Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-30
FOUR DEAD; BIG
DAMAGE CAUSED
BY EXPLOSION
SAN FRANCISCO BUILDING IS
BLOWN UP
HAsy,s CORPSE PICKED UP IN
TOP OF TREE
Entire Family Hurled to Horrible
Death While Sleeping - $4,000
Property Loss Sustalned-Two
Houses Destroyed
e. Associated Press.

By Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, June ga mys-
terious explosion followed by fire
occurred at an early hour today
at Diamond and Chenery Streets
causing the death of four persons, Sc
rlously injuring three others, complete
ly destroyed two buildings and caused
a loss of 100000.
The dead are:
JOHN SWEENEY, aged so.
MRS. JOHN SWEENEY, aged 80.
ELLEN SWEENEY. aged IL years.
ANTOINE DISMEYER, aged 2.
The injured:
Mrs. Mary Dismeyer, aged II.
Frederick Sweeney, aged "a.
Friedrich Dismeyer, aged "a.
Thomas Hart, fireman.
The explosion took place in the
building occupied as a grocery store
and saloon by John Sweeney and S. f.
Johnson. Both we're closed at the time
of the disaster.
The Sweeneys lived just above the
grocery store and the Dismeyer fam
lily resided in an upper fiat.
All the victims were in bed at the
time. The elder Sweeney, his wife and
daughter and little Antoine Dismeyer
were instantly killed.
The baby's body was blown through
a window and was found in a tree.
Frederick Sweeney was hurled
through another window and terribly
bruised.
BrlngssNife Through Flames
FREDERICK Dismeyer made his escape
but rushed back into the burning
house and carried his wife out through
the flames, both being badly burned.
Mrs. Dismeyer is not expected to re-
cover.
Antoine Dismeyer, ST., carried his
mother out of the house and both es-
capped injury.
The cause of the explosion as well
as the motive for the crime are un-
known. Theories that coal oil kept
in the grocery or a leak in the gas
main may have worked the destruction
have proved untenable, and 1t is now
the belief of the police that dynamite
was used.
johnson, the saloon keeper, says
there was a fight In the place last
night and he thinks that someone in
volved in the trouble was the author
of the outrage.
The fact that a man named r. j.
Gallagher held a joint lease of the
saloon with johnson led to the rumor
that the building belonged to a brother
by that name of former Supervisor j..
L. Gallagher, the principal witness for
the graft prosecution, whose houses in
Oakland were recently dynamited, but
this proved untrue.
The former supervisor has a brother
of the same name as the lessee of the
saloon, who is no relation, and Detec-
tive Burns thinks that the men who
caused the explosion may have con-
fused the men. This is admitted, how
ever, to be merely a surmise. and the
affair still remains a mystery.
Captain of Detectives Kelly, who
visited the scene during the afternoon,
does not think dynamite was used.
Captain Kelly has a theory that
acids. chemicals or gasoline stored in
the grocery may have caused the ex-
plosion.
Harry East Miller a consulting
chemist, and r. McFarlane, an expert
on powder and dynamite, visited the
wrecked buildings and are also of the
opinion that dynamite was not re-
sponsible for the explosion. They
base their belief on the absence of any
hole in the ground and the lack of
serious damage to surrounding build
ings.