The Mena weekly star., 1919-07-24
FLAMING D|RIC|DLE
 BROUGHT DEATHS
Fell From Sky Upon Chicago Bank, Snread Whitening Fire Among Nearly 200 EmpIoyes-Two of the
 Ships Crew Jumped to Safety

Chicago, July 21.-Eleven were L;lIed and twenty-seven injured, some of whom may die, when gigantic dirioible. on it's test flight, caught fire and fall five hundred feet, crashing thru the glass roof of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank shortly be- fore 5 o'clock this afternoon.
 Most of the dead were employees of the hank, trapped and burned to death in a whitening rain of fire caused by tba explosion of the balloons gasoline tanks as they hit the floor of the TO- tunda of the bank where over two hundred bookkeepers and clerks, near ly all girls, were working.
 Thousands Saw Tragedy.
 The "blimp", owned by the Good wear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron. O., had been flying in the sky above the loop for several hours when the accident occurred. Thousands wit messed it.
 The dead:
 James Carpenter, 16 years old, bank messenger, Illinois Trust and Saw ings Bank.
 Earl Davenport, White City repre- sentative, former sporting writer.
 Marie Florence, bank employee.
 Irene Miles, bank stenographer.
 Evelyn Meyer, bank stenographer.
 Carl Otto, bank telegrapher.
 Henry Weaver, blimp mechanic.
 Joseph Scanlan, IA years old, bank messenger.
 Edward Munzer, bank correspond ence clerk.
 Two unidentified women.
 When approximately 800 feet above the bank, spurt of flame was seen to shoot from the top-~of the bag near the center of the aircraft. The crowds gathered on the street to watch the flight saw the great machine buckle and culver as it started on it's fatal plunge.
 Ball of Flame.
 Four of it's five occupants jumped and two of these landed safely in the streets as the .blisap," veritable ball of flame, struck the roof of the bank with crash audible turnout the loop district.
 There was nothing to warn the hun dreds of employees of the institution of the coming tragedy. A shadow passed over the marble rotunda where l50 were busy and terrifying crash followed
 It seemed, according to the sur vivors, that the entire bank was on ire. Breaking thru the iron supports holding the glass overhead, the fusil- age of the "blimp" with two heavy rotary engines and several gasoline tanks smashed to the floor.
 Then Tanks Exploded.
 Instantly the tanks exploded, scat tering wave of flaming gasoline over the workers for radius of fifty feet. A panic ensued. There were only two exits thru which they could leave the wire cage which surrounded the rotunda.
 Men and girl, with clothing flaming, fought their way thru the exits. Girls on the second floor ran screaming to the windows and several jumped to the street below.
 But quickly the marble rotunda was cleared, except for the dead, whose bodies were buried under the flaming mass licked to white heat by the gasoline blaze and the dying who crawled feebly away from the scorching fire, their clothes slowly burning off.
 Bodies Burned to Crisp.
 The intense heat made rescue work impossible until after the fire depart ment arrived on 'four-eleven" alarm call. It was thirty minutes before the bodies under the crafts fusilage could be dragged out. They were burned beyond recognition
 The Cause Mystery.
 The cause of the fire which brought the flaming gas bag plunging down is not known. None of the crew could ascribe definite reason. Two theo- ries were offered, however. One was that spark from the rotary motors, a dangerous type to be carried under an lnfamable gas bag, set the "blimp" ahre, The other was that the balloon was overcharged and the suns rays caused it to expand and burst, the fire Following the contact of the gas with sparks in the motors.
 It was intended to charge the bag With pure mixture of hydrogen gas, which is not infammable. It was con- occurred, however, that quantity of oxygen became mixed in the charging process, rendering highly explosive