The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-12-14
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man. 1T threw myself on my face in
the water and I thought it was ali off
with me. 1 knew the ladder stuck
out a couple of feet over the top of
the cistern and that the lid could not
be put back on before the ladder was
taken out. I thought the fire would
burn until the lid was put back on
thought it was finish for 'Rox.'
What saved us was the fact that
the gas blew out of the top of the
hole. 1t didn't last over five or six
seconds. Then there was nothing but
smoke. I was the first man up the
ladder When I got to the top
started away and then turned back,
thinking that some of the boys might
two or three of them climbing out and
SO went on to the drug store"
Robinsons burns are confined to
his hands, head and face. His coat
was burned through and his trousers
also, but the flames did not get to his
flesh. He has been member of the
fire department twenty years and lives
at 1857 Clay street with his family.
He is a captain and is the engineer of
steamer No. 1
81 have been doing this kind of
work 81 years and this is the first
time 1 was ever in an accident" said
Charles Winburn as he sat up on his
cot, swathed in bandages. When
heard the roar knew what was COM
ing and fell on my face and covered
1t with my hands. 1 didn't see any
one light match. Dice wanted to
smoke and asked me If he could. I
told him no. 1 said there might not
be any gas but that it was not safe to
have q fire in the cistern."
Winburn has wife and three
children. He will recover.
Started by Pick Axe.
ct was working with a trowel,
nj he q1ir off he lie
A. T. Potts. 'I thought the fire
started from pick striking the pipes.
The fireman was picking away near
the old filter and I thought he must
have hit the iron with the pick and
caused the spark. 1 have been told
that Mr.. Snyder lighted a match. I
couldn't say how the fire started be-
cause I do not know. The gas came
from that old filter. I have a wife
and one son, at home.
''I pulled my cap down over my
face, and started for the ladder,
knowing that if I was to get out I
must go up the ladder. On my way
to the ladder 1 ran against one of the
boys and he want down. There was
another ladder lying across the bot
tom of the cistern and as I stepped
across that the fire went out. Then
I climbed on up the ladder. There
was some one just ahead of me. The
fire started near the bottom of the els
tern, went to the top and then seemed
to come down the walls"
II was standing by the filter when
the flash came" said Jake" Dice:
1.-THE fireman was standing just ahead
Of me. Mr.. Snyder was standing
across the cistern. There was gas in
the cistern. 1 smelled it when I went
IN. 1 was in and out three or four
times 1t smelled foul all of the time
know how I got out. The fire
was out. I live with my mother, who
is IS years old, and my sister. have
a wife and child but we are not living
together now"
Snyder Frightfully Burned.
Street Commissioner Snyder, who
is the most badly burned and who it
is not believed can recover, was so
badly burned that his friends and ac--
Quaintances did not know him. No
one is allowed to see him outside the
members of his family. Councilman
Howard, who was on the scene early
after the explosion and stood within
six feet of the street commissioner
most of the time inquired afterward,
WAS one of those fellows we were
plastering up Frank Snyder?" DR.. J.
A. Crabb, who knows Mr.. Snyder we'll,
was on the street at the time OF the
explosion and rushed to the Heath Of
flee and administered the usual first
aid remedies to a man he did not
know, but who was badly burned. He
later learned at the hospital that it
was Mr.. Snyder. He was burned so
that no one recognized him at first.
The management of the hospital re-
quested the State Journal to ask
friends of the injured men to use the
telephone instead of calling at the
hospital. for the time being at least,
as 1t is now packed with visitors
whom 1t is impossible to wait upon.
Beside it is necessary that the men
have absolute quiet.
Orson Baker, formerly a member of
the fire department but now employed
at the Felix store, and recalling the
explosion of last week, ran to the els
tern. He arrived in time to see
Robinson, with whom he formerly
worked, climb out of the cistern his
hands and face and clothing still
into the Heath Office.
There was no scarcity of volunteers
TO assist the physicians in dressing the
injuries of the men whose skin and
flesh were dropping off. Cool headed
ones stood guard at the door and held
back the crowd until the police ar
rived.
The cistern in which the explosion
occurred is large one, having a
Work at cleaning it out was begun
Monday morning. When the ex-
plosion occurred last week in which
Fireman Robinson was burned, pre-
parations were being made to fill It
with water.
Ground Filled With Gas.
Councilman ]. w. F. Hughes, said
this afternoon:
Il wish to agree with the article in
the State Journal last night when it
said that the ground under this CITY
was full of gas that was continually
escaping from the old leaky gas
mains controlled by the gas company.
THE local company is using in To-
peka, gas mains that were laid thirty
years ago. They are so rotten that
the bolts holding them together are
falling to pieces. I know that the
mains in this town are not strong
enough to hold the old artificial gas.
I know that at one time the old com
pany refused to make any more con-
nections in this city because they ad-