaze
of fire. Grigsby dropped in the street and
| tried to roll himself on the ground to put
| out the flames.
When witness called attention to the leak
| he told those in authority and got away
| If they had left sufficient gas In the gas
| ometer the accident, in the opinion of the
| witness, could not have occurred.
Chas. n. Riley's Testimony.
! Charles H. Riley was next called. He is
superintendent of the Pintsch Gas Com
pany at Washington, in charge of the local
! plant.
After an investigation of the accident"
| said Mr. Riley, Il went to the plant.
saw blaze coming out of the engine room
| and tried to turn off the feed valves lead
! ing into the city. I noticed The walk was
! covered with the liquid which runs off
/ from the gas, and recognized it as coming
! from the gasometer, which could only oc-
cur by reducing storage OF gas In the gas
1 ometer." p
The leakage, he ssfd, must have been go
| ing on some time before Id was. noticed.
When the gasometer is nearly exhausted
| there is an indicator with which the engi-
! neer was supposed to shut Off the pump.
Mr.. Henderson, witness said, had been en-
ployed three months, and was competent
man and appreciated the dangers Mr..
Cumberland was also supposed to watch
the gasometer. Cumberland was an expert
4 gasmaker. IS. s.ssy e4s ~, : .5sSsz a.
! Mr.. Henderson was one of our most valu-
| able men, In the Judgment of the witness
the cause of the explosion was that the gas
! ometer was sucked too low and water
| took it's place and, blew out water and Oil
and flooded the place -
| Cumberland tried to shut 1T Off, witness
| said; but was .unsuccessfu1 The accident
| was caused by, fhssengineer running pump
n 1oe l1h 1sh an outside the Building There
! were lights in the building.
There is no way sfo watch gas In gas
ometer by mechanicM means. the witness
-
| pany Is using tie Same appliances in the
| new works The plant is safe and running
| today The only sotheas accidents before at
the plant were caused .,.;by,s. careiessness.
Nothing can happen tYhen every man does
i hts duty kt-,.!.,a - - So .esss. ,afs4
! .s.e.s Railway. Men AS, Witnesses.
i L. r. jones wassoatled. He stated he is
II brakeman, omi the fPennsylyanaa railroad
and said he was standing at switch near
/ the Pintsch gas stank He saw the flash
and heard a repart. foThe concussien threw
him down. He got Dip and ran, and saw
| Grigsby run out vithlhis clothing in flames.
Witness did net seesany other person run.
/ but noticed an unusual smell of gas He
noticed nothing unusual iab0utGtlle build
| ing. but ran to fire alarm box and turned
In an alarm as4iA sis'1 "a s
George NJ. PARROT, Pennsylvania rail-
way employe, heard the explosion and saw
| the fire and notified the police and fire de-
partments. ssssf ~ = ase afss
E. f. yermillion, a local boiler inspector,
told of an examination of the plant of the
| Pintsch gas plant last Friday morning. He
/ found trouble in compressor room twenty
one feet away from the boilers. He be-
4 lieves the fire started from standpipe which
-.