The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-03-18
|STR|KEBREAKERS
BLOWN TO BITS
Locomotive Boiler Exploded and BIts
Of Fourteen Men Were Scat
tered Around for
Blocks.
PROBABLY
Many Workmen Wore Injured and the
Death List Will Likely be
Increased to Score
or More.

UNITED Press Leased Wire Service.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, March 1s.-
Fourteen met, are known to have been
killed and Score Injured today when
the explosion Of locomotive boiler
wrecked the roundhouse Of the South.
ern Pacific railroad here. Parts Of
the bodies were blown several hum
dred feet by the explosion.
Southern Pacific officials stated that
fourteen were known to be dead while
other estimates run as high as TWEEN.
ty-five or thirty.
The men at work In the shops were
In the majority strIkebreakers brought
into San Antonio by the Southern
Pacific when the strike Of machinlsts
was Inaugurated last fall. The cause
OF the explosion has not yet been
ascertaIned but charges that dynamite
was placed In the boiler OF the engine
are being made.
Tho machine shops, cooper shop and
part Of the roundhouse were complete
Iy wrecked by the terrific explosion.
Hardly vestIge Of the engine which
exploded remains. The jacket Of the
boiler, which weighs over half a ton,
was blown over block and landed
between two houses. The tender was
knocked several hundred feet and
wrecked while engines In the round
house were smashed and twisted by
the force Of the explosion.
The extreme force Of the explosion
has led to thorough Investigation
being ordered.
Confusion followed the catastrophe
and an accurate estimate Of the dead
could not be learned for time. Fraq-
ments Of bodies were located for
blocks around the yards. Every am
bulance in the city, doctors and hos.
pItal corps from Fort Sam Houston
and the Y. c. A. workers were rush.
ed to tho scene to search for dead
and give aid to the Injured.
! This afternoon the rescue crews
were hauling out bodies piece by
piece from the wreckage Of the shops.
Not whole body was found at one
| time.
| It was case Of where the Red
Cross corps and volunteer workers
had to drag out first an arm, then a
| leg and then the trunk of a body.
Others were busy within the radius Of
block about the shop gathering up
fragments Of bodies which were found
In the streets.
/ All Of the Injured were terribly
MANNED and the prospects are that
the death toll will be greatly lncreas.
ed, as many are SO seriously hurt that
their recovery Is impossible.
The police officials openly asser,
that they suspect some outside cause
as being responsible for the explosion
and have started an investigation.
/ Late reports are that between TWEEN
lty and thirty men were killed. -Four
buildings were either totally or par
italy demolished. Men working in the
buildings were blown to fragments and
"a part OF one body was found this
Afternoon three blocks away from the
scene.
The engine which exploded was No
I7o4, and railroad men declare there
was no hiss of the pop valve to denote
an overcharged boiler before it let go
Engineer Walter Jordan was oiling
the engine when the explosion occurr
ed. Only a few shreds of his clothing
near the wrecked engine were found
The cooper shop was totally demolish
led, the entire north end of the black
smith shop caved in; the roundhouse
roof was partly lifted and one corner
razed; the boiler shop was wrecked
and unroofed.
The engine stood almost in the cen
ter of square formed by the foul
buildings.
The feed pipe through which EN-
gines took fuel oil was broken and fol
a while spout of oil flame added tt
the horrors of the situation.
/ OF the engine itself nothing was Ter
standing except the drivers and bee
plates The boiler was lifted, carried
) half hundred yards and dumped
against the machine shops. The
tender. telescoped and riven, sho
more than $50 feet along the track
and ricocheted against another engine
Portions of machinery went q thous
and feet In the air and rained ovel
adjacent buildings, making Jagged
holes.