The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-12-23

. 1910. by American Press Association.
| plOded. 1t is not known definitely
what set fire to the gas.
One story has it that laborer drop
| ped crOwbar across the third rail
while working at the derailed car and
that the flame following the short cir
cult fired the gas, which, mixing with
tile air, had become highly explosive.
Most of the men in the immediate
neighborhood of the broken pipe were
either killed or too badly hurt to talk.
Railroad officials say that it is very
likely that an electric spark of some
kind set off the blast.
1t is agreed. however, that the ex-
plosion came as one mighty shock. 1t
tore upward and outward through the
power station building. unroofing it
and sending the north walls into Fif-
| tieth street The east wall was push
ed bodily out into Lexington avenue.
The blast seemed to rebound from the
solid wall OF the six story ventilating
plant just to the west of the power
station. for the zone of the wreckage
extended much further to the east
than in any other direction.
The full force of the blast struck the
north bound Lexington avenue trolley
car, which was almost on the Fiftieth
street crossing. The car was blown
from the tracks and topped over on.
top Of touring car belonging to the
Edison Electric Light company.
At the same time Miss Edith Offner.
stenographer employed by the Cos
mopolitan Magazine, who was passing
the Lexington avenue side of the pow
er station, was blown across the street
and underneath the trolley car, where
her body was wedged underneath the
forward trucks. Her body was so
terribly mangled that her brother was
| able to identify 1t only by the shoes
The trolley car was torn and splin-
tered as though riddled by artillery
fire. Four Of the seven passengers
were killed. Miss Mary b. Pope. a
schoolteacher, was one of the passen-
gers. Charles Roberts, an Adams Ex-
press company clerk was found dead
in the wreckage of the car.
In addition to those injured in the
wreck of the trolley car, scores of per
sons in the streets were hurt by de.
bris, which was blown to q great dis
tance, and by the glass, which show.
cred down until it covered the side.
walks like snow Francis Kelley. Il
policeman. was helping school children
at the Fifty-irst street crossing Of
Lexington avenue. He was knocked
down by the force of the explosion
and shOwered with debris. One of his
legs was broken, and he was badly
| cut and bruised. A little girl he was
helping across the avenue was said to
have been hurt, but neither police nor
/ hospital records contain her name.
While priests, ambulance surgeons
| tiremen and policemen were NJ work
caring for the wounded in the streets,
| forming fire lines and inspecting the
shattered buildings, smaller force
was digging into the debris of the
ruined power station as fast as the
streams from the hose drove back the
/ flames and cooled the tangled mass.
Just how many men had been at
| work on the derailed car that started
the trouble no one was quite certain,
| but by o'clock four bodies had been
| found, one man apparently mortally
lurt had been taken from the debris
and the list of employees treated for
/ minor injuries at an emergency hospi
| tai in the New York Centrals terminal
| building had grown to over thirty.
A gang Of fifty-five bricklayers work
! ing on long scaffold sixty feet in the
air and almost directly above the scene
of the explosion had an escape from
death that bordered on the mracu-
lous. A cushion OF air forced upward
by the explosion hOisted the big scat
fold, tilted it inwardly and tossed the
ffty-hve men over the wall they were
building and upon another scaffold on
the inside. Only one was injured, An
drew Anderson, and he got off with a
scalp wound.
1t was a matter Of the way the scat
fold tilted that settled the fate of the
ffty-five. Had the air pressure, up.
wardly directed. been the stronger
alongside the wall the scaffold would
have been tilted outward and the men
! would have fallen through their protec.
tive wall OF canvas and rope and down
sixty feet into the fire and wreckage
/ pslOU.