The Detroit times., 1909-07-30

OF thousands OF dollars IN the aggre-
gate and the injury of several peo'
pie were among the results OF
the flooding of the city sewers by the
unprecedented rainfall Of Wednesday
night. One OF these occurred at
Trumbull and Grand 3iver-aves.. an
other on Grand River-ave., near
Twelfth-st., and the third near Grand
River-ave. and Sixteenth-st
A series OF explosions, supposed
to be due to sewer gas. wrecked three
stores in the Vermont building at
Grand River and Trumbull-ayes., al
6:06 O'Clock Thursday morning. About
$2,500 damage was done.
James G. Grant, whose dry goods
store at No. SIC Grand Riyer-ave., Is
located In the corner of the block.
went down into the cellar of the build
Ing about 6 o'clock Thursday morning
and found that the place was flooded
owing to backing up OF water from
the sewers. There was then about
four feet of water in the basement
which was draining of.
Violent Explosion occurs.
Two hours later he went down again
and found the water very nearly gone
but the cellar extremely damp. He
decided to light a fire In the furnace
TO dry out the place and brought some
papers down for this purpose. As
soon as he lighted one OF the papers
In the furnace, however, there was a
violent explosion which knocked him
back about 10 feet He was burned
about the face and arms and his hair
and mustache were singed. His
clothes were all ablaze, the flames
going out when he reached the QUITE,
air. Grant got out by a back door
which had been blown open and
turned in a fire alarm. Two other
explosions had followed the first and
these did damage to the stores OF
Deane a Mouat. plumbers, at No. 57i
Grand River-ave., and the II. p.
Hovey Candy Co.. at 572 Grand River.
ave
V. II. Deane, who was in his Office.
was knocked down by the force OF
the explosion and slightly bruised. A
heavy bath tub In the show window
OF the store was blown out OF the
window and into the main portion Of
the store, and boiler located at the
rear end OF the room was moved
about.
The heavy 10x15-foot plate glass
windows OF the three stores were
blown out, heavy fragments of glass
going clear across Grand River-ave.
The rear doors of all the stores were
splintered and broken and everything
breakable In the places was de-
stroyed.
There was very little blaze and the
fre department had little trouble In
putting II out. Grant Is OF the opin.
Ion that the whole basement OF the
building was filed with explosive sew.
er gas. which ignited at the fash OF
the match he lighted.
II had a marvellous escape" he said
as he rubbed his hand over the place
where his eyebrows had been.
Flooding of the cellar of ~. c. Win
terfch a. Sons painting and decorat.
Ing shop at No. $50 Grand River-ave.
resulted In an explosion and fire
about o'clock. The damage 10 the
building and stock was about $4,000.
TurpentIne Lets Go.
Water had backed up in the cellar
to depth OF seven feet and the food
was covered with paint and turpen-
tine which had escaped from barrels
In the cellar. II is supposed that this
caught fire from soaked electric wires
There was a sudden explosion which
badly damaged the building and
flames Immediately appeared in sew
cral places. The fire department was
called and had battle of an hour to
extinguish the blaze. the inflammable
nature OF the stock making II difficult
to Quench the fire.
The building at No. 752 Grand Riv-
crave. was also on fire for a time
and the fiat OF DR.. Robert Hislop was
damaged by fire, smoke and water
Louis Nachman, butcher, who
lives over his shop at 1872 Sixteenth
IT., was badly burned by an explosion
that took place in his cellar at 4:49
o'clock Thursday morning. The wa
ter booking up had filed the cellar TO
q depth " several feet and overset a
gasoline tank, spilling the explosive
fluid on the surface of the water.
There was gas-light burning in the
cellar, but the gasoline fumes did not
igtlite urtil Nachman opened tie door
to 60 into the cellar The draft
brought fumes around the lamp and
the ensuing explosion threw Nachman
back several feet and burned him Sc
verely about the upper part OF ,ie
body, face and arms.
John SCHNEIDER, No. SOC Sixteenth
st.. who came to Nachman's aid, was
slightly injured. Both men were at
tended by DR.. N. A. Mallory. No. S4S
Fourteenth-ave
A fourth explosion, due to food con
ditions. occurred In the plant OF the
Lavigne Manufacturing Co. manufac.
turers Of oil pumps. at No. 602-60S
Commonwealth-ave., shortly after 10
O'Clock. Thursday morning. Fred
Hicks, the engineer, was terribly In.
5ured when he lighted a match In
the flooded basement.
Hicks. who Is about 45eyears old.
and lives at No. 102 Montcalm-st.
east. was enveloped In a sheet OF
flames when he struck the matcn 70
look over the flooded basmeent Much
OF his clothing was burned OF, the
fIesh on his arms and hands hung in
ohreds. his hair was burned. and his
face and scalp terribly blistered.
Clerks In the ONCE rushed TO his rs.
sistance. and undoubtedly saved his
life. carrying him out to the street.
where the Detroit ambulance picked
him up and rushed him to Red Cross
hospital He is expected TO recover,
NJ