Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-14
Gas BLOWS UP,
KILLING FOUR
CAUSES DEATH AND MISERY IN
SECOND STREET
Restaurant ls Blown to Pieces and
Employees and Patrons injured.
Excitement In Business
Center
fcontInued from Pnre one.n

pressed In words.
When the police lines were with
drawn yesterday evening shortly be-
fore o'clock, and the hundreds of
various persons who had been waiting
for hours for a chance to get a view
of the wreck were allowed to come
within the guarded district, the sight
was enough to recall to many, with
shudders of horror, the days of the
San Francisco disaster. The walls of
the Higgins block, containing several
stores, were wrecked and battered. The
debris was piled high in what had been
the main guest room of the old Wood
ward cafe; the ceiling had been torn
to pieces as though in the grip of a
mighty hand, and over all the last float
ing dust from the falling walls slowly
settled like n cloud of sorrow and
mourning for the lives that had been
lost or wrecked but a few hours be-
fore.
Telephones Gas Company
How the explosion of gas, that fairly
tore the building from its foundation,
occurred will probably never be known,
1t Is known that there was leak in
the pipes leading into the kitchen of
the restaurant from 112 to 116 West
Second street, owned and conducted by
Il. Cressaty, who had charge of the
restaurant known as Woodwards cafe
for only two weeks. The gas was dis
covered yesterday morning by the pro-
prietor when he reached the establish
ment at 6 o'clock and sent his en-
ployes to work for the day.
Guests dropped into the place for
breakfast and remarked about the odor
of gas in the place and Cressaty says
ne teephoned three times for an in
spector to make an investigation.
Twice his cashier claims to have called
up the company and asked for an in
vestigatiou OF the leaking pipes. Short
ly before IL o'clock and just be-
fore the guests for lunch began to ar
rive the gas men, four inspectors, un-
der the orders of Inspector Charles
Blumenthal, arrived at the cafe. They
made an investigation and two of the
men were sent out to get supplies to
stop the leak. The small room in the
rear of the restaurant was filled with
the escaping gas and the odor in the
restaurant kitchen was so strong that
the employees were sent out into the
pantry and Servin. room. and to this
fact many of them owe their lives.
Two of the men from the gas COM
pany remained and Cressaty, the pro-
prietor, stepped down the street on an
errand, leaving his cashier in charge
OI lnC ICStddI dIit' w IIiC iiC Wdo SOilC
the explosion occurred.
The shock of the explosion could be
heard for blocks away. AS far north
as the Temple block people dashed
about in panic, fearing an earthquake,
startled and terrified by the terrific
blast. The crowded office buildings
hotels and stores of Spring and Main
streets turned forth living stream for
a moment as men and women dashed
for the streets.
1t was just twenty minutes after II
o'clock when the explosion occurred.
The clock of the restaurant lying
among the debris will attest that fact.
A calendar, torn and ragged and spat-
tered with blood, will also show that
there may be something in supersti-
tion. On August 13 the Redondo
wreck, with it's awful list of dead and
injured, occurred. On October 13 the
tragedy of the Goose Neck curve in
Brooklyn Heights added it's score of
dead and injured, and yesterday from
out the debris and wreckage a fire.
man dragged the calendar and on it's
begrimed face the sinister figure 49,
appeared in great black letters.
PatroIman First to Rescue
Policeman Mcnamara was the first
man in action at the explosion. He
was crossing the street near the Hig-
gins building when the explosion oc-
CURED and like flash he turned in a
general fire and emergency alarm be-
fore dashing for the building. An old
gentleman, guest at the Hollenbeck
hotel, was passing the restaurant at
the time and he was lifted and thrownl
Lalf way across the street, sustaining
severe injuries. A policeman hurrying
to the restaurant for his lunch before
reporting for duty. was thrown as
tn, tIA hn all
in the gutter and rolled over and over.
For moment he lay there stunned
and then staggered to his feet and
straight for the battered building and
the work of rescue,
Blast Skaters Windows
In the Wilcox block and the Los
Angeles Trust buildings the windows
of the lower floors were shattered with
a noise like the popping of Gatling
gun. on the opposite side of the
street every plate glass window for a
block beched out into the street. cut
ting and scratching pedestrians and
creating panic. The heavy plate glass
windows of the First National bank
reeled in their cases like masts in a
storm and the ten foot transoms
burst out. The shock was so severe
that the little piles of gold and silver
in the paying tellers' windows were
turned over, but the employees of the
bank stuck bravely to their posts
while the patrons dashed for the
street.
The thunder of falling walls, the rat
tie and clash of dashing vehicles as
the drivers attempted to stop their
frightened horses, the wild shrieks of
the dying and MANNED, mixed with the
screams of frightened pedestrians, and
over all the cang and rattle of fire
engine and patrol ambulance dashing
on errands of mercy caused such a
condition of panic that words fail in its
description.
Pathetic Case of Waitress
The walls had hardly settled when
men We're dashing into the buildings
intent on rescue. May Anderson, a
waitress was hurled against side
wall with one leg mangled and torn