Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-08
EXPLOSION WRECKS
PURIFYING HOUSE
At Gas WORKS
Building and Equipment Demol'
ished and Foreman John Carney
Badly Injured.
CAUSE is NOT KNOWN

As A result of q mysterious explosion nj
the works of the Wilmington Gas 90. nj
the foot of Madison street, at 35oo clock
tins morning. the purifying house, sub
Stantial brick and steel building, was
wrecked, together with all oi IT'S equip
mcnt and one man. John Carney. mght
foreman. was badly injured The money
loss to the company - estimated by
Harold :. Schutt, general manager, nj
So, 900
Because the explosion put the entire
plant out of business temporarily, ,necessi-
tatnr the stopping of the manufacture
81 ras from the time of the explosion until
about : o clock, the gas pressure ~ the
service majrs. according 10 Mr. Schutt,
may hc lower tonight than usual, tut he
expressed tire hchCi that II there IS q
judicIous use ot gas ali around there VIII
bC no serious consequences - the lllit'
of the explosion there Was goodiN supply
of PAS III the tanks which, placed the cont
pauv in fortunate position, as iar aS .
continuance Of the gas service ls concerned
Mr. Srhttt was unable to advance n
definite theory for the explosion, alter ne
had made an investigation to-day nc
only deduction lir could draw waS that
in some unknown manner gas. winch
often fills tho purifying house. was sud-
denly ignitcd hv counng p contact With
tire However. thrtc Wa rot known ~ &c
auy hrc in tnat particular building none
lcng permitted thcIr and how the gas
reached fire 4 docs moi know
Iii ,hc trc. winch followed the explosion
Foreman Caflcv wa- badly burned lie
VAS taken ,o thc Homeopathic Hospital,
int WAS III such condition when Mr.
Schutt saw bnu. later. that i Was I'M
ro~sIhlc to Obtain much information liis
cyr, were bandugcd and ho WAS scarcely
ablc ctatalk ltis believed, however hat
hc hae ro dcbmtc iJea as ~ the cause ot
explosion l5t haprcred 10 ~ The only
person N tIc hiuding whcn thc explosion
occurred While hcIs IN great pam and his
ewes aua tacc are badly burned, i i bc-
ncvc, hc Uill recover and thai hiS sight
viii not hc permanently affected
rtIlrl>G ASH II RIrlERS ToTkI WRrck.
similar e\pluslou occurred 1T the
rlani la.t ialI when the blower house and
.aaIlpncn, u,re wrecked ~ ihat time
il was thu belief 81 tho company that Hun
~1lnpathl1er. were responsible, hut thcrC
is no such suspicion regarding to-day :
EXPLOSION Mr. ~chutt sarS hls lnvestl-
ratIon focs not sIou that i was the result
uf Ans attempt tu wreck he piant. and
he believes it was purely accidental lie
Was on the ground /. few minutes after the
explosion occurred and w.4s cnablcd 70
get nrst-hand information from the
tangible evidence hoior, hur 1T that time.
ilc found o'alng suspicious.
The u.dng Ill which Tie explosion
occurred today. which w;l- - feet long,
4N lcet Wide and p feet hich, WAS totally
wrecked III were all 81 The purifiers there
III The root vas III state The purifier,
werc really large hox,s. ii which the ga-
was c.,auscd. ana ai ID thorn were per
maHcutiy put OUT IF business i IS not
believed thar the explosion originated u
any one of them, ht.1 THAT i Nas due Z
the lcritug Il thc coni.nri ga@ Ia th'
ConNnuea On aAge