Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-03
WRECK VICTIM
HAS A FIGHTING
CHANCE FOR LIFE
Albert E. Burkholder Terribly
Burned in Spectacular Blaze
in Pennsylvania R.R. Yards

Unless unforeseen complications
arise. Albert Burkholder, aged 30,
270 PETER street, will recover from
the injuries he sustained at S X
hump in the Maclay street yards
at 2.35 o'clock this morning when
he was drenched with blazing naph- :
tina following a collision between
draft of two freight cars he was
riding and three oil tankers. This
was the report received at the Har-
risburg Hospital this morning. He
is seriously burned over his body
above the waist, his chest, back,
arms and head.
Railroad officials were unable to
say this morning what amount of
naphtha burned when the two huge
tanks were ignited after the colli-
sion against a draft of two freight
cars. One tank was of $4,000 an6
the other of 10000 gallons capacity.
Flames Leap High
Two oil tanks and three freight
cars, one of which was loaded with
incendiary drop bombs consigned to
the Edgewood Arsenal, were caught
! in the conflagration from the ignit-
ed naphtha. The flames leaped
many feet into the air, and ragged
for more than two and half hours.
| All the fire companies from the
northern and central parts of the
| city responded to the alarm.
According to the railroad report
compiled this morning, Burkholder
| was riding a draft of two freight
cars which had been shifted onto
| track No. IS, No. 1 yard, opposite
Maclay street. Three huge tanks
| filled with naphtha were standing
on this section of the track, and the
draft of two cars manipulated by
Burkholder ran into them. The cars
were standing about fifteen car
| lengths from the switch where
| Burkholder's draft was shifted onto
| the section of track.
Lantern Started Fire
Following the collision, the re-
| port says, Burkholder jumped off his
cars and ran ahead to see what dam
age had been done. Naphtha from
| tho first tank sprayed out of a loos-
e1.ed plug and drenched Burkhold-
! er's clothing. The naphtha became
| ignited IT is thought, from the lam
tern Burkholder was carrying. His
| clothing at once leaped into flames,
and the flames leaped along the
! spraying n9phtha to the car, which
burst into a seething mass of flames,
leaping high into the air and lighting
the sky for many miles around.
Burkholder started to run with his
clothes burning furiously. Two fell
/ lew workmen grabbed him and roll
ed him on the ground, which prob
ably accounts for the fact that his
| life may be saved. He was taken
to the Harrisburg Hospital in an en-
! gine, where favorable reports on his
condition were received at a late
hour to-day. The collision knocked
! the plug off each end and the top Of
| the first oil tank leaving the naphtna
gush out en- the adjoining oil tank,
| also loaded with naphtha. The con-
tents of both cars were soon in
! flames, and seethed for hours.
Remove Other Cars
There were freight cars all around
| the blazing oil tanks, and the crew
of workmen made every possible ef-
| fort to remove them from the dam
ger region. Three freight cars, how.
ever, were caught in the flames and
partially destroyed before they could
be removed. One box car loaded
with tile. another car loaded with
| building brick, and a third car load
ed with incendiary bombs, were The
| three freight cars caught in the
blaze. The car loaded with bricks
was badly damaged, while the roof
was burned off the car loaded with
| bombs.
Laying the water to fight the fire
was a difficult task. The line had
to be run from plug at Seventh and
Maclay streets through the side yard
of a residence to the fence of the
! company's property, and then under
/ two passenger tracks and across
seven other tracks to the scene of
! the fire.
| Freight shipments at the SIX hump
were detained two hours and forty
minutes while the fire was being
| fought.
| Burkholder. the injured brake
man, has been in the employ of the
road only a little more than month
Prior to that he was an employe OF
| the Harrisburg Telegraph. He is
married and has three children.