Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 June 1892 — FIRE AND FLOOD! [ARTICLE]

FIRE AND FLOOD!

Another Appalling Pennsylvania Disaster. - Nearly 280 Live* Lost—Large Portions of Titusville and OH City Swept Away—The. Broad Expanse of Water Soon Become* a Veritable Sea of Flame*—Huge OH Reservoirs Explode and Burning Liquid Engulfs Men, Women and Children—•3,ooo,ooo in Property Destroyed A Woeful Sunday. j

Titusville, Pa.. June s.—Titusville, a city of10,CO» souls, is devasted by flood find file. A large portion of thq,city is in ruins, either washed away or consumed by the flaming oil. To-night fully seyentyfive people, including men, women and children, are still missing, while half that many bodies have already been recovered. Some were drowned iu the flood thatswept through the beautiful city, but all toomany were caught fleeing from the rushing, roaring flames oLpiLjienzoin and naptha that was let loose from the huge tank reservoirs and came upon the inhabitants in the dead of night. The flood was caused by Oil creek, an insignificant, stream flowing through Titusville, but which suddenly increased to five hundred times its usual volume, spreading almost from hill to-hill in the valley in which the town is situated. On top of the flood soon spread a layer of oil Jrom several large reservoirs, one contain! ng gasoline, that had exploded, and the inflammable material taking tire, the broad expanse of water soon became a veritable flood of lire, igniting residences and manufactories.as fast as they were reached; The first news of the calamity was announced to the fear-stricken inhabitants by the ringing of bells shortly after 2 o'clock this morning. The water works were soon tinder water, and there were no means of lighting the flames. The property loss will ba-fully Thrs surely is one of the most appalling fires and overwhelming floods in the history of the country.

A first.eoriservative estimate placed tho nnmber of lives lost at twenjv-nve, from lire and drowning, but tills has already been added to by the finding of. eleven bodies in one pile in a place where the flood had receded. All this loss in this city, with the surrounding country yet to be heal'd from. A large" number of most extensive and prosperous manufacturing establishments now lies in ashes, and hundreds of homes ana business places are utterly wiped out, while the streets are filled with a crowd of hungry, homeless weeping and distracted people, mourning the loss of loved ones, who have perished in the rush of water or the fiery billows of flame which engulfed them as they were struggling in'tho vain endeavor to save their homes. All day the city was tilled with dense and pitchy clouds of smoke arising from the smoldering ruins of refineries, cooper shops, furniture factories, railroad works, hotels, warehouses,dwellings, etc., while the waters of Oil creek are rushing through the streets with almost resistless tide. No tongue, no pen, no language can hardly <lo justice to the scene in this stricken city as the sun goes down to-night. The Illuminating gas works, the electric light, plant, the city water works, are all under water, white the natural gas mains have been turned off at Oil City, eighteen miles below. This leaves Titusville without water, fuel or light, at [east from tho sources from which these necessities have been accustomed to come. Parents and children stood by without the power to aid one another’s struggles against the clutches of the flood until, eventually they wept down to rise no more. Sad and' sickening scenes us ever transpired in the ..valley of Conqmaugh three years ago'were repeated here to-day. while thousands looked on unable to avert them. One father is a maniac over the loss of his family. A brother was rescued from a burning building, where he was forced to leave a sister, husband and two children to perish. Many such cases t are heard. Many are the fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers wandering in search of missing ones, in all probability, will never again b.x heard of.

About midnight Saturday the historical Oil creek began suddenly to rise. Heavy and almost incessant rains had prevailed through this entire section for the past six weeks. _Last_night the huge mill-dam owned by Thompson & Eldrid and located at the little town of’ Spartansburg, seven miles above this city, suddenly burst. This body of water was one and a half miles In length, one fourth of a mile wide, as well as quite deep. This great volume of water, thus suddenly let loose, made of the valley in the course of a few brief moments a regular inland sea. This avalanche of water descended when most of the inhabitants were sleeping, completely and at once shutting them off from higher portions of the city. This state of affairs was rendered still more appalling soon after, when three terrific explosions shook the city to its center. A great light went up from the direction of the Crescent refinery owned byJohu Schwartz <& Co. A few seconds later the entire plant was seen to be one vast sheet of solid flame. The light from this illuminated a full half mile of blackness around, and showed to the assfembled and horrified spectators some extent of the great cahnity which had befallen their beautiful city.

A TEBRIIM.E SPECTACLE. The tongues of flame blazed two hundred feet and more straight into the heavens. The shrieks and agonizing cries of. helpless human beings caged in their houses like rats in a trap in the middle of that rushing and mighty water and within the very shadow of death from burning oil, benzine, and naphtha that threatened any time to engulf them: the shrill whistling of an hundred and more steam whistles, the crackle, roar, rush and rumble of tho huge body of water and sky piercing flames all went to strike terror to the strongest heart. The people in their eager haste to get to Some place out of danger rushed pellmell over each other, and scores were injured by being knocked down and trampled on. Oil creek was swollen to five hundred times its natural size, and. reaching from one hillside to the other, presented an appalling picture. Floating swiftly by on its bosom were all sorts, manners and kinds of ; animals> and inanimate objects. Tanks, stills with the steam in them and blowing off, bouses, barns, horses, cows, chickens —everything almost being borne onfrard with a rush. Clinging to various objects, such as driftwood,pieces of boards,timbers and any other objedt they could lay hands on, were scores of human beings, their white and terror stricken countenances, desperate struggles and plaintive, soul piercing cries for aid. all combining to create impressions in the minds of beholders never to be forgotten.

About one hour from the time the big Crescent works caught another alarm was sounded. It was found that oil discharged from overturning tanks further up the creek had scattered Itself over a broad enough expanse of water to reach the Crescent fire, where it at once ignited, and in a moment a large acreage of creek was a vast sea of fire. This blaze soon spread to the International oil works, ana they were soon in a blaze. Then came the large refining plant arid soap factory of Rice & Robinson, which the flames tn a short time reached and consumed. The wind was in the right quarter, and on sped the fire, arriving in due time at Oil Creek refinery and Waxplant, as fine a one as was *a this Mwntrv and only recently

completed. These works are at the present time still on fire and. burning.brightly. Three stills have! already exploded, and fears are entertained that further extensive damage may be done during the course of the fire in wiping out these three big refinery plants, the largest independent plants in the city. It has destroyed the large furniture factory apd store room of Casperson & Row, located on South Franklin street; the Cullen Hotel, opposite the Western New York & Pennsylvania passenger depot; the W. N. Y. & P. freight depot and about seventyfive private dwellings.. ___ REPEATED AT OIL CITY. Tanks Exploded and 150 Lives Thought to Have Been Lost.

Qir. City, Pa., June s.—Never before li: the history of OiLCity and the oil country has there been such-disaster, excitement and turmoil as tills ci tv is now witnesslag At 11:45 o’clock the city and country sos miles around was startled by two explosions, ccturring almost simultaneously. The writer was standing on Center street, directly in front of the Derrick office and on the approach to the Oil creek bridge. The creek is a raging torrent, and Center street for one square was a solid mass of humanity, and five hundred or.a thousand people had approached this point ol vantage, watching the muddy waters rashing by. About 11:30 upon the opposite side of the str&ahi a greenish fluid floating on the water was noticeable. This increased rapidly in quantity and extent, and at last covered almost entirely the yellow, muddy waters of the creek. A smell of gas and oil was perceptible, and several gentlemen were discussing the danger should the oil catch fire. Hardly were the words spoken when, about two hundred yards up the stream. a massof flame shot heavenward.

“Run! ’ yelled a hundred voices, “run for your lives!” and the people turned like stampeded cattle and started for the hills. Hardly had their back* turned ot the awk-insp ring sp ictaclexyh m a terrifieex - plos on rent-the air, and tuc entire creek and for hundreds of feet on each si io seemed one leet'iiig m iss of .flame and smokp. The panic s r.cken crowd shrieked madly in their efforts to escape. VVomsa and children were, of course, trail bled under foot, and about twen y were sev# e'y bruised and had to bo picked up by a lew of the cooler heads and carried to some retreat. ;

Oil creek, usually, is not more than a foot deep at this point, w icreit ein,.ties in to tlie Alleglieny river, auu a i.ou t one hundred yards wide. Directly at its mouth is the iron bridge of the Western New York and Pennsylvania railroad. About two squares farther up the stream' is the iron and wooden bridge of the city connecting the Third ward with the city proper. On the east side of the creek is Trinity Methodist church, on one side of Center street, with the Derrick office and Oil Exchange opposite. Across the creek, and built up squarely from the waters’ edge, was the hotel and liver? stable of J. B. Reinbold, and the furniture bouse of Paul & Sons. These buildings ware built ou a narrow strip between the creek and the hills which rise precipitously immediately back of them. About half a mils from the postoffice, northward from here on the W., N. Y. & P. railroad, u tank filled with gasoline was standing on a siding. Some young men passing noticed that the tank was leaking, and, Rowing its explosive nature and seeing a shifting engine approaching, ran up the side of the hill, where they turned and looked do wn aS the engine passed the tank. Thegasmust have been Ignited by tho furnace fire, for a mass of flames snot a hundred feet into the air and tho earth ’ seemed 1 to shake with an awful tremor. The engineer andHremon were seen jumping from the cab, and it is supposed at this writing that ‘ they were burned to death or killed by the explosion.

HOW IT STARTED. In a few seconds the flames swept madly over the entire upper part of the city, which was flooded oily waters of the creek, and men, women und children, who were moving from their houses, were caught by the deadly flames. If not burned to death outright, tjiey were drowned by rushing for relief to the raging flood. • Soon seven ghastly bodies were raked frqm the flood as it rushed by and were said on the railroad track, unrecognized, waiting for their friends to come and claim •-them. At this end of the city was another' iron and wooden bridge, which went down live minutes after the fire started. The huge Iron structure was broken and swept away like so much kindling wood. From this bridge southward for a quarter of a mile the entire town was destroyed, and the fire is still raging. The firemen all day have been risking their lives every instant almost, as it is not known at what moment many of the immense oil tanks above here will burst and send their burning contents down upon them. The Imperial Refining Company’s tanks are visible from here and all are burning, and it is greatly feared that the burning oil will again come down the creek. If it should, little of tlie business portion of the city will remain standing. ' / Paul & Son’s furniture bouse, a fourstory immense building, was swept away with 130,000 worth of stock. Reinhold’s hotel and livery stable were destroyed in a few minutes, and Mr. Reinhold and two others who have not been identified were burned tp death. About half the Third ward has been destroyed, and the fire is still doing its work in this part of the city. People are panic stricken all over town, and mothers have been running madly about looking for Jheir lost chlldren.sFathers and families are searching for their children and endeavoring to set them all together in a place of safety, tis almost impossible to find words to describe this awful calamity and no one can accurately say how many lives have been lost. For miles up the creek on both sides everything is in ruins and hundreds of families have been rendered homeless. The fire came so suddenly and unexpected ly that very little, if any, property was saved along the stream. Tho sky for miles around is still black with the smoke from burning dwellings and oil tanks. When the two explosions occurred, this morning, people were knocked down by the force of the shocks, and every window fOttwo squares along Center street was broken. Falling glass added to the danger, and several people were slightly cut. One young girl, nearly dead, was pic Ire I up out of the mud on this street after tho crowd had passed her. The panic at this time was something frightful, and it was remarkable that none were killed outright hy the horses and the wild mob, as it was a case of every one for himself. The flames and smoke covered the lower part of the town, and it seemed that the entire city Was doomed to destraction. The number of houses burned in all parts of the town reaches nearly 200, The full list of the dead cannot be reached accurately for several days. It is utterly impossible to send strictly accurate Information at this hour. Men reported dead appear On the streets, and in the hurry and confusion not much accuracy can be maintained. As soon as the Immediate dangeftwas over and people became cooler the work of rescue was immediately begun. At 2 a. m. forty-six bodies had been recovered In Oil City, but it is impossible to give an accurate estimate of the total loss of life.

There has been no communication between this city and Titusville since 6 o’clock last evening. The less of life there is said to exceed one hundred. A tank owned by the Pennsylvania Refining Company, up Seneca Street, is in danger of exploding at this writing. It contains 25,000 barrels of oil, and if It catches fire it will wipe not the entire upper end of town. '