New-York tribune., 1919-12-06
Blown HighInto
Air, Wires Twisted and
WindOwsShatteredNear
9th St. and 9th Ave.
Streets Plunged
Into Darkness
Many Escape Serious In
jury as Firemen and
Police Act Quickly

short circuit in a conduit in front
of the New York Edison Company sub
station at Twenty seventh Street and
Sixth Avenue shot spark into a pocket
OF gas at 8 o'clock last night. With
the roar of the explosion manhole lid
at the corner went soaring, followed by
a thirty-inch jet of burning gas, which
shot high into the air and then sub
sided to steady column of fire about
four feet in height.
Another detonation followed as a
second iron lid, bit to the eastward,
went sailing. Reports and -salvos came
In quick succession until every man.
hole cover on Twenty seventh Street
between Sixth and Fifth Avenues had
been blown up and spouts of fame bill
lowed in the wind all along the street.
Crossed wires and short circuits soon
added the clangor of burglar alarm
gongs to the din and began to inter-
fere with private and municipal lights
In the midst of the six-day bicycle race
the lights in Madison Square Garden
winked out. The race was suspended
for an hour and the building cleared.
Later those who held ticket stubs we're
permitted to- return, but at the request
of the police the box office was closed
until a. m. The audience had been
warned by the announcer that trouble
with the lights was to be expected, and
that they were to keep their seats and
senses if darkness came suddenly Fire
men furnished lanterns to enable them
to find their way out.
No Lack of Fuel
Either gas mains had been leaking
Tor some time or the force of the ex-
plosion had burst them, for the roar
ing geysers of flame seemed in no need
OF fuel. The insulation of the wires
beneath the street caught fire, and the
flames sprang green and blue and violet
as we'll as yellow from their craters.
The first patrolman to- catch sight of
the phenomenon turned in a fire alarm
and sent verbal report to the West
twentieth Street police station, which
brought the reserves from that pre-
cinct and from four others under In
spector Boland. The emergency crews
OF the Edison company and the gas
company came changing to the scene.
Twenty-seventh Street was the core
OF the trouble and the only street. in
which flames burst forth, but manholes
were blown up as far north as Twenty
ninth Street and east to Fourth Ave
nue.. The police established lines at
Twenty-fourth Street and at twenty
ninth Street. All traffic on Broadway
was held up.
Many Windows Blown Out
The force of the explosions shattered
hundreds of windows, some of them
large plate glass show windows. The
glass fell outward into the street and
hats in the Stetson Hat Company shop
at 1857 Broadway were blown to the
sidewalk with the glass of the broken
window. The heavy plate glass in the
New York Telephone Company build
ing at 1853 Broadway was broken. A
widening crack appeared in the side
walk in front of a Regal Shoe Company
store at Twenty y-seventh Street and
Fifth Avenue.
Sixteen hundred persons kept their
seats in Proctors Fifth Avenue Thea
ter, at Broadway and Twenty eighth
About 10 o'clock Fire Chief Kenlon.
who had taken command of the fire
men, warned the management that it
must be ready for "any emergency"
Ushers and other employees were
supplied with electric torches, the
orchestra was instructed to keep on
playing whatever happened and the
players were warned that the house
might suddenly be plunged in dark
ness. The lights began to grow dim
and Sullivan and Company, who we're
on the stage, told the audience that
the performance would have to stop.
The orchestra struck up a lively air
and by the time the last glow had
ence had found its way out, all the
exits having been thrown open.
Crowds Ordered Back
Shortly after 9 o'clock Chief Kenlon
ordered every one back from a build
ing at Twenty seventh Street and
Broadway. Every window in the struc-
ture had been smashed by the explo-
sions, but the Fire Chief feared that
gas would accumulate in the sub-cellar
which might become ignited and cause
the collapse of the building.
Smoke from the burning insulation
in the conduits filled the vicinity,
which was abnormally dark besides,
because of the extinction of several
street lights and of virtually all lights
in every shop. Fearing additional ex-
plosions in which pedestrians confused
by the smoke and gloom might be in
jured, Chief Kenlon had the covers
removed from all the manholes be-
tween Twenty-sixth and Thirty-frst
streets and Fourth and Seventh ave-
nues. 1t was nerve-wracking task,
with the picture of the explosions and
flames vivid in their memories, but
the firemen went at it doggedly. Sand
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