Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1910-12-23
BLAST IN POWER
HOUSE KILLS TEN
WRECKS STRUCTURE AND TEARS
OUT WINDOWS AND DOORS
OF NEARBY BUILDINGS.
ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT ARE HURT
Cause OF Tragedy Seems Traceable to
Clipping off of Gas Feed Pipe
by Electric Train Which
Got Beyond Control.
DEATH LIST IN EXPLOSION.

x * ); x >; >; \ \ y x = = Z x x x x x x
I DEATH LIST IN EXPLOSION. 4
X onner, Miss Edyth, secretary TO I
Z Editor Cosmopolitan Magazine. K
.t Hurled by force Of explosion X
X against a trolley car and In X
X stanty killed. +
\ Pope, Miss Mary, teacher in Z
T private school, killed Instantly by K
{ beam from wrecked building i:
X hurled through window Of trolley !;
i: car In which she was riding. \
y Gsluchl, Nicola, laborer, employed 4
X by New York Central. Instantly :
Z killed while at work in railroad y
y: yards. X
X livermore, v. g., Inspector New X
X York Central, Instantly killed by +
T force OF explosion throwing him I.
e against a stalled car. I.
I. McMorrow, employe New York X
X Central, Instantly killed while at 4:
y: work near scene or explosion. !.
X ROBBERS, Charles, driver Adams Ex- +
Il press, killed while making dellv- Z
{ cries on Lexington avenue, near Z
= explosion. *
!: Stagg, Thomas, watchman New !:
X York Central, killed while In X
II shanty at side Of wrecked power Z
Z house. Z
!. Unidentified man about rs years {
* old, evidently a aborer New X
tx York Central. \:
X man New York Central, killed X
II Mordan, Patrick, track forman =
Z. New York Central, killed by con- l.
x cussIon while standing In rail- X
* road yards. X
X X x x x x x Y X y X X x X \ x \ X X
New York City.-A terrific eXplo-
sion blew up a power house of the
New York Central raidroad at Fiftieth
7
the death of two women and eight
men and the injury of 10S more. In va
rious hospitals where victims of ca
lamity were taken there were fears
that dozen more would die, swell
ing the death list to over 20.
The effect of the explosion was felt
for radius of ten blocks. 1t tore
out the windows and doors of build
ings on all surrounding streets. AS
far south as Forty-fourth street and
up Fifty-fourth street and from Mad
ison and Third avenues windows were
broken and plaster knocked from
walls. When the explosion occurred
the whole power house shook as
though an earthquake was at work un-
der it. A hole was blown through the
lower floor, and the walls facing on
Fiftieth street and on Lexington ave-
nue. were torn out. A mass of twisted
timbers, pipes and bricks tumbled into
the street. Huge timbers were tossed
about and crashed into windows oppo-
site. High up in the air went the
roof, all in fragments, and sailed along
to drop into the streets or to dent tops
of houses.
Early morning shoppers in the neigh
borhood stores were thrown against
counters. Goods ratified down from
shelves as glass from broken windows
sprinkled around. Everywhere within
the zone of the explosion there were
scenes of wild confusion. Men and
women with cut and bleeding faces
juries, were to be seen in all direc-
tions. The streets were Uttered with
debris. No one knew what had hap
pened. The railroad power house
stood with it's walls punched out, it's
roof gone, the bricks and concrete
that had kept it together in an i'm
mense mass in F'iftieth street. Flames
came from the bottom of the heap in
the railroad yards 40 feet below the
street level and kissing steam from
the broken pipes. The air was heavy
with fumes of gas. A spout of flame
poured from the broken gas main.
A northbound Lexington Avenue
trolley Car filled with passengers
reached the corner of Fiftieth street
just as the explosion occurred. The
car was lifted and hurtled over the
southbound track. AS it went over
through the air the passengers were
tossed into heaps. Miss Mary Pope
was sitting in the car when a scant.
ling flew through the window, striking
her on the head and killing her in.
stantly. Others in the car were cut
by flying glass and by pieces of
jagged wood.
So far as the investigation by the
police and Coroner HolthauZen has
progressed, the cause of the tragedy
seemed traceable to the clipping off
of three inch gas feed pipe running
into the lower basement of the power
house. This pipe was broken by an
electric train which had got away
from the control of Motorman Albert
Seagroat. The train tore away a
buffer at the base of the power house
and the escaping gas was ignited half
an hour later. The gas had filled the
structure which rose three stories
above the street. Exactly how the
spark that started the explosion was
generated is problematical.