Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-01-25
25 ARE KILLED AND
MANY ARE INJURED
IN MEMPHIS BLAST
Block of Frame Dwellings
LeveIIed- Property DAM
age Probably $4,000.
Boy Blown Through Air

MEMPHIS, Tenn, Jan. 24.-With
estimates of the police and rescuers
ranging from six to fifteen dead.
about forty injured and others unac-
counted for, a complete check Of the
occupants Of a block of wrecked
frame dwellings was awaited this
afternoon to definitely determine the
toll taken by an explosion early to-
day of a tank car of gasoline at the
filing station of the Colyar-Reese
company, in the north end of Mem
phis, which splintered and set afire
twenty small tenement houses, bury
ing the occupants in the ruins, and
rocked buildings within a radius of
several blocks.
Virtually all of those killed and in
jured were negroes. :.
While the police reported only six
bodies, all negroes, actually recover
ed, directors of several squads of
rescuers exploring the wrecked
buildings, estimated the number of
dead at fifteen.
The resultant fire which, for
time, threatened to spread to q gas
plant and several nearby manufac-
turing concerns, was checked before
it gained Roadway.
Police and fire department Of
ficials attributed the blast to
chance spark from the chisel of
a workman who was calking the
the cap from the top of the tank.
l'line when another workman removed
the cap from thetop of the tank.
Two Of the workers were torn TO
bits, while the third escaped prac-
| tically unscathed.
row of tenement houses, block
in length, all of frame construc-
ton, were levelled by the force OF
the explosion, killing and manning
their occupants.
Six bodies. torn almost beyond
recognition, were removed within
| few minutes, and every ambulance
| in the city was summoned to remove
the injured to hospitals. In all
fifty persons were given treatment
| Many of these were seriously hurt'
Others bruised and cut by glass, were
given treatment by physicians az
| the scene.
Confusion FINDERS Rescuers
The Reformation of the explosion
| was heard throughout the city ana
the thousands who flocked TO the
scene added to the confusion ana
made difficult the work of the po-
lice and volunteer rescue parties
| The filling station where the eX-
plosion occurred was not badly dam
aged. On one side of the station
was a huge brick and concrete pump
ing station which absorbed the rorce
| Of the blast. Windows in 1t were
torn out, but otherwise the building
was not damaged. The block d.
rectly south of the one, where the
havoc was wrought is unoccupied.
That an even greater death toll
was not taken was attributed to the
fact that many of the occupants OF
the Inflated dwellings, had left for
their work.
The first bodies found were OF
four negro. women and baby Their
bodies were found short distance
from their home. 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
gasoline filled cars were in the inn
mediate vicinity, in the path of fly
in gembers and isolated by the torn
tracks. Police lines were establish
ed two blocks from the scene of the
devastation.
Early estimates of the property
damage indicated that 1t would not
exceed $150,000.
One of the injured brought to the
general hospital was an unidentified
negro boy who, after being hurled
into the air fell into nearby bayou
with both legs broken.
An hour after the first explosion
a second tank car blew off it's top
and sent the crowds scurrying to
shelter Beyond wrecking the car,
this blast caused only small dam