Murraysville, PA Gas Explosion, Mar 1886

MORE VICTIMES OF NATURAL GAS
Three People Burned To Death by an Explosion at Murraysville

A terrible explosion of natural gas occurred at Murraysville last Friday afternoon, by which three persons were nearly roasted alive, three others were badly burned and five buildings were destroyed. At 1:30 o’clock the Chartiers company turned on their gas from the new McWilliams well for the first time. This well is located on the McWilliams lot, in the village of Murraysville. It was brought in during the last few days and it has been blowing off since the extra ordinary pressure of 450 pounds to the square inch. A six-inch pipe from the well to the main line, some sixty feet distant, had just been finished. The gas was turned on, but the pressure was too great. The six-inch pipe was blown into small pieces with a crashing sound, the ground was torn up and the great volume of gas rushed towards the house. The windows were up, and in an instant, the gas was ignited and the house was on fire. In it at the time were W. M. Taylor, Mrs. Harry Taylor, their three small children, William Taylor, a blacksmith, the father of Harry Taylor and Miss Sallie Laycox.

Superintendent Hayes, of the Philadelphia Company saw the accident and with a large gang of men rushed into the house and succeeded with carrying the people out before they were burned to a crisp. As it was Miss Laycox, Mrs. Taylor and two of her children were burned from head to foot and pieces of toasted flesh dropped from their bones. The flames spread rapidly to the next house, and from half past 1 o’clock till 5 the citizens were busy fighting fire. Five houses were destroyed. They were owned by Harry Taylor, James McCurdy the Wilkes McWilliams property, the Irwin House and the post office building. The contents of these buildings were nearly all removed and all the mail matter was saved. There was no fire engine in the village and the citizens were forced to use the old-fashioned buckets. The gas well caught fire and burned fiercely. As thought the alarm created by the burning gas well was not enough, the terror of the inhabitants was increased on Sunday by the visitation of one of the severest storms of wind and rain ever experienced in that section of the country. The wind blew in a perfect hurricane, and derricks, trees, fences and light buildings went down before the mighty blast as structures of straw.

The Fungus No. 2 derrick and Verner No. 2, of the Philadelphia company, and the Irwin, of the Chartiers company, were leveled with the ground, while division lines of fences were distributed over the fields and travelers over the North pike had frequently to get out of their vehicles, in mud above their knees, to remove trees and other obstacles which old Boreas had thrown in the road.

On Sunday afternoon Miss Laycox and two of the Taylor children had died, after suffering terribly. At last accounts, Mrs. Harry Taylor was still living. There are none so hopeful who entertain the idea of even a possibility of her recovery, but should the wounds not terminate fatally, her physicians say both her arms will have to be amputated, as the flames destroyed the muscles of the lower portion. The men in the employ of the Chartiers Natural Gas Company after resorting to a number of expedients to put out the fire on Monday morning took a large smoke stack and by means of derricks hoisted it over the mouth of the burning well and the flames were thus forced into the pipe where they died for want of air.

The Keystone Courier, Connellsville, PA 26 Mar 1886
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Transcribed by Trish. Thanks, Trish!