The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-08-01
DlRIGlBLE BALLOON
EXPLODES, KILLS ten
Monster Machine on Test Flight
Catches Fire and Falls Into
Chicago Business District.

Chicago, July 21.-Ten persons were
killed and 25 injured when a large
dlrlglble on its test flight caught fire
and fell 500 feet, crashing through
the glass roof of the Illinois Trust and
Savings bank at S O'Clock this eve
ming.
Most of the dead Were employees
of the bank, trapped and burned tc
death in a fire caused by the explo-
sion of the balloons gasoline tanks
as they hit the floor of the bank ro-
tunda, where more than 200 book.
keepers and clerks, nearly all girls
were working.
The balloon, owned by the Good
year Tire company of Akron, Ohio
had been flying above the city fol-
several hours when the accident oc-
Cured.
When approximately 800 feet above
the bank a squirt of flame was seen
to shoot from the top of the gas bag
near the center of the air craft. The
crowds gathered on the streets to
watch the flight saw the machine
buckle and culver as it started on its
fatal plunge.
Four of it's five occupants jumped
and two landed safely in the streets,
the blimp, a ball of flame, struck
the roof of the bank with a crash
audible throughout the down town
district.
There was nothing to warn the hun
dreds of employees of the institution
of the coming tragedy. A shadow
passed ove the marble rotunda, and
a crash followed. The banks clos
ing hour for patrons had passed but
the clerks were still at work in var
ious departments.
Tanks Explode.
It seemed, according to the surviv-
ors, that the entire bank was on fire.
Breaking through the iron supports
holding the glass overhead, the fus-
ilage of the balloon with two heavy
rotary engines and several gasoline
tanks, smashed to the floor.
Instantly the tanks exploded, scat
tering a waveo of flaming gasoline over
the workers for a radius of so feet.
A panic ensued. There were only two
exits through which they could leave
the wire cage which surrounded the
rotunda.
Men and girls with clothing flam-
ing fought their way through the ex-
its. Girls on the second floor ran
screaming to the window and sew
eral jumped to the street.
In an instant the marble rotunda
was cleared except for the dead, whose
bodies were buried under the mass,
and the dying who crawled away from
the se SEQ fire. Weir clothes burn
The intense heat made rescue work
difficult until after the fire department
arrived on a Ali alarm call. 1t was
3 0minutes before the bodies under the
crafts fusilage could be dragged out.
They were burned beyond recogni-
ton.
Meanwhile ambulances from every
hospital and undertaking establish
ment near the center of the city came
and the police threw cordons about
the place. Dozens We're found to have
been more or less cut by the shower
of glass which preceded the explosion,
The cause of the fire which brought
the flaming gas bag down is not def
initely known. None of the crew
could ascribe a definite reason.
Two theories were offered, however
One was that a spark from the 70.
tary motors set the gas Attire. The
other was that the balloon was over.
charged and the suns rays caused il
to expand and burst, the fire follow.
ing the contact of the gas with sparks
from the motor.
1t was intended to charge the bae
with a pure mixture of hydrogen gas
which is not inflammable. 1t was con
jectured, however, that a quantity O.
oxygen became mixed in the charg
ing process rendering a highly ex
plosive combination,
When Jack Boettner an employee O
the rubber company, and pilot of tn
craft, saw the flicker of flame, h
shouted a warning to the other pas
sengers and jumped from the fusil
age.
All were protected by parachute:
attached to their bodies by belts.
Henry Weaver and Harry Wacker
m%echanicians, followed. E. H. Nor
ton, a photographer for a morning
paper, was the last to leap. Carl H
Davenport, publicity agent for ar
amusement park, where the blimp hac
its hangar, did not get out.
His body struck the roof of the
bank and burned to a crisp. Weaver's
parachute was ablaze and he was ov-
ertaken by the flaming balloon and
carried down to death.
Boettner and Wacker landed prac-
tically unhurt. Norton suffered bro