Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1884-04-03
change 10 temperature. anything above
1909 being considered dangerous,

l30O being considered dangerous.
In one corner Of the room was tan
for glyoerine, having capacity Of Q. 80
pounds. In another corner was ali ct
ne, supplied with steam from dis
tinoe, which revolved the "sgitator,"
series of iron blades which turned in th
mixing kettle. Into this kettle, who's
capacity was 5000 pouud-, the acid
from the tanks outside the building rs
by gravity through a pipe. Two me-
were employed in this room. George Nor
ton, the boss and engineer, who was psi
S2.75 day, and Lewis Ley OF Paulsboro
hid assistant, who received so rs per day
It WAS Ley's duty to dip the glycerin
from the tank and pour It into funnel
from which 1t ran into the mixing kettle
where it was mingled by the "aeitator'
with the acids flowing from the tank
outside. When the scids and glycerint
had united, the resulting nitro -glyoerlnt
was conveyed through pipe to the frs
tank In the extension down stairs, al
already described.
THE CASUALTY.
A little after 10 O'Clock W. q. l.. Ney,
an Intelligent employe Of the company
was standing at some distance from the
nitro Rlyoerine house, when he saw
George Norton rush out Of the building
and run towards the business office. H.
had seen Superintendent Hill and Presi-
dent dupOnt enter another house Jus,
before. Not finding his superiors, at the
office, Norton turned back and ran with
all speed to the nitro.g glycsrine house,
going In On raised tramwsy, while just
| hafOra him In ~
entered from the other side, az they had
Seen that something WAS wrong. In a
moment, while Norton was still in the
doorway terrific explosion took
place, throwing the heavy building
high into the air. AokersoD, an agent OF
the company, was sbJut 80 iset from tb =
structure, but WAS Instantly killed. The
five men inside was torn iu q terribl,
manner and covered with debrii. A.
Norton eped by on his way bscs, Ne.
called out to him to know what was the
matter. Norton looked over his shoulder
with oomioal grin and yelled back that
the place was on fire. Chemist jackson
heard the noise, and started from hia
own building, but, beginning to under
stand what was up, went back
Hardly had he shut his
door when the explosion occurred.
A moment after the sir was filed with
the flying fragments and the seemingly
solid foundations Of the IN. g." house
vanished, leaving only heap Of bricks
and sand, under which were the remains
of the owner, superintendent, foreman
and salesman. Ley was the only man
within 100 feet Of the bdilding who was
not instantly killed and he was the only
man whose skin was broken. There
were two gashes in his neck, clean cut as
though made with sharp knife. 1t is
supposed that the flying glass made the
inoisions.
Within minute the workmen from the
adjoining buildings, accustomed to tho
danger, had reached the wrecked build
ing. Physicians were summoned, but be-
fore any arrived Ley was dead, The
workmen found the bodies of Mr.. dupont
and Superintendent Hill buried slmost 2
feet under the sand which hSd formed the
foundation OF the building.
AN EXPEDITIONS VERDICT.
One of the remarkable features Of the
accident was the sptpess with which the
employees grasped the situation. With
superintendent and foreman dead, their
subordinates acted promptly summonipg,
physicians from this city from Chester and
the neighbcrbcod. The tug belonging
the establishment was dispatched at once
for the doctors, and another employe
went to Paulsboro for Constable Frank
Green, who acts s5 coroner. Two hours
after the accident occurred, II men, all
employees OF the works had been em.
psneled as Jury, and brief hearing
OF testimony resulted in verdict of
death from explosion of nitro glycerine
from causes unknown 50 far as could
be ascertained no official effort was made
to trace the accident to its primary cause.
Certainly no effort was spared to prevent
inquiry into it by persons not officials,
Every road leading from Gibbstown to
the works was picketed by employees who
carried sticks aud sternly for bads intru-
sion. They guarded railways across the
road and were as truculent as though
clothed with official power.
A THEORY OF THE EXPLOSION.
W. II. L. Nsy, WHO is quo ed above,
says that the burning Of the nitro
glycerine through too high temperature
Is by no means uncommon, and hss never
before resulted In explosion at those
works. He thinks that sftsr the stuff
got afre the two men tried to extinguish
it, running to an ice house near by to get
ice wherewith to cool the substance.
Then they ran for help, and, returning
with IL, rendered fool hardy by the con,
stant pre- enoe of danger, still endsavored
to avert their fate. Iu moment after
five Of them were dead and the sixth was
dying.
Ney says that only short time ago the
authorities we're warned that there were
not sufficient coils within the vat to pro-
ducs sufficient cold and that the
chemist OF the establishment had pro
nounced il unsafe. "Jsckson will be
superintendent now" he said, "but you
may bet he won't use that machine. de
had too narrow an Escape himself" The
place had bsen on f:e several times be-
fore, but it had always been extinguished
before an explosion could sake place.
Another theory ia that they were try
ing to produce the nitro-glyceriDe without
the presence of sulphuric acid. or at least
with decreased amount. The acid
reduces the heat and its removal may
have induced combustion