New-York tribune., 1921-09-17
Gas Routs $500
In n0Ienen1ents: q
20 Overcome
Bursting Valve in Ice Plant
Sends Wave of Deadly
Ammonia Fumes Through
Block OH East 10Th Street
kenlon Leads Rescuers
Firemen, Police, Ex-Soldiers
in Masks Carry Choking
Women and Children Out

Fifteen hundred persons were driven
TO the street last night from six tene.
ment buildings and more than a score
were carried out partly asphyxiated
when valve blew off an ammonia vat
at the Knickerbocker Ice COMPANY
plant, 519 East Seventieth Street. re.
leasing 100000 cubic feet of ammonia
gas.
Iwenty-one men who were working
In the plant on an upper floor emerge d
oy way of fire escapes and escaped in
jury. William Kopech, chief engineer
OF the plant, and Steven Tupchyck, an
engine room helper, were overcome bv
1umes but were resuscitated.
The gas penetrated to the Easements
OF tenements opposite by way of wire
condults, permeating all floors within
a lew minutes. Tenements on tha
south side of Seventieth Street from
5U2 to 612 and on the north side from
OIL to 517 became center of wild
excitement as half f-suffocated men
women and children rushed To the
street crying that many were asleep on
the upper floors. VA
Kcnlon Leads Rescue
Fire Chief Kenlon and Fire Commits
s!oner brennan personally took charge
OF the Fire Department Rescue SQUAD.
"hlch responded together with three
nre companies. Captain Wall, of the
East SiXty-seventh Street police sta
ton, with fifty reserve patrolmen. had
hard work controlling huge crowd at
tracted by mems shouts and the
screaming of women and children.
, Lieutenant Charles Coffey, of the
hescue Squad, with volunteer force
Of ex-soldiers, all of whom appeared
WIN gas masks. began a systematic
search OF the tenements. Five women
and three children, partly overcome by
fumes and unable to find their way.
were carried from 534 East Seventieth
street, and ten women were removed
IN an hysterical state from Sid. Two
small children were carried out of
room on the fourth floor of SIT East
oeventleth Street by Frank Elichy, of
l29o First Avenue, who borrowed
gas mask and was among the first to
enter the reeking tenements. Elichy
Is Is an eX-soldier wearing the Croix de
Guerre and Medaille Militaire. He
made five trips into the gas-laden
structures with out suffering iniurv'
Patrolman James Sullivan, of the
Fortythird Precinct, found an old
woman unconscious on the third floor
Of 534 East Seventieth Street and car
rled her to safety. Five others were
removed from the same house in
semiconscious state.
Crouch Below Gas
Rescue squad men spread sheets on
the sidewalks and compelled those who
we're rescued to lie fiat on their faces
in order to escape ammonia gas. which
was in choking volume four to six feet
from the ground. Surgeons operating
from eleven ainbulances treated the
crouching below the gas as
they worked. Ambulances RESPONDED
from Knickerbocker, Reception, Flower.
st. Vincent's, Harlem and New York
hospitals. Fourteen surgeons attended
the tenement victims. Sixteen were re-
moved to hospitals, but most cases re-
covered after treatment on the spot.
A first aid station established bv the
Rescue Squad between Sixty-ninth and
SEVENTEEN streets, cared for more than
200 patients, most of whom were in
semi-consclous state when taken there.
Police and firemen who were unable to
obtain gas masks worked with wet nil
ow cases and towels bound round their
faces.
"A oqudu Va HEeillci equipped with gas
masks succeeded in closing the valve
and preventing further escape Of
ammonia fumes after twenty-minute
light, in which they were frequently
lriven back. Lieutenant Roth, of the
Cast Sixty-seventh Street station, aid
ng Captain Wall in command Of the
'eserves, suffered severe ammonia
,urns. He was taken to Knickerbocker
Hospital.
A westerly breeze carried the fumes
Cast in Seventieth Street, driving pe
lestrians helter SHELTER as the gas met
hem. Patrolmen mounted and on foot
,rdered all in the gas area 10 lie down,
hundreds of men and women lay on the
idewalks long after danger had passed.
The most serious case Of asphyxia-
ion was that Of Patrolman Herbert
)ickey, of the Arsenal police station.
Who was removed to Flower Hospital
unconscious. Miss Gussie Feidel. of
~ East Seventeen Street, was also
AIKEN to Flower Hospital unconscious.
ut completely recovered and was sent
ent home before midnight.