| Show NATURAL GAS EXPLOSIONS WRECK TH CHICAGO CHI-CAGO CHRONICLE OFFICE Several Employees are Badly Injured In-jured Some of Whom May Die Gas Was Ignited by Electric Light Wires Chicago Feb 20 Seven explosions of natural gas at 7 oclock this morning in the engine room of the Chicago Chronicle at 1C4 and 166 Washington street badly shattered the basement and business officfe and injured ten persons five of them seriously The pipes leading from the street sprung a leak and the explosion was caused by Ignition from electric light I caUe McMillan the foreman of the press room was the most seriously I Injured and his recovery is doubtful He was blown alOth wall and badly I burned One arm was so badly crushed I that i will probably have to be amputated ampu-tated Larry Hardgrove the engineer was blown 2 feet and badly injured internally in-ternally John Stenger a pressman was seriously burned about tie face John Wheeler a driver for Case Martin who was standing in front IFf the ChronIcle I Chron-Icle office was blown half way across the street and Charles Williams who I was standlns on the sidewalk over the gas pipe was blown as high as the second I story of the building and I injured i j lnatl atl Matthey flames mailer was severely burned A few minutes after the explosion ex-plosion flames leaped through the basement base-ment and consumed the business office and destroyed the Western Union telegraph tele-graph companys branch office adjoining adjoin-ing All the wires leading to the office Including those used by the United Ass cited Presses were broken The editorial rooms of the Chronicle were Hooded by water and badly damaged by smoke The force of the shock from the explosion broke every plate glass window In the building and tore up the sidewalk In front of the office The wall separating the press room of the Chronicle from that of the Journal was blown down and the water from the fire engines flooded the presses and damaged the large stock of paper Horatio Seymour the pubsher of tho Chronicle estimates the damage at 10000 The presses are not damaged he says and the publication of the Sun sys with day morning papers will not be interfered |
