Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-05
BOY LOSES ARM
AND ROCKS TOWN
BY EXPERIMENT
Newton Youths Formula for
New Battery ExplOdes
When Compounded.

NEWTON, Dec. 5.-As the result of
experimenting with a new electric
battery f1fteen-year-old Gerald Gray
is in critical condition in the New
ton Hospital today.
He poured sulphuric acid into
mixture of chlorate of potash In the
office of his father, DR.. whitefield
Gray, yesterday afternoon. and the
explosion that followed rocked the
town and wrecked the building. The
boy was hurled twenty feet. his right
arm torn off at the shoulder and his
right leg so badly mangled that it
may have to be amputated.
'~ Electricity His Pastime.
Gerald is the owner of a CONNER
oial wireless telegraph service be-
tween Newton and Swartswood lake.
and his occupation, when not in high
school, was experimenting with cleo
tricity and chemicals. In his electri-
cal work he set fire to the house sew
eral times. His father finally re-
| moved the city electric current from
the home and reverted to the use of
gas as a precaution for the family's
| safety. t1rN3q Eeftl't+4
With a boy friend of his in Swarts-
wood Lake, six miles away, he estab-
I lished the Newton and Swartswood
Lake Wireless Company mot incor-
porated). He superintended the con-
| struction of the two stations, and
from the first the venture was a sue
cess. The boys have been sending
| messages between the two places for
| other persons, charging five cents for
a message of ten words at first, but
recently the rate had been increased
to ten cents.
+4' His own Formula.
| The batteries were getting weak
yesterday, and Gerald decided to re-
NEW them and with stronger chemi-
| cal compound. None of his books on
chemistry suggested mixing chloride
| of potash and sulphuric acid to make
| O. battery, but Gerald believed 1t
would make a very powerful one.
Dr. Gray, who is member of the
State Board of Veterinarians, had
many chemicals in his laboratory, and
the boy had free use of them. He
made the cfIlorate of potash first yes
terday afternoon, according to the for
mula in his chemistry text book.
That was quite simple With this in
the bottom of large jar In which
the battery terminals were placed,
the boy got a large bottle of sui
phuric acid from a shelf and while
| the jar was on a chair he began to
pour in the acid.
No one will ever know how much
| of the acid reached the potash. But
there was sufficient to cause a tre-
mendous explosion. The boy was
blown out through the front of the
building. He landed at a fence TWEEN
ty feet away. The building was
wrecked, the explosion sending planks
and splinters block away.
Most OF the residents of Newton
1 soon were on the scene. DIR. Gray
who was mile and a half out OF
town, heard the explosion, but did
not hurry home. as he believed the
concussion was caused by the blow
ing up of a powder magazine. The
boy was first carried into a neigh
boris home and then sent to the hos
pital, where surgeons began to work
upon him while he was still uncon-
! scious.
Besides losing his right arm, which
was blown far from the scene of the
explosion, he was cut in many places
by splinters and glass and burned by
acid. ~. 81 @