| Show OUR FOUR INJURED IN OGDEN EXPLOSION fOGDEN Feb 5 Workmen are tOay toBay toy to- to Bay ay y working on the ruins of ot the Rio Grande gas plant pant which blew ble up yes- yes Assistant Chief Chiet Rogers's con con- has not improved and he be may aie Me Alonzo Rogers Assistant Chief Fire Department horribly burned about face race head and bod body condition very ver I serious L I. Zadoc A. A Lowe driver fire department depart depart- and ment nent nen 1 badly burned about head ead face ace Lockheart Rio I F I. I George about badly burned about Grande Orande gas works Head ead and body I 3 W. W Chaffin badly burned followed a fire which The explosion plant in some manber manKer man- man Started in the gas Ker iier unknown It is said to have been thaw out attempt to caused aused by an some orne carbon used in the manufacture of t f the gas The plant is operated by bythe bythe bythe the Rio Grande Crande Western Railway Hallway compan company com corn pan what is known as pany and generates Pintsch gas for use In lighting passenger pas pas- I cars The lire fire started at about alarm was tient telephone 1240 and a lo to the fire station The chemical engine the lire station The chemical engine driven by Fireman Lowe and on which Assistant Chief Rogers was riding riding riding rid rid- ing was first on the scene making a remarkably quick run The chemical had barely barel been backed up to the building and the tM hose got gut to playing on the when the earth shook hook as if by an earthquake and the building seemed to fall apart while a huge column of ot inky black smoke shot feet In the air followed by 1 n dull heavy roar like the sound of a distant distant distant dis dis- dis- dis tant cannon Rogers was blown about seventy live feet away and Lowe knocked under the horses' horses feet Rogers Rogers Rog flog ers ers did not lose consciousness and Jumping to his feet started to run blindly awa away from the holocaust His clothing was all on fire and he represented represented represented a pillar of flame when thrown into a snowbank by Fireman McCan- McCan die dle I Lowe was WS rescued from his position more dead than alive aUve but being soon resuscitated grittily began running u more to unfortunate see rt what tte he comrades could Js do for tor A. A sight to thrill the blood was the 1 of ot the horses on the chemical Vs the blinding sheet of flame enveloped ed them they momentarily flinched Jit pt did not back away an n inch while oth joth were horribly burned rr he best account of the scene was then ven to The Tribune by Fireman Mc- Mc indle who was vas riding on the rear of luck ruck No 2 2 which had nearly reached fie lie gas gas- plant when the explosion took lace ce He said pWe were going up on truck No 2 l aid id d when we got within about of the the team turned udd and threw me off oft the rear of ot othOe he hOe wagon I didn't lose my feet wever and was facing the Jhen en the explosion occurred It was lie he ne most grandly horrible sight Ight I have A dense column of black noke shot skyward nearly teat feet pined fined Ined here and there with lurid of ot flame that seemed to divide be e cloud of smoke like a knife The ext instant a horrible spectacle ap- ap gared ared red before my eyes A man came cams toward me so literally covered ith Hh flames that he resembled a roll roll- rig rg ball of fire As he got ot ot near noor me he himself into a deep snowdrift ind nd that alone saved his life Ufe as the theire ire ire was quickly extinguished by the how I raised him up but could pot fell ll who it was and said In Gods God's lame jame who is it when he replied Its ne Mac Mac Tom I I- immediately hailed i Southern Pacific switch switch- engine to end nd nc him to the union depot when anther anther an- an ther man came running toward me ils lis clothing all aJl afire This was George Georger r Lockhead of ot the gas plant After put- put Ing out the tire lire on him we placed h hem hein m both on the engine and sent p the the ambulance and they were to the hospital investigation showed that the fire which had started In the building had been e n communicated to the big tan tank in inh inthe h the he east end of the building This tank tanks tank's s 's s of malleable steel and is about the Ize of ot the ordinary oil tanks used in r petroleum The force pf pi he e explosion was so great as to lift his t huge structure through the ruins ruin If f the building and deposit it a huntr hun- hun tr fred d feet away in a bent and twisted Pl A rim of Iron of ot the top of ot he tank tank was shot fr from m th the building such velocity as to cut a foot 60 FJ graph pole squarely in two and it itai ill ai Jl precipitating the network of wires o o h the ground As a n. result of this the I soUthern Pacific company was com com- corn com comI I cUed to send fiend a dispatcher to Corinne o 0 operate if its trains A terrible catastrophe was narrowly In a direction little thought of y the thousands of f curious ones who the scene of or the tho explosion Pacific passenger No 5 had arrived and passed the ill-fated ill as plant within a few feet just bethe bc- bc r Te the explosion and was barel barely out f t the way when It occurred As soon as the Injured had been re- re oved eyed the department be began an work on em I the blazing ruins and soon had the fire practically out Another tank of smaller proportions was standing close by and anti when this was announced to the crowd dispersed through fear of ofa a a. second explosion The explosion occurred at a providential providential providential provi provi- time It was during the no noon n hour and but few were working aroun around the place The IThe Fhe jar was fel felt t all over the city and was not unlike an earthquake The fire station was jarred so ro o perceptibly tIlly th that t the electric door of ot No 1 hose hone truck was raised while windows windows' rattled d all over oyer the city within a radius of a mile At Five Points three miles miles' away the shock was felt The the team learn Dick and Joe which is used sed on the chemical presented a pitiable sight Poor old Joe the veteran vet vet- eran of ot the station is minus an eye the left leCt one being burned burneM out while his hair is burned off and great patches of skin dropped from the shoulders and sides The other horse Dick is also terribly burned about the head and shoulders but it is thought his sight will be saved Chief Chiet Groves is caring for them with as much tenderness as ashe ashe ashe he would a child and if It medical aid can repay them for tor their heroism they ar are well repaid In the meantime Until until until un un- til they are ar lo again resume their duties they will vilI occupy a box stall at Coreys Corey's livery with all the choice vi viands viands vi- vi ands of the equine palate before them The rhe destruction of the gas pl plant nt is isa isa isa a serious loss to the Rio Grande Grand com corn pany This plant manufactures the Pintsch gas for use on all passenger cars Clr going through Ogden and the service is completely tely blocked for several several several sev sev- eral days das In the meantime the gas will be shipped d to Ogden in tanks from Salt Lake The actual damage to the plant will be close to The explosion has revived among lo local local lo- lo cal railroad men the question which was often raised when the Pintsch gas was first installed as to its safety on passenger r cars ears Wise ones then said that it would prove a bad thing from the fact that the gas pipes under the cars which were necessarily charged with a high pre pressure ure were too apt to explode in cases of wreck and add to the disaster Whether this is true or not remains an open question cates of 01 the new g gas as s have persistently claimed that It w would uld not explode and was perfectly safe Nevertheless It is isan isan isan an undeniable fact that fires have been more prevalent in wrecks where this gas gdS has been used than before Defore The question of the explosiveness o of the gas Bras however is now beyond question Whether It has caused the fires in r re recent recent re re- cent railroad disasters or not it cann cannot cannot can can- n not t be e denied that It exploded with ds- ds effects and with apparent slight cause caus in the matter of ot today's holocaust The effect of ot the explosion too was equal to that that of gunpowder The building was literally blown to atoms and the big malleable steel tank was blown a a. distance of ot feet |
