The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-21
Explosion in Air Destroys
Roma, Largest in Fleet.
Recently Purchased From
Italy; Passenger List Large.
EXPLOSION CAUSE UNKNOWN
Four Men Still Living Taken
Out of Wreckage.
Rescue Party From Hampton
Roads Now Working.

Boston, Feb. 21-A bulletin re-
ceived at the Boston navy yard by
radio from Washington this afternoon
said that it was reported there that
35 of the so men aboard the army
dirigible Roma were killed when the
aircraft plunged to earth.
Say Thirty Eight Men Killed.
Portsmouth, Feb. 21.-According
to a message received at the naval
1,ospital at Portsmouth at S:15 p. M,
thirty-eight men on board the Roma
were killed. At that hour twelve
bodies had been taken from under
the wreckage. .. b,
washington. Feb. 21.-First off
cial word of the disaster to the army
airsh.p Roma to reach the war de-
partment from Langley field said
merely that the ship had fallen at
Hampton Roads about 2 p. m. and
that the field authorities had no de-
tails OF the accident.
Norfolk. Feb. 21.-Tne army dirigi-
BILE Roma. purchased by the United
States government from Italy and
stroyed by an explosion today, while
operating over the Hampton Roads
naval base.
The big aircraft believed to be
carrying a number of passengers,
landed in flames near the naval base.
Soon after she fell four men were
taken off alive The heat of the
flames was so intense that those near
where the craft fell were unable to
approach
The four men rescued were badly
burned.
The Roma was placed in commits
sion only several weeks ago after hav-
ing been assembled at Langley field.
She was the largest dirigible owned
hy the United States government and
was purchased from Italy. Her NAM
moth gas bag had a capacity of more
than a million cubic feet
Observers at Old Point stated the
Roma seemed to be well beyond the
naval base. when she took fire.
Carried Many Passengers.
Newport News, Va, Feb. 21.-Offi-
cials at Langley field said the Roma
sank after an explosion What loss
OF life. if any, has not been reported
but a number of passengers are
known to have been aboard.
Forty Passengers Aboard.
Authorities at Langley field, the
home station of the Roma and the
point at which she was assembled
after being brought here from Italy,
said that fully forty men were aboard
the big airship, but whether there was
loss Of life had not been ascertained
half an hour after she was seen to
burst into flames.
Reports from Portsmouth, which is
near the naval base, said the Roma,
after a slanting plunge of hundreds
OF feet, struck one of the barracks
af hg ay--
ploded with ripping crash.
A Crew of 2t Men.
A sheet of flame leaped from the
rent in the gas bag and the passenger
compartments. slung underneath,
dropped twenty feet to the ground be-
low.
Other officials at Langley field said
there Were p men in the official crew
OF the airship and thirty or forty pas
sengers and enlisted men aboard. One
man was seen by observers at the
Standard Oil company plant at Sew
ellis Point to jump from the ship
while she still was several hundred
feet in the air.
Fourteen Men Jumped.
Fourteen men. according to other
d observers at Portsmouth, were seen
TO leap from the ship as it became ap-
parent that she would strike AOne of the
naval base barracks buildings. Some.
* was reported, clung to parachutes
while others jumped straight to the
ground choosing to take their chances
in that manner rather than staying
aboard the blazing ship.
Witnesses at the scene of the burn
ing ship said at 8 o'clock when she
still was burning like a furnace, that
fully half a dozen men were pinned
beneath the wreckage. The body of
one man had been removed up to
that time.
The explosion occurred shortly
after ? o'clock.