Evening star., 1927-11-14
DEBRIS EXTENDS
FOR SQUARE MILE
Water Gushing From Mains
and Sewers Covers
Wreckage in Streets.
BY the Associated Press

! By the Associated Press
| PITTSBURGH, November IA
| Scenes Of utter destruction greeted an
| Associated Press reporter today as he
| made his way through the stricken
lower North Side district, which was
| laid waste by the explosion of huge
storage gas tank.
An area of approximately one square
mile, fronting on the Ohio River. was
devastated by the great blast. believed
to have been caused when a blow
torch, in the hands of workmen, came
into contact with the tank and ignitee,
the gas.
The gas works. located at an inter-
section of Boyce street, Reedsdale
street. Allegheny avenue and the Ohio
River, was in the very heart of a
district crowded by the homes of
workmen, factories. warehouses and
industrial plants. The reporter made
his way over the flooded streets, wa.
ter gushing from broken water mains
and sewer pipes, On all sides the dev.
astation was great Many buildings
collapsed. In some instances only the
roofs were lifted from houses
Rescuers Work Feyerishly.
Firemen, policemen and volunteer
into the ruins in an effort to find
trapped, injured persons or recover
the dead.
On all sides were men, women and
children. their heads and arms swathed
in bandages These victims had been
treated at emergency stations set up
by Red Cross nurses and Salvation
Army workers.
In one doorway sat a mother, her
four children standing nearby. Stricken
beyond speech, the woman sat waving
her head back and forth.
Eight blocks from the tank, in the
middle of street, rested twisted
mass of steel, a section Of the big gas
container. Only a great black scar
marked the spot where the tank stood
Many homeless families found
shelter in houses outside the wrecked
zone. Several hours after the tank
exploded the entire region was choked
by the odor of gas.
Two See Explosion.
At least two persons were looking
directly at the mammoth North Side
gas tank when it exploded today. Miss
Ruth Pastre and Jerome Henkle. en-
ployed in a nearby plant, were stand
ing at window, gazing at the tank.
when it exploded. All they remem.
bered was binding fash of fire.
They were rescued by f1remen and
sent to hospital, where cuts and
bruises were treated.
Patrolmen from the Center Avenue
station, among the first to reach the
gas blast disaster scene, were in time
to rescue a woman. who had given
birth to a baby in a wrecked Ridge
avenue house. The mother was cut
by flying glass. but the infant was un.
harmed.
James Condor, 65, a storekeeper
whose place is within one block of
where the explosion occurred, told of a
race he won with sheet of flame
down Reedsdale street. Standing at
window. Condor was cut about the
body when the force of the blast
shattered the glass. He rushed into
the street. believing the district had
been visited by an earthquake. Look.
ing toward the gas works. he said he
saw sheet of flame travelling down
the street in his direction.
Condor started to run ahead Of the
nre, and escaped the flames.
Most of the residents of the dis.
trict who escaped the blast said that
at first they were convinced 1t was an
earthquake. with streets bulging up
ina houses and buildings collapsing.