The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-11-16
EIGHT GIRLS BURNED
Fire in Washington Powder Plant of
which Former Leon Man is Sup
erlntendent Kills EiQht.

Chehalis, Washington, of which Vic
tor L. Bedier, formerly of this city
was superintendent, cost the lives o.
eight girls who were in the mixing
department, on November 1st. The
origin of the fire was unaccounteG
for, as it was shown there was nc
fire in the plant except in the furnace
room which was isolated from the
other buildings. At the inquest held
on the bodies of the victims the full.
est inquiry was made as to the cause
of the accident, and the coroner's
jury returned verdict that the girls
came to their. death by fire in the
packing room of the powder plant
and that the fire was purely acciden.
tai, and the jury holds the company
free from any blame.
The following account of the ter
rible accident is taken from the Seat
tie Post-Intelligencer:
Chehalis, Wash, Nov. 1.-Fire
which destroyed the plant of the I'm
perial Powder Company, at Chehalis
today, burned to death eight young
women employed in the mixing room
They are: Vera Mulford, niece of the
Mulford brothers, of Chehalis; Sadie
Westfall, an only daughter of Samuel
| Westfall; Eva Gilmore, sister of
Mrs. ]. w. Wilson; Bertha Hagle,
whose mother, Mrs. Mary White, is
a widow; Ethel Thorp, daughter Of
B. F. Thorp; Tile Rosebach, sister of
Mrs. Harry Kanouse, and Mrs. Ethel
Henry. Bertha Grown was so badly
burned that she died at II o'clock at
the St. Helens Hospital.
Hundreds of person, including the
relatives of the dead, swarmed about
Sticklin's morgue all the evening.
The relatives, with one exception,
however, were unable to identify
their loved ones, for all the bodies
were burned beyond recognition.
The fire began with flash of
powder about o'clock, and was so
swift and terrible in it's work that in
less time than it takes to tell, the
whole structure was roaring, seeth-
ing mass of flames. There were
dozen men working in and about the
factory at the time the accident oc-
Cured, and: all escaped without in
jury.
Just before the fare-up, Victor L.
Bedier; superintendent of the plant,
the chemist who discovered the pro-
cess of making Imperial powder, had
,calledg B1Ssie. Cochran from her work
Into another part of the plant. To
this fact she owes her life.
Eva Zavalosek, the only other girl
who escaped, was in the building
when the fash came and was thrown
out, she knows not how.
The Cochran girl ran toward the
company's railroad track, while the
Zavalosek girl tore madly up the
Coal creek valley, where it was nec-
essary to overtake her with an auto
mobile later, so badly was she fright
ened. She had her hat badly singed
and counts her escape as miraculous.
How the fire started will never be
was that a careless employe had al
lowed pot of parrafine to boil over
and that this ran into some loose
powder on table nearby, igniting it.
This theory is disputed and no can
tell for sure. Suffice it to say that
ther was terrific flash, and instant
ly came the blaze that snuffed out
the lives of the women employees.
The latter worked behind a bench
next to the wall. Apparently from
the position in which the bodies were
found, the women had been blown
into punched position, or had hud-
died together in frenZied effort to
escape. Their work bench stood
across their only chance of egress,
but the flames burst too rapidly about
them in every direction.
Besides causing this terrible loss
of life, the fire destroyed four of the
building owned by the company and
equipment, powder that was ready
for shipment and other property val
ued at fully $4,000. Two of the
buildings were saved. The flare-up
can hardly be called an explosion,
the powder being of kind planned
especially not to explode except when
confined. The result was that after
the first flareup the buildings and
contents burned slowly, the former
being of galvanized iron construc-
tion
The Imperial Powder Company
plant was erected on Coal Creek,
over the hill from town, and just
outside the city limits, about a year
ago. Cassius M. Cole is president of
the company, G. G. Israel, retired
attorney, formerly of Olympia, Is
secretary and treasurer, and Victor
L. Bedier, superintendent.
The company has just. completed
arrangements for the erection of a
branch plant in Medford, Oregon.
Word of the terrible disaster came
to Chehalis from the power plant of
the traction company, located near
the scene, and the news spread like
wild-fire. Scores fastened to the
scene to lend aid.
w. E. Birchfield, engineer for the
traction company, was the first to
find any of the burned bodies. He
worked faithfully for few minutes,
but was soon overcome by the intense
heat.
Coroner Sticklin soon arrived on
the scene and took charge of the
rescue work.
Chehalis was shrouded in gloom
tonight on account of the terrible
accident. The theaters closed their
houses for the night, and all over
town there was great excitement.
Messrs Israel, Cole and Bedier, of
the powder company, are distracted
,xy 4, rusof 4uo, tho 10 W vyhi oh