The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-20

azine office on her way to work, was speared through the head by flying joist Policeman Toomey had just sig nailed to the trolley car to stop and was leading two little girls across the street. One was torn from his hand by the first blast of air and the other by the re- bound. The second girl, Mary Gilman, 12 years old, had her right leg torn off by flying fragment of iron railing sur- rounding the Lexington avenue station.
 Seventeen men in fire house No. were shaken from their beds. Battalion Chief Duffy was sitting at his desk when the windows fell about him and an iron gir- der burst head-on through the wall. knocking him down and badly bruising him. He got the men to bandage hlm and went to work
 In the Bible Teachers Training school, on Lexington avenue founded by Miss Helen Gould, fifty young men and women were eating breakfast Those on the far side of the room first realized that there had been a serious accident when in looking toward the street they saw the napery on the tables nearest the Win dows dabbed with blood. Fully half the students were painfully cut by flying glass;
 In the Babies hospital at Fifty-ninth street and Lexington avenue, the infants
 were being given their morning bath Nurses were thrown to the floor with babies in their arms, other babies were tipped out of their cribs and in two in stances babies were popped up out of
 their tubs as if drawn out by powerful
 suction. or some one had hit the floor dl-
 rectly beneath them a mighty whack. Blown Across Street Patrolman Toomey was on Lexington avenue when the shock came. Just ahead -~;,1 lri1I legs
 being blown off, while Toomey himself was blown clear across the street and his | uniform almost torn from him. He got | up and was starting to help in the rescue
 work when he fell unconscious.
 gang of 50 bricklayers. 60 feet Tn the air on the big power building near the
 scene of the explosion had remarkapie
 escape from death or serious injury Ihe
 big scaffold on which they were working was lifted into the air and the men | tossed over the wall they were bulldln g and upon a firm scaffolding constructed | on the inside Only one man of the gang
 was injured, and he only slightly. | One woman in the wrecked trolley Car
 had her hair caught and held in hrn
 grin between damned portions of the de-
 bris She had fainted and could not De
 lifted out until firemen cut her hair. She was found to be only slightly hurt. A
 long coil of this woman's hair is at the
 fire house awaiting it's owner,
 | Escape of Workman | A scaffold on the top of the power | house on which a workingman was
 standing when the explosion occurred
 was wrenched from under him and as he l fell he blindly grasped a dangling rope | He hung there until rescued by firemen. 1 or the IT fremen in the fire house op- pcsite, only one man was injured though | in adjoining buildings scores were thrown 1 from their feet and injured
 | A little school girl was about to enter
 candy store on Fifty-frst street when
 the blast came. She was picked up bodiiy | and carried through the glass door Of the store and dropped uninjured in front or
 the candy counter There was not a | scratch on her.
 investigation Ordered | Fire Commissioner Waldo. who
 reached the scene of the explosion within 25 minutes after 1t occurred and ordered the heads of the divisions of the fire department to make a thor ough investigation issued statement | tonight in part as follows:
 All of the investigators from this de-
 partment agree in the general state
 ment that the explosion was caused by
 train backing into the bumper and breaking the two inch supply main carrying the gas to the various points | in the yards.
 l The escaping gas permeated the pow | CT house until 1t formed an explosive