Evening star., 1921-01-24
5K|LLED, 30 HURT
IN GASOLINE BLAST
Memphis Is Rocked by Ter
rifle ExpIosion-Row of
Houses SpIintered.
By the Associated Press.


MEMPHIS, Tenn. January 24.-At
least twenty-five persons, most of them
negroes. were killed, according to
police estimates, and fifty or more
injured by an explosion of a tank
car of gasoline near the filing station
Of the Colyar-Rees Company here to-
day. The blast, set off presumably
by spark from a workman's chisel,
tore to splinters a row of frame
dwellings. shattered windows within
radius of fifteen blocks. and shook
the entire north end Of this city.
The resultant fire which. for a time.
threatened to spread to a gas plant
and several nearby manufacturing
concerns. was checked before it did
considerable damage.
Police and fire department officials
attributed the blast to a chance spark
from the chisel OF workman. who
was caulking the car. which fell into
the gasoline when another workman
removed the cap from the top Of the
tank. Two Of the workers were torn
to bits while the third escaped pras-
tically unscatched. .s1s- e. -
The scene Of the explosion was at
Main street and Mill avenue, in the
center Of a densely populated part Of
the city. and a short distance from
a gas plant.
rushed to the scene and volunteer
rescue parties were formed to aid
the police in removing the dead and
injured.
The fire was brought under con-
troll before it spread beyond the
dwellings in the immediate vicinity
of the blast.
a1y
milton, were removed within few min
utes- In all. fifty persons were given
treatment. Many OF these were Seri-
ously hurt. Others, bruised and cut by
glass. were treated by physicians at the
scene. -'s
While the police estimate the dead at
about twenty-five, the toll of fatalities,
it was stated several hours after the
explosion. may be larger when a COM
plete check is made of the occupants
of the dwellings and the ruins are
thoroughly explored.
The detonation of the explosion was
heard throughout the city, and the
thousands who flocked to the scene
added to the confusion and made diff
cult the work of the police and volun-
teer rescue parties.
The filing station, where the ex-
plosion occurred was not badly dam
aged. On one side Of the station was
q nuSc UTlSA duu COuCFcl0 pumping
station, which absorbed the force Of
the blast. Windows in it were torn
out, but otherwise the building was
not damaged The block directly south
of the one where the havoc was
wrought is unoccupied.
The fact that an even greater death
toll was not taken was attributed to
the fact that many of the occupants
of the demolished dwellings had left
for their work.
The first bodies found were of four
negro women and a baby. Their
bodies lay a short distance from their
homes, while scattered over a radius
of a block or more were other bodies.
Virtually no trace Of the tank car
was left.
while the fire was brought under
control shortly after the explosion
the work Of the rescuers was made
hazardous by the fact that other gaso-
line-filled cars were In the immediate
vicinity, in the path of flying embers
and isolated by the torn tracks. Po-
lice lines were established two blocks
from the scene of devastation.
Early estimates of the property
damage indicated that it would not
exceed $150,000.
one of the injured brought to the
general hospital was an unidentified
negro boy who. after being hurtled
into the air, fell into a nearby bayou
with both legs broken.
An hour after the first explosion a
second tank car blew of it's top and
sent the crowds scurrying to shelter
Reyond wrecking the car. this blast
caused only small damage.