Amarillo daily news. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 19??-current, 1921-01-25
EXPLOSION CAUSED ny sPONTA.
NEOUs COMBUSTION N
THEORY HELD.
TEN NEsR0Es ARE DEAD
Score Of Other Persons Injured; Prop.
erty Loss Has Been Estimated nj
Approximaiel Two Hundred
thousand Dollars.
~ Associated Pres.

~ Associated Press.
MEMPHIS. Tenn. Jan. 2l.-Ten ne.
groes dead. approximately a score in.
jured. some probably fatally. and prop.
erty damage estimated at $500 900. made
up the known toll tonight IL an cx.
plosion Of easing head" gasoline await.
ing unloading from n tank car 90 the
plant " the Colyar Reese company In
North Memphis, which let go this
morning with a blast that wrecked n
part Of the oil plant. lcvcled a block
of frame dwellings and shook the en-.
tire north end Of the city.
OF the injured two are white per.
sons. l.. e. Scott. superintendent Of the
Reese plant. and L. G. wilder, truck
superintendent. Roth were lady
burned hut physicians stated tonight
they will recover.
Colyar Reese. president ~ the oil
company. attributed the explosion to
spontaneous combustion. due to the
contact Of vapor escaping from the
tank car when the metallic cap was re.
moved preparatory 10 unloading the
car. with the atmosphere. The tank car.
which contained 5000 gallons % casing
head gasoline produced by the absorb.
tion process. was shipped here from
kelleyvillc. Oklahoma. MIR. Reese stated.
IND was loaded In a low temperature.
When the cap was removed. according
10 this theory. the vapor came In con.
tact with much higher atmospheric
conditions here and the explosion fol.
lowed. II was stated that representa-.
iives 81 the United States bureau ~ ex.
plosives and experts from the refinery
from which the car was shipped will
arrive tomorrow to definitely determine
tho cause ~ the blast.
When the explosion occurred row
az frame tenement houses along an
entire black were splintered and the
occupants blown Ia the streets or
caught under the falling timbcrs. Mos,
Of those killed outright were badly
mangled. while some 81 the injured
were M badly burned they died soon
after reaching a hospital.
When police and fremcn reached the
scene the streets and alleys In the VI.
entity were Uttered with the splintcrcd
: timbers and the torn and twisted
household goods. with the dead and In.
jurcd caught In the tangled maze os
wreckagc.
Andrew Mckinley. the negro who
was removing the dome from the tank
car when the explosion occurred. was
hurled several hundred feet through
the air.
He WAS badly burned and died to.
night. Mckinley was quoted ~ saying
that. when he removed the cap. the
gas rose 10 n height ~ twenty feet and
formed pail ~ black smoke which
ignited and exploded. Almost stimuli
taneously pools ~ oil on the ground
caught fire and n second explosion &C.
CURED. One report was that McKin.
ley used a chisel In attempting to re.
move the cap from the car. This. how.
ever. has not been verified MIR Reese
stated that his investigation disproved
any theory other than that the cxplo
sion was caused by spontaneous com.
bustion.
Fire which followed IN the wake Of
the explosion completed the work NJ
destruction. The flames were checked
however before they spread beyond
the splin,crcd wrcckagc OF the ~ fa,cs
dwellings.