Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 223, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1919 — STRIKES MATCH TO LOOK AT GAS; HAS PLENTY. [ARTICLE]

STRIKES MATCH TO LOOK AT GAS; HAS PLENTY.

The fire company was called to the. Ross Ramey store on North McKinley avenue about 7 o’clock Saturday evening when Dick Hartle, a farmer living north of Rensselaer, struck a match to see how much gasoline there was in the’ tank of his automobile. He found he had aplenty.. Mr. Hartle’s hands and face were seriously burned and his automobile badly damaged when it caught on fire. He had stopped to replenish the gas tank from the large tank in front of the Ramey store. The large filling tank also caught on fire and except for Mr. Ramey’s presence of mind when he shut off the valve there would undoubtedly have >een a serious fire. As it was the flames were extinguished before the arrival of the fire company. Mr. Hartle had purchased the car, a second hand Saxon, but a few moments before at a local garage.