Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1890 — TERRIFIC EXPLOSION. [ARTICLE]

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.

One Man Killed and Several Women and Children Injured. A Pittsburg dispatch reports a natural gas explosion on Butler street, near Thirty-seventh, completelyjwrecking the building. One man was killed and several injured. The explosion was one of the most terrific that has occurred here since the introduction of natural gas. The house was a three-story .frame structure and occupied by two families. Mrs. Theodore Ringer went to the cellar and ignited the gas, which had escaped and filled the cellar. The explosion followed and the house was crushed like an egg, portions of it being blown for half a square. The shock was so terrible that the walls of a brick building several rods away were cracked and shattered. JOHN SLIP, aged 38. died shortly after being taken from the “wreck. Mas. Theodore. Birger was buried in th« debris and was not recovered for an hour. She is so badly burned that she can not recover. Annie. Katie and Benjamin Ringer, aged 3, 5. and 8 years respectively, are all badly burned and cut. Mrs. John Slip was badly cut. and Amelia Slip, aged 15, was seriously burned and may die. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Melsher. aged 60 and 70 years, were on the third floor. Mrs. Melsher was severely injured. Mrs. Ringer’s 2-year-old babe was rescued from the debris. The child was found under a table and was not injured in the least. The w-reck took fire and the scene presented was frightful.