Plainview, TX Church Explosion, Aug 1966

GAS LEAK BLAMED FOR CHURCH BLAST.

Plainview, Tex. (AP) -- Natural gas was blamed Tuesday as the probable cause of an explosion which ripped through a Plainview church crowded with more than 200 worshipers.
One woman was killed and 55 persons were injured Monday night when the blast leveled three walls of the Church of God in Christ.
Many of the injured were treated and discharged but 30 were still in hospitals Tuesday. Two were listed in critical condition.
Hoyt Curry, the Plainview director of public safety, said a preliminary investigation indicated the explosion was caused by "a gas leak, possible set off by an electric organ."
Bulldozers were brought in Tuesday to level what was left standing of the concrete block structure.
Killed in the explosion and fire was MRS. ENNIS DUKES, 71, Pampa. Her body was found beneath timbers from the roof which crashed down on the rostrum.
In critical condition were LARRY WILLIAMS, 51, Plainview, and DORIS LAUTERDALE, 40, Rawls.
The explosion tore through the church as Negro worshipers were singing the final song of an all-music service opening a week-long revival.
"The first thing I knew, I was up in the air," said ODELL DUNCAN, 70, a church deacon and usher.
"I was nearly three or four feet in the air, and when I came down there were people piled right on me."
"I wiggled out from under a door and picked up three children and carried them out. Then I went back and helped three women get outside," DUNCAN said.
Elder HENRY JACKSON, 32, said the lights were out just before the explosion "blew the floor out of the building and then the top caved in."
"It blew me up in the ceiling, then I fell back in the chair where I had been sitting and turned over backwards," he related.

The Abilene Reporter-News Texas 1966-08-24
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!