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Show BLAST 1ECKS BUSfNESIiOUSES CRIC' AMD GTOME CUHY AUTO-U03ILEC; AUTO-U03ILEC; EXPLOG OTJ FELT TWO Ml LEG AWAY State Militia Held in Retdincss to Patrol Pa-trol Streets in Spring ield, Macs.; Many City W.ri;-ers W.ri;-ers Ara Hurt Springfield, M:'ss. The explcsion of a storage tan!; of the Sprlagf'eld. Gas and Light company Thursday injured forty persons and caused confiui-n and wreci age in the business section. Office workers and persons in the streets were struck down by debris. Automobiles in the streets were hub deep in wreckage. The municipal group of buildings centering about city hall, banks and business blocks, were in the area in which windows were broken. Persona Per-sona in these bu ldings comprLied many of the injured. The big storage tank was located at t'ae foot of Elm street, near Water, and not far dLtant from the Connecticut Con-necticut river. Fire followed the explcsion, but firemen formed a cordon around the wreckage of the tank and indications indica-tions were that the flames would not spread. The tank which exploded was forty feet high. It was said to have been nearly full of gas at the time. The cause of the explosion w-s undetermined undeter-mined some time afterward. When (he blast came it rocked city hall so much that one side of the 'Alibiing was badly damaged. Automobiles Automo-biles in the streets were struck by bricks and stone work and firemen had to di-r them out. Occupants escaped es-caped serious injury, according to first reports. The power plant or the United Electee Elec-tee company is in the immediate vicinity vi-cinity of the vas works, but service was not affected. The fo-ir companies of state ml'i'ia starioned here were ordered to report to their armories tn he held in reserve re-serve for patrol duty. Members of Mie state constabulary ststioned at Northhampton were o-dered to pro-I pro-I ceed here for duty at once. |