Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1929-05-16
POISON GASES

. Continued from page one.)
vas Miss Ella Moeller. stenographer
az the clinic, who jumped from a
window and went home. believing
she was untouched.
Later she felt III and went 10 Mt.
Sinai. She laughed and talked
while waiting for treatment and
then collapsed. A blood TRANSMISSION
was ordered with the hope that
what seemed the inevitable might be
! averted.
The other two patients we're a
fireman and a woman who entered
the clinic Just as the first blast o.
Cured. She got a whiff of the gas,
returned TO her home thankful to
have escaped death. and then felt
the ominous effects of the fatal
fumes. All three underwent blood
transfusions.
The gas was identified by DR..
William z. Lower. one OF the chiefs
OF the clinic. as nitrous peroxide. re-
leased by burning x-ray film. The
celluloid preparation was fired in
an unknown way in a basement
store room.
300 in Building
An explosion Of the pcnt-up gas
that rocked the building followed.
1t filled the building with gas and
as the compression increased a Sec
ond and larger blast demolished
much of the interior and set the
woodwork aflame.
More than 300 persons we're in
the building when the first explo-
| sion came at 11:24 o'clock In the
morning. Some escaped before the
fumes reached them. Others died
in frantic flight. their bodies strew-
ing the stairwayS and floors. Many
died after reaching the open air.
and still more succumbed in hos
pitfalls.
Stream of Ambulances
A constant stream Of ambulanceS
hurried between the clinic and
nearby hospitals. and other convoy
bore the dead TO the county morgue.
! There they lay while long lines of
persons passed the bodies, many OF
them stretched in lines along the
floor. The building was taxed to
capacity.
AS the bodies were identified they
were removed, but the long queque,
silent and ~sorrowful. passed
through the morgue until late last
night. Today several of the victims
remained unidentified.
Investigation Begun
Six Investigations were under way
today. Deputy state fire marshals
and representatives Of the state di-
vision Of safety and hygiene were
assigned TO 90 into the reasons for
the mysterious catastrophe. Both
the Cleveland police and fire de-
partmentS organized their own in
! quiries, and City Manager William
r. Hopkins declared he would de-
vote his offices to determining rea-
sons for the explosions. Coroner
A. J. Pearse laid plans for an in
quest as SOC as the dead are iden-
titled. DR.. George w. Grille. head
Of the clinic. declared he too would
attempt to learn the origin Of the
fire.
Much official interest in the in
vestigations was turned TO the steel
fire door to the storage compart-
ment. Officials had been unable to
learn whether this door had been
left open or was blown out by the
force of the bursting film.
Skylight Shattered
With the first explosion, firemen
concluded. the gas swept upward
and fired the building. Pent in.
with compression increasing as the
heat intensified, the gas exploded a
second time.
The skylight was shattered and
glass from the windows was hurled
across the street. Doors reinforced
with steel buckled under the ter
rifle suction of air.
Trapped Like Rats
The swirling brown clouds. naus-
eating and made heavier by the
sickening smell of burning cellu-
loid enveloped the building. The
! fire o spent itself. but the clouds
OF gas. smoke and the odor Of burn
ing chemicals chung to the building
hours after the fire was extin-
guiShed.
1t happened so quickly that few
had opportunity to escape. 1t was
past so soon that within an hour
and a half all the bodies had been
removed. Firemen said the loss to
the building. despite the number OF
dead would not be more than $50
600.
The revised list OF dead in the
disaster follows:
Or. Harry Addison. Cleveland
Heights. staff physician; Phillip
Bader. Cleveland: Max Bartholo-
New. Medina. sketch artist: Evelyn
Bernier. clinic employee: r. K. Bis
sell. Cleveland Heights. engineer and
patient: DR. John Borello. staff ply
sician at clinic: DR.. Roy A. Brint-
nall. Lakewood. physician on clinic
staff. William j. Brownlow. East
Cleveland. artist at the clinic: w.
w. Busby. Indianapolis; Mrs. w. w.
Busby. Indianapolis: Mrs. Carl.
Cleveland: Mrs. Nav 3. Carse. pa
tent. Cleveland: Romeo Casino.
Cleveland: Mrs. Rosa Casino. Cleve-
land; Richard Collins. Cleveland:
Miss Minnie Costley. Cleveland:
Helen Charlotte de Hart. clinic
nurse: Miss Fannie Dembrow. Cleve-
land; Mrs. Florence Epstein. Chi
cago; Miss zanna Fahey. technician
In X-ray department at clinic; Mrs.
Evelyn Fayduer. Akron. Ohio; Hugo
Fields. Akron. Ohio: Lillian Felt.
Franklin, Pa; Virgil Fleming. re-
pairman, Cleveland; Miss Georgei-
anna Fowler. clerk at clinic: Mrs.
Joseph Frank. Dunkirk. N. "; Her
mine Fuerst. East Cleveland. patti
ent: r. B. Fulton. Cleveland. patti
ent: r. B. Fulton. Cleveland. patti
operator at clinic: Minnie Giumplin.
4 TfMw~nrmwls MI ~-~~I-F-~ 60