Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-11-20
20 ARE DEAD
Gas Explosion la a Street Of Brooklyn To-day Made .
 50 Fool Excavation
PEOPLE DIE IN HOLE


 New York, Nov 20.--Twenty per sons are believed to have lost their lives as the result of an explosion of a gas main at Gold and Front streets, Brooklyn, to-day. Practically me whole street from stoop to stoop had been tumbled into fifty foot eAcaya- tion in which fifteen or more men were working and number of per sons who were walking along the street are believed to have been car ried down in the crash. It Is be- lieved that every person who went into the excavation was killed in- stantly, or smothered or drowned. Fifty tenements in the block are in such danger of falling into the trench that the occupants have been ordered out by the police. The streets in the immediate vicinity are filled with wailing women and childreu who have been unable to get any word rom relatives who were known to have been in the vicinity when the explosion occurred. At least one wo- man and three little girls are said to have been swallowed up in the cave-in which followed the explosion. four of the men who were buried are reported to have escaped by crawling through sewer which emp ties into the East river.
 So great was the mass of broken timbers and mud in the bottom of the trench that four hours after the explosion the police and firemeu had been able to find only one body, that or the man told of below, who was burned to death trying to rescue a woman. Timbers were hauled to the scene to shore up the walls and the now Of water and gas was shut off. An employe of the gas company who was sent to turn off the gas was ar. rested and charged with homicide, although 1t is not known that he had anything to do with the accident, Five Italians who had been hanging aDout the scene before the explosion were also taken into custody on sus. picion.
 The explosion tore the street to pieces for rods on either side and the men who were working in an excayl- tion Tor a big sewer pipe were buried Dy the debris which fell in upon them
 flre followed the explosion. Sam uei Trout, who lived near the scene, lost his life in attempting to save a woman who was passing thrnugh doid street at the time of the explos- lon and fell into the trench. Trout was caught by the flames from the Diazlng gas main and roasted alive. me woman was dragged out of the trench and saved by a boy. The Workmen were digging trench through Gold street for the installa- tlon of thirty-six inch sewer nine He excavation was to be nearly forty leet deep and as the laborers removed the earth, the walls had neen snored up by large timbers. With Charles Schiffmeyer a city in- spector or sewers overseeing the work this forenoon the men were working at the bottom of the trench when an accumulation of gas from a man which had been accidentally broken during the work eynlodad "l.h tremendous force. The SUD- porting timbers were ripped away ana tne high dirt walls toppled over on Sch1rmeyer and his men. A large water main also was broken by the force of the eynlosio,, and torrent of water began to squirt up through the mass of wreckage. Almost side by side with these squirting geysers roared tha names from the gas which nourad from the broken main. Firemen and Wofkmen from the city water depart ment and the gas company worked desperately in an effort to check the now or gas and water and to relieye the men who had been imprisoned There seemed little hope, however. that any of those who had been At work at the bottom of the trench could have escaped death, Nearly half an hours work was required to reach the body of trout who had been burned to death on the surface of the street. The bodies of the oth- CT men are believed to be buried un- der tons of earth.
 Every building for blocks was se- verely shaken by the explosion and 1t was at first feared that some had sustained serious damage. Among he buildings which received nearly the full force of the shock are a large Roman Catholic cruroh and a paro- chial school. In the immense crowd which docked to toh coana ,.auo mothers of many children who fear ed that their little ones in the school building were in danger. It requir. ed all the efforts of the large force Of police to keep the crowd back out of danger and to keep tenn from inter- fering with the workers who were endeavoring to reach the imprisoned men.