Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1908-11-27
BLAST KILLS 70;
Street Caves IN
EXPLOSION OF GAS MAIN IN
BROOKLYN WORKS HAVOC
IN RESULTS
TERRIBLE SCENES IN
CATASTROPHE'S WAKE
Workmen Buried Alive Under Tons OF
Earth -Four Crawl to Safety
Through sewer-People on Street
Drawn Into chasm of Death.


Brooklyn, N. Y, Nov. 2l.--Twenty per
sons lost their lives as result OF the
explosion of gas main at Gold ana
Front streets, Brooklyn, Friday
Practically the whole street from
stoop line to stoop line between Colo
and Front streets was tumbled into
5O.foot excavation in which 70 men
were working, and several persons
who were walking along the street
were believed to have been carried
down. 1t Is believed that nearly every
person who went into the excavation
was killed instantly or smothered or
drowned Fifty tenement houses on
the block were in such danger of fall
ing into the trench that the occupants
were ordered out by the police.
Wild Scenes Follow.
The most intense excitement pre-
vailed for blocks around the scene OF
the accident and the streets were filled
with wailing women and children who
had been unable to get any word from
relatives who were known to be in the
vicinity when the explosion came. At
least one woman and three little girls
were said by the police to have been
swallowed up in the cave-in which
followed the explosion.
Four of the men who were buried
in the cave-in at Gold and Front
streets, Brooklyn, were reported to
have escaped by crawling through
sewer which opens into the East
river.
One Body Found in Four Hours.
So great was the mass of broken
timbers and mud in the bottom of the
trench that four hours after the ex-
plosion the police and firemen had
been unable to find any other than one
body, which was found in the street.
1t was believed that the bodies of
nearly 20 workmen and an unknown
woman and two children were buried
in the debris, but the work of recov-
cry was delayed by the necessity of
snoring up the high wall of the
trench before an attempt was made to
clear away the wreckage.
Water and Gas Shut of.
Timbers were hauled to the scene
and the flow OF water and gas was
shut off.
An employe of the gas company
who was sent to turn off the gas was
arrested and charged with homicide,
! although it was not known that he had
anything to do with the accident Five
Italians who had been lingering about
the scene before the explosion also
were taken into custody on suspicion.
Street Torn to Pieces.
: The explosion tore the street to
pieces for rods on either side, and the
men who were working In an excava-
!, ton for big sewer pipe were buried
by the debris which fell In upon them
and were smothered or burned to
death in the fire that followed the ex-
plosion. Samuel Trout, who lived
near the scene. lost his. life in at.
tempting to save woman who was
passing through Gold street at the
time Of the explosion and fell into the
trench. Trout was caught by the
flames from the blazing gas main and
roasted alive. The woman was
l. by boy.
Excavation Forty Feet Deep.
= The workmen were digging a trench
>, through Gold street for the installa
# ton OF a 36-inch sewer pipe. The ex
is cavation was to be nearly 40 feet deep
l. and as the laborers removed the earth
I'd the walls had been shored up by large
II timbers. With Charles Schiffmeyer
l. city inspector OF sewers, overseeing
he no
is bottom of the trench when ali accumu
re lation OF gas from a main which hat
III been accidentally broken during the
IN course OF the work exploded with tire
III mensous force. The supporting tim
= bers were ripped away and the higl
= dirt walls toppled over on Schiffmeye
q and his men.
IN Large Water Main Broken.
o. A large water main also was broker
by the force of the explosion and
perfect torrent of water began t,
squirt up through the mass of wreck
age Almost side by side with thes
geysers roared the flames from tn
gas escaping from the broken main.
M Ftremen and workmen from the cit
~ water department and the gas con
- pany worked desperately together i
- an effort to check the flow of gas an
water to relieve the men who ha
= been imprisoned. There seemed littl
hope, however, that any of those VIII
had been at work at the bottom of tn
french could have escaped death.
Brownsville, Pa, Blast Kills.
Brownsville Pa Nov 21-One ma
was blown to pieces and five other
fatally injured Friday when qual
tity of dynamite exploded in the sha
i. of the Simpson Coal mine, four mile
- south Of here. The dead man is E
DO gene Campbell. laborer, of Unto
town, Pa.
Found Guilty of Murder.
Washington, Nov. 21-Henry