Ben Avon, Pennsylvania
March 19, 1908
LANDSLIDE SETS TOWN ON FIRE
Two Lives Lost and Many Endangered by Sudden
High Gas Pressure.
PITTSBURG, March 19. Two Chinese are
believed to have perished, scores of persons are
suffering from inhaling gas, eight places were
either set on fire or were the scenes of
explosions, and many persons narrowly escaped
death early today as a result of a landslide,
which demolished the gas regulator house of the
Manufacturers’ Light and Heat plant at Ben Avon,
a suburb, causing a sudden heavy pressure of
gas.
Fire was first discovered in a Chinese laundry.
The ringing of the fire bells awakened
practically every family in the suburb who found
their homes were rapidly filling with escaping
gas, flames were shooting high in the air from
the tops of many stoves and gas jets and walls
were blistered by the excessive heat.
In a number of instances incipient fires had
already started. Before the gas could be shut
off, hot water bailers in several houses
exploded causing consternation. It is believed
that had not the residents been awakened by the
fire bells, many would have succumbed to the
deadly fumes of the gas.
Burned to Death: Pittsburg – A Chinese
laundry at Benavon, a suburb, was destroyed by
fire early today and the proprietors,
HOP LEE and
JIM YOUNG, are believed to have been
burned to death.
Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA 12 Mar 1908
Transcribed by Dorcas
Moseley.
Thanks Dorcas!
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