The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1908-11-24
MANY DEAD IN
GAS EXPLOSION
WOTkInen Digging in Excavation
Are Buried Alive.
Is BELIEVED TO Be DEAD

Spark Coming In Contact With Leak
ing Gas Main Caused Explosion That
Tore Up the Street From House to
Rouse-Victims Buried Under Fifty
Feet OF Dirt, Rock and Tangled
Pipes-Woman and Three Children
Sink to Death With SidewaIk-Four
Men Escape Through Sewer.
New York. Nov 2l. - Twenty-Five
persons are believed to have lost their
lives in an explosion OF gas which tore
up a great section of Gold street,
Brooklyn. II is definitely known that
fifteen persons were buried under the
hundreds OF tons OF earth and timber
that were thrown into the air by the
explosion and ten more persons are re
ported as missing The exact number
OF dead cannot be determined until
those working to recover the entombed
bodies dig through fifty feet of dirt,
rock and a tangle Of pipes and tim
bers
The explosion occurred In flftyfoot
deep excavation that had been made
IN Gold street between York and Front
streets, where a water main was being
laid. The gas main recently sprung a
leak, and In q manner unknown a
spark came In contact with escaping
gas. Immediately there was terrific
explosion that lifted the surface Of
the street for half a block in both
directions and hurled dirt. paving
stones and debris into the air.
When the smoke and dust cleared
away II was seen that the street had
been opened from doorstep to door
step over an area OF nearly a block.
The loosened earth and debris had
fallen into the excavation, burying the
score Of laborers who were at work
when the accident happened. Great
tongues of flame shot out OF crevices
in the street, and beside them geysers
of water !eaped into the air from
water main that had been shattered
by the explosion. Two bodies were
sticking out OF the wreckage.
Gold street was crowded Vllh
school children when the explosion oO'
Cured. and that scores of children
were not killed or injured was re-
markable. A woman and three chill
dren were almost opposite the exca'
walton when the earth crumbled under
their feet and they were swept down
into the hole under tons OF wrecKage
Two other children were on the oppo'
site side OF the street when the side
walk caved in and they lost their
lives.
Samuel Trout. foreman OF the gang
OF laborers who were laying the water
main. was near the woman and three
children who lost their lives. He rush
ed forward as he felt the street trem'
BILE from the explosion In an endeavor
to save them, but he. too, was drawn
into the death hole. His body was the
first to be recovered. Trout had been
roasted TO cinder.
Only four OF the men working in the
excavation escaped. and their escape
was remarkable They were Arthur
Strand Frank Sohnwold. John Grain
and an Italian laborer known as
John" These men were digging near
the opening OF a four-foot sewer, and
the force of the explosion blew them
ia the entrance of It. Strand was
hurled farthest in, and he pulled the
other three men after him. Water
from tfre broken main began to pour
into the sewer. and the four men, In
danger of being drowned. started tC
run toward the river. where there was
an outlet to the sewer The water
reached to their chins before they got
out
Women living in the neighborhood
whose children had been In the streef
when the gas main blew up rushed tc
the scene and ran about the excavation
yringing their hands and calling for
their little ones. In many instances
they found their children after a brief
search. but a number Of boys and girls
had been taken into a school nearby |
and their parents were frantic by the |
time they we're found.