Seventh Avenue view of Hartman home in 1902.
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A terrific gas explosion, which wrecked a house and injured several persons, startled the people of New Brighton about 9 o'clock last night. It was the residence of George F. Hartman, 1824 Seventh Avenue, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth Streets, that was visited by the disaster.
The house was a two story brick structure, with ten rooms, finished attic and basement kitchen.
Mr. Hartman, owner of the house, his daughter, Miss Minnie Hartman, a nurse, his son William 11, and another daughter, Mrs. Ed Sorg, of Penn Avenue, were in the house at the time.
Mrs. Sorg had come to the house to spend the evening, and as soon as she entered the house she remarked that she noticed a strong odor of gas. Miss Hartman also noticed it, but no more attention was paid to it. In the upstairs rooms no odor was noticed.
Later, at about the hour mentioned, Mrs. Sorg prepared to return home and Miss Hartman went to the cellar to get something for her, before she left. When she entered the cellar, which is directly under the parlor, she struck a match and the escaping gas ignited. She was enveloped in flames and ran out of the kitchen and into the yard screaming. Fortunately she had the presence of mind to protect her eyes with her arms and when the flames were extinguished it was found that she was burned about the face and hands, but fortunately not fatally injured. She did not inhale any of the flame.
Miss Hartman was at once removed to the home of her brother, Edward Hartman, Fourteenth Street, and Dr. H.S. McConnel summoned who dressed her burns and she spent a night of comparative comfort.
A strange part of the affair is that the persons who were in the house state that the explosion did not occur until after Miss Hartman left the cellar.
But when it did come, it was terrific and could be heard all over town. The house was completely wrecked.
Mr. Hartman, who was sitting in the dining room was blown across the room and rendered unconscious. He soon recovered and suffered no permanent ill effects of his experience. William was in the third story and was rendered unconscious by the explosion. He recovered in a few moments and was one of the coolest persons about the place. He escaped from the house out of a window, to the roadway on Seventh Avenue, which is not far below the story.
Mrs. Sorg ran from the house before the explosion occurred.
The cause of the explosion was without a doubt the ignition of accumulated gas. Where the gas came from will have to be decided.
No gas has been used by the family for over two years and there were neither pipes or a meter in the house. The line of the Citizens Company passes along the street in front of the house but of course this does not prove that the gas came from this line. It may have
come from a line of the illuminating company or from a service pipe in the vicinity.
Mr. Hartman carried $1,500 insurance on his house and $500 on his furniture.
In the darkness last night the extent of the disaster could not be realized but today the hundreds of persons who visited the scene saw how complete was the wreck, and could not understand how any of the inmates escaped with their lives.
All the outside walls, except the cast wall are completely demolished, the bricks being scattered for forty feet in every direction.
The back porch is piled up in a confused mass, ten or fifteen feet from the house. Doors and windows are lying about the yard.
The partition walls, which are of frame, are all standing and the pictures are hanging undisturbed on the walls. The beds, chairs and tables are standing in different parts of the house, undisturbed. The fire amounted to little. A quantity of clothing and a chair, in the first floor, were burned. The fire department was called and reported quickly but did not put a line of hose on its building.
This morning many new features of the fire came out.
Mr. Hartman, it is thought, was blown from the dining room through a double doorway into the parlor.
Mrs. Sorg, who was not thought to be hurt, found that her face and hands were slightly burned.
When all were supposed to be out of the house, Mr. Hartman told his friends that Will was in the third floor. By this time Will had recovered from the shock and had walked to the rear of the house but the wall was gone. He returned to the Seventh Avenue side and was helped out by Ben Carr and several others who had run a wagon up under the window.
Mr. Hartman stated this morning that he would do nothing until he learned what the insurance company would do.
Miss Hartman was removed to the Beaver Valley General Hospital this morning.
This clipping was taken from a newspaper found in Uncle Bill's room after his death.