Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-10-15
MILLION Loss IN
SPECTACULAR FIRE
PLANT OF MANHATTAN OIL
COMPANY IN DIES MONIES
DESTROYED.
SURROUNDING PROPERTY
SUFFERS SOME DAMAGE
Explosion in Warehouse Quickly
Spreads to Oil Tanks Containing
Gasolene and DEMONSTRATIONS
Prevent Disastrous Explosion by
Air valves-Little Insurance.

Des Moines, Oct. dover q mil
lion dollars worth of petroleum prod
ucts and automobile tires. the prop
erty of the Manhattan OIL Company.
were ablaze, and similar stocks
owned by the Cedar Rapids Oil Com
pany were in the direct path Of a
| fire which followed an explosion at
the Manhattan Oil Company ware
houses Southwest Ninth and Murphy
streets, late yesterday afternoon. The
fire was not under control until late
in the night. The cause Of the ex-
plosion has not been determined.
While no deaths and but one injury
have been reported. police believe
some OF the ten or fifteen men who
were employed In the warehouse may
be dead or hurt.
One employee. Peter Hendricks. .
COOPER. was rescued by companions
after he had been knocked down and
burned In the first explosion. He is
at his home, and may be fatally hurt.
Starts With Explosion. !.
The fire started In the rear OF the
main Office building at the plant,
with sharp explosion, probably OF =
small tank OF gasolene or crude OIL
It Immediately spread, firing neigh
boring tanks filled with crude oil and
other petroleum byproducts; two ex-
plosions following the first In rapid
succession.
At 4:10 p. m. the first Of three 200,-
00O- gallon gasolene tanks, twenty-five
feet, from the source Of the confagra-
tipn, caught fire, and within q few
seconds the other two big gasolene
tanks were In danes.
Firemen abandoned their efforts to
save the ree-story Office building OF
the plant when the three big tanks
caught fire, and began removing the
office records and fixtures into neigh
boring factory offices.
Rain Spreads Fire.
Practically the entire stock was
uninsured, most Of it being uninsur-
able, plant managers said last night.
Insurance companies will not insure
infiammables such as gasolene and
oil. Automobile tires worth 100000
stored in the third floor Of the office
building, were burning last night.
and the fire was eating its way into
the structure, even before 1t had con-
sumed the gasolene and kerosene.
The Des Moines Sawmill Company
yards and the Sherman Paper Com
pany warehouses, which border the
oil warehouses on the west and
south, were in momentary danger.
and the Vacuum Oh Company's plant
with 100000 worth Of stock was
menaced.
Firemen were handicapped in get
fighting It, after they arrived, by a
downpour Of rain. which was a
bigger hindrance than help In getting
any semblance Of control over the
blaze. The water merely spread the
oil which was escaping and made
effortA to fight the blaze almost futile
until the rain stopped at 1870.
Quick action by two employees Of
the company, whose names were unA
known last night, saved the three big
tanks from exploding. Tho employees,
at first explosion climber to the tops
o fthe 100000 gallon tanks and opened
valves permitting air to enter the
receptacles. preventing what officials
at the plant said would have been an
explosion which would have wrecked
the entire southwest section Of the
city. Il
G. B. Hamilton, manager Of the
plant, announced Last night that the
last inventory of the stock showed q
value Of almost an even $1,000,000
not counting the building, valued at
$4,000.