Iowa
Old Press
Waterloo Evening Courier
Waterloo, Blackhawk co., Iowa
September 23, 1929
ELECTRIC SPARK AND GAS FUMES BLAMED FOR ST. ANSGAR TRAGEDY
Municipal Probe into Disaster is Set for Tuesday-Blast originated in
Basement, Near Gasoline Storage Tanks
Business in St. Ansgar suspended today between 1 and 2:30 p.m. while
services were being conducted for C. O. Parker, manager, who was fatally
injured in the blast which destroyed a gasoline service station here
Saturday.
St. Ansgar, Ia. : The official investigation into the service station
explosion which on Saturday caused three deaths here, has been postponed
until Tuesday, to await arrival of County Attorney Fred Bush as adviser to
the local authorities. Mayor Ed Tessman and other municipal officials desire
to confer with the county attorney in making the investigation, to assure
that all possible angles may be covered, they said this morning.
Parker not Smoker
Charles Parker, the station manager, who died of burns and injuries an hour
after the blast, did not smoke, it has been learned. Henry Simmering and
Doris Conklin, customers who died in the explosion, are said to have
occasionally indulged in smoking. Investigation of the wreckage, which will
not be cleared until after the formal investigation tomorrow, indicated the
explosion occurred in the concrete chamber in the basement, as all remaining
fragments project outward from that point.
Was Pioneer Station
The station, one of the first erected here, had been in operation nine
years, most of that time with Parker as manager.
Trace Blast to Motor
Of the several probable causes advanced unofficially for the terrific
filling station blast here last Saturday which snuffed out the lives of
three persons, including the proprietor of the station, the one which best
seems to explain an explosion followed by devastating fire is that gasoline
fumes were ignited by the spark from an electric motor.
Officials of the Champlin Oil company from Mason City, whose products were
handled by the station, started an investigation Saturday of this
probability, based upon these known facts.
First: The filling station occupied the site of what formerly had been a
business building with a basement. When the filling station was erected, the
basement was left, and the two large gasoline tanks were placed within the
walls instead of being buried underground at a distance from the station as
is the case in most stations.
Motor Generates Sparks
Second: In close proximity to the gasoline tanks was an air compressor
outfit, operated by an electric motor. Observers pointed out that a motor
must be in perfect condition to not emit sparks from its brushes, when
current is turned into it, as when the air compressor outfit would start up.
Few motors are maintained in such efficient manner that they do not spark at
the brushes, according to a St. Ansgar electrician who was making a private
investigation after the tragedy. Following the blast, it was discovered that
both tanks remained intact and full of gasoline. A few moments before, the
explosion, B. A. Larson, agent for the Champlin Oil company here, had driven
his tank truck out of the station, after putting in 663 gallons of gasoline.
Leakage of Gasoline
More likely it is believed than that the air compressor tank exploded, is
that one of the gasoline tanks had a small leak and that when the mixture of
air and gasoline became just right outside the tank, a spark from the
compressor motor ignited the mixture.
The bodies of the victims, Charles Parker, 60, owner of the station, Henry
Simmering, 64, of St. Ansgar, and Miss Doris Conklin, 18, Mitchell, were
mangled and burned. Mr. & Mrs. Simmering were on their way to visit
relatives at Titonka, IA, and had just had oil and gasoline placed in their
car. Simmering accompanied Parker into the gas station while the latter made
change and the blast came as the two emerged from the door.
Woman May Recover
Mrs. Simmering remained in the car and was caught by a mass of flaming
debris falling around her, although she managed to drag herself free. She
was painfully burned however and suffered greatly from shock. She has a
chance for recovery altho her condition is grave. The car was a charred
skeleton.
Parker lived for an hour after the explosion but it is believed that
Simmering and the Conklin girl were killed instantly. Miss Conklin was in
the women’s restroom. With her father and a brother, she was en route to
Austin, MN.
Wreckage of the station became a funeral pyre for the three victims, blazing
furiously for more than a half hour before it was brought under control.
Parker’s agonizing cries spurred scores of volunteer workers.
Fragments Blown Block
The wall of the public library next to the filling station was caved in by
the concussion and all the windows on that side were broken out. Book
shelves were loosened and tumbled toward the center of the reading room and
books were strewn about. Bits of wood and stone from what had been the
filling station were blown a block and windows of residences and business
buildings at a considerable distance from the station were broken.
Parker moved to St. Ansgar in the spring of 1920, from a farm between St.
Ansgar and Otranto. He had owned a filling station at Fourth and Washington
streets for a number of years. Simmering had been a resident of this place
for a long period of years.
Henry Simmering
The funeral of Henry Simmering, customer who was killed in the explosion and
fire, will take place Wednesday afternoon at St. Ansgar’s German Lutheran
church. The service is being deferred in order to permit attendance of his
wife, who was severely burned. Mrs. Simmering, at first believed fatally
injured, is expected to recover without permanent disability. Possibility of
the loss of her sight has passed, the attending physician now believes.
Doris Conklin
The funeral of Doris Conklin, killed in the explosion which wrecked a
filling station at St. Ansgar while she was in the restroom, was conducted
Sunday afternoon at the Community church in Mitchell, IA. She was 17 years
old. Surviving her are the parents, Mr. & Mrs. Earl Conklin, a brother and
two sisters. She was born at Owasa, Iowa, from which place the family moved
a few years ago to Mitchell County.
[transcribed by D.B., contributed by K.K., February 2009]