The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1908-06-30
DIE IN
BLAST AND
HOLOCAUST
Mysterious Explosion Wrecks
Two Buildings, Claiming
Eight Victims
Men and Women Hurled High in
Air to Fall Back Into
Blazing Pyre
Husband and Wife, Mother and
Daughter and Tiny Baby
Perish in Flames
Cause of Horror Battles lnvesti-
CATION, bat Experts Say
Dynamite"

Five persons were blown to in
stant death and three others were
badly injured in a terrific and baf-
fling explosion early yesterday
morning which razed two story
building at the corner of Diamond
and Chenery streets. A saloon
next door was also demolished by
the force of the blast. The dead
are:
JOHN SWEENY, aged 90
years of age.
MRS. JOHN SwEENY, his
wife. So years of age.
ELLA SWEENY, daughter, 9
years of age.
ANTOINE DISSMEYER, 10
months old.
MRS. MAY DISSMEYER,
mother of the dead baby.
The fatally injured are: Fred
Sweeny, son of John Sweeny.
The seriously injured are:
Dietrich Dissmeyer, father of
the dead baby; burned about the
neck, head and shoulders.
Mrs. Will Abernethy, pros
trated by shock
The horror was spectacular in its
ghastliness. Men, women and children
were hurled high from their beds and
dropped back into the pit of FIRE which
burst into being with the explosion.
Fred Sweeney was flung to hillside
14o feet away and Edward Siler. a
lodger, was tossed across the street.
The startled neighborhood, looking
through shattered and broken windows,
saw the glare of the fire and hurried to
the scene. As the first reached the spot.
DIETRICH Dissmeyer was seen forcing his
way through mass of piling and lum-
Der, his face, neck and shoulders run
ming with blood. An instant he stood
up in the burning ruins, and then, with
a hOarse cry, he plunged into the flames
seeking his wife and baby.
He tore at the burning scantlings
with the fingers of a maniac and
brought tumbIing about his ears the
flaming brands. Hearing a cry from
one quarter. he hurled himself against
some wreckage and from under il
pulled out the mangled and burnt form
of his wife. Then he staggered across
the street, reeled and fell unconscious.
BOYS PROVE HEROES
Such was one scene Of many Walter
and Antoine Dissmeyer. brothers and
boys, who were sleeping in fat above
an adjacent saloon, which was also
torn down by the explosion. jumped
through flames and falling timber TO
the rescue of their mother. They
dragged her to safety and then re-
turned for their younger sister, Irene.
The lads kicked open the door and car
rfed her out They returned third
time to seek others needing their help.
and as they reached the second hoor
the stairway came down with a crash,
cutting off their retreat.
Realizing their peril. the boys sprang
for the open window, hung on the burn
ing sill and then flung themselves with
all their strength toward telegraph
pole Their arms wrapped around 1t as
JleY struck, ana dlJcI a uiOIuenl
pause they slid safely to the ground
The explosion took place at a time
when the neighbOrhoOd was wrapt in
deepest sleep. There was no warming
no sign. There was but the deafening
roar and the quick leap OF the flames
to the sky. The whole was baffling
as sudden. No reason nor cause could
be found for 1t. What clews there
might have been were destroyed by the
flames There was nothing but ruins
the dead and the injured
Sweeney was a grocer and lived at
the rear of his store. He, his wife and
daughter, Ella, all of whom were
killed outright, slept on the first ioor.
on the second floor swere the rooms OF
Fred Sweeny, a son; Edward Siler, a
Iodger and those of Fred Dissmeyer.
who occupied them with his wife and
baby. Adjacent to the grocery was a
saloon. owned by s. f. Johnson The
saloon building was three storied
one. The second floor was occupied by
A. f. Dissmeyer his wife and his chill
dren, Antoine, Walter and Irene The
third floor was taken by Martin Tobia-
son, a roomer. and Will Abernethy and
his wife
DENOLIsHEs SALOON
The explosion not only tore down
the Sweeney store. but knocked in the
inner wall of the saloon. Overturning
an immense ice chest and completely
demolishing the fixtures and bar The