The Washington herald., 1910-12-20

gtrembling Of the building and The crash
ing sound of the explosion brought quick
word that something had happened
President Brown had not reached his
office when the explosion came, but he
arrived a few minutes later, and at once
Joined Chief Engineer George W. Kit
tredge. Vice President Smith, c. L
Bard0, Assistant General Superintendent
OF the Electric System a. r. Whaley.
the terminal manager, and other officers
Of the road at the scene OF The trouble
y. b. Idvermore, a car inspector; Pat
rick Jordan, a track foreman, and Thorn
as Stage. the watchman Of the power
station. were found as soon as the res
cuers got to work. They were all dead.
and most Of the bodies gave evidence Of
the power Of the explosion.
FIremen soon "a Work.
The fremen made quick work of the
blaze around the gas pipe, but the flames
had eaten their way back into the tan
gled and twisted mass of bent and broken
steel rods, steel lathes, and brick and
wood, and nothing but a thorough soak
ing would make sure of the last spark.
So. while the fremen continued TO spray
the mass, the workers on the track level
cut and burroWed their way In. risking
falling Of the jack straw pile above in
the effort to make certain that no men
were imprisoned beneath. It was mid
afternoon before they uncovered c. Nc
Marrow, a third-rail man. who was dead.
and James Cunningham, a carpenter.
who was still alive, although at Flower
Hospital where he was taken, it was
said that he could hardly recover.
Meanwhile a steady stream Of employees
and people who had been injured in the
street were pouring in at the Emergency
Hospital in the big station. The doctors
treated thirty-one in all most of whom
were able to 80 home after having their
hurts dressed The few that were more
severely injured were sent to Flower
Hospital
While the wounded near the scene of
the explosion who were too badly hurt
to help themselves, after treatment were
being cared for by the surgeons from
Flower, Presbyterian, and Bellevue hos
pitfalls. which sent every available sur
geon and ambulance, the police had es-
tablished lines shutting of all travel on
Lexington avenue for several blocks on
either side Of the explosion and in the
side streets.
Trolley Cars Do Not Stop.
Trolley car service on the avenue was
stopped. and when it was resumed later
no stops were allowed for several
blocks on either side of Fiftieth street,
and the cars swept by with closed gates,
while the passengers pressed their faces
against the windows and gazed in aston
ishment at the blank-faced house fronts
where glass and sash had gone by the
board
From Forty-sixth to Fifty-second
streets the avenue was covered with
bricks, plaster dust, fragments of beams,
and broken glass. the debris growing
thickest as the scene Of the explosion was
reached. This. with the holes in the walls
where windows had once been, gave the
section a likeness to that OF a city which
had been suffering a severe lombard
ment
When the police began to take stock of
the damage they found that the five
story brick building on the north
east corner of Lexington avenue and
Ffheth street had apparently suffered
the most.
The studio OF Lloyd Osborn. the au-
thor and stepson of Robert Louis Steven
son, was wrecked. Heiner & Wolffe's
antique shop on the ground floor of the
building, was completely wrecked. No
one in the building was badly hurt, but
one woman, who had given birth TO a
child only a few hours before the ex-