The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-09-28
ARDM0RE DEAD
TContinued from Page One.1


on the hour of 2:35 O'clock are grim
reminders of the exact time at which
the explosion, occurred There was a,
terrific report heard, at the farthest
distance % miles away, and a violent
earth shock, which shattered plate
glass and caused great brick buildings
one of them four stories in height, to
crumble into debris.
So sudden was the shock that it was
fully half an hour before the city
realized the disaster which had be-
fallen it and by that time there were a
half dozen buildings in flames, the
cries of the injured filled the air, while
in silence, the dead victims of the dis
aster were removed from the debris
to undertaking establishments.
The loss in plate glass alone has
been estimated at $4,000.
Car IN Bad Order
Railroad men who were in the yard
at the time of the explosion state that
the car was shunted to a siding on ac-
count of it's being in bad order The
car was leaking gasoline to such an
extent that a pool of the fluid had
formed on the ground under the car
When Switchmen refused to move the
car further an inspector was called.
Ira Woods, according to the story of
those who saw him, mounted the car,
| 'Inscrewed the cap, and peered in
Just as he did this the gasoline be-
came ignited and Woods, the car and
every loose piece of material within
hundred yards was hurled through
the air.
First reports that there were two
| explosions were confirmed early today
A quantity of dynamite in the freight
store house was set off by the con-
cussion of the gasoline explosion.
The second explosion came within a
second after the first. The greatest
damage in the city was done from
the shock of the explosion. The fire
damage did not equal that caused by
the dynamite and gasoline.
House Falls on Negroes.
BY the dynamite there were nearly
a score of buildings demolished. Near
the siding en- which the tank car was
placed were a number of wooden
structures, part of which were occu-
pied by negroes. In this section a
two story frame building collapsed,
| taking fifteen negroes in a pool hall to
their death. Search of the ruined
buildings proceeded all night and con-
tinued This morning. 1t is in the
wrecks of these buildings that other
Danger Is Scented.
City Commissioner w. Dewitt, own
| er of the cigar factory where there
were eighteen girls at work when the
explosion wrecked the building, was
| the first person to scent danger Mon
day afternoon. He saw the defective
| tank car and its contents dripping to
the frOund. Dewitt rushed from his
office to give warning of the approach
| ing danger. T. F. Burton, Dewitt s
| bookkeeper, followed the latter out CT
the building. Just as Burton stepped
| out of the door he saw what he de-
scribed as a sheet of flame the entire
width of the street and apparently
running along the ground where the
gasoline had leaked. Immediately
following the flame there was loud,
rnuffled report, he said. After an in
PERMISSION of possibly five seconds
there was another report twice the
volume, which was accompanied with
a great cloud of smoke Then build
ingS began to tumble. Dewitt and
Burton were uninjured. With debris
raining down and with stones crum-
bling over their heads, they rushed
back to the crumbling cigar factory
/ building and rescued eighteen girls
! from the work tables on the first and
second floors All were unframed.
Santa Eie FYagInan Stripped.
! Henry SimmS, a Santa Fe fiagman,
was thrown a distance of FORTY feet
and his clothing completely stripped
off by the explosion. His hair was
singed from his head as if it had been
| shaved.
Charles Neal. telegraph operator