Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-08-17
PROBE EXPLOSION
FATAL TO THREE
Former Newarker and His Son
Among Oxygen Plant Vic
TINS at Linden.
he IS WALTER LITTELL.
ONCE A FIREMAN HERE
rI1ty Tanks of Charged Air Ex-
plode and Flames Jllumine
the Sky.

Special to the Evening Star.
ELIZABETH, Aug. IA coroner,s
jury and the police of Linden today
are trying to fix the blame for the
explosion and destruction of the Lin
oe AR Products Company at Lin
den Saturday night which killed
three persons and injured three
others. The dead are:
Walter Sayres Littell, forty-rive
years old, of 431 Bayway. east, en-
gineer OF the plant.
his son, Walter Sayres Littell. jr.,
ten years old.
Thomas Sheridan, of 1874 elizabeth
avenue. Waterman at the plant.
Inc injured were taken to the St
Elizabeth Hospital They are:
Walter Farrell, twenty-five years
oio, or III Railway avenue, blown
through door; suffering from shock.
fred Gressner, seventeen years old,
of 94S Grove street, suffering from
bruises.
george Yardley, twenty-one years
Old, of 552 Edgar road, blown through
window; suffering from shock
Littelps body was hurled through
q window and struck a freight car on
a siding 200 feet away. Parts of the
body were picked up more than 200
feet from the plant. More than 100
separate pieces were picked up by the
undertakers. The legs and arms are
still missing.
The engineers little son had Just
hidden his father good night after
carrying him his lunch, when the ex-
plosion came. The boy was talking
to Sheridan and the two were thrown
thirty feet across the floor Their
bodies were found under a heap of
debris.
Littell Former Newarker.
Littell, the engineer of the works,
WAS well known in Newark. He was
at one time a member of the New
ark fire department and served as
engineer of No. IA Engine Company.
Littell entered the service of the
local fire department March Is, 1897,
and, being an engineer of recognized
ability, was assigned to Engine Com
pany No. Ia and given charge of the
steamer. He was decidedly popular
with his fellows and stood high in
the estimation of the fire commits
sioners.
On August |, 1900, he resigned as a
member of the department to take
near Plainfield, Union county.
Farming did not prove as profitable
as expected, and the fireman in a
year or two could find in it no at
traction to hold him to the life.
He applied to the Newark fire COM
missioners for reinstatement and in
all probability would have been re-
stored to his old position but for the
fact that he had become voting cit
izen of Plainfield and had therefore
lost his Newark citizenship. 1t would
have been necessary for Littell un-
der department regulations concern
ing original entry into the depart
ment, to again take up his residence
in Newark and remain there five years
before becoming eligible to member
ship in the department. At the end
of FIVE years, 1t was shown, he would
have passed the age limit.
At the risk of their lives William
O'Brien and Matthew Dolly. en-
ployed at the morgue, climbed under
debris and along Orders to rescue the
bodies, both of which were burning.
It was necessary to pour water on
them before they could be moved.
Just as they left the spot another
tank exploded. The body of Sheridan
was identified by suspended buckle,
W0lie lHdL u 4ssOuAA6 A4AbNCAA vas @N~NN
titled by the khaki trousers he wore.
The first explosion, followed by a
binding flash, shook houses for nearly
a mile around. Window panes near
the plant were smashed. In st. Eliza
beth Hospital the beds were shaken,
causing terror among the patients,
who were quieted by sisters and
nurses. Many residents in the south
ern section of this city thought there
had been an earthquake and rushed
thinly clad from their homes. Others
thought that naval battle was being
fought off Sandy Hook.
Gas siphons Explode.
Within two minutes after the first
explosion the entire plant was in
flames, lighting up the sky for miles
around. The intense heat caused
large siphons containing carbonic and
oxygen gas to explode with great
rapidity. At each explosion the earth
was shaken, spreading terror in the
neighborhood. AS soon as 1t was
nlant was on fire wives and relatives
of the employees hurried to the plant
to inquire for the missing.
The Linden fire department hurried
20 the scene, but was unable to give
any assistance because OF the lack of
water. Today the Linde Air Products
nlant is a mass of twisted iron and
bricks. The loss is placed at 100000.
More than thirty men are thrown out
of employment.
shortly after the first explosion a
call was sent to this city for aid.
Ambulances were rushed from the
Alexian, st. Elizabeth and General
hospitals. Drs. Morgan Stein, Otto
Wagner and James Cabham also re-
sponded. Seven employees who were
In the building escaped serious in
Jury. They were given first aid and
were taken to their homes. Fire
chief Gerstung, of this city, hurried
10 the plant in an automobile and
directed the Linden firemen in saw
ing several auto trucks.
George Yardley was talking at one
of the telephones when the explosion
came. He was hurled through a win
dow to a point twenty feet away He
was unconscious when picked up by
Martin Smith, fireman from Linden.
He was attended by DIR. Cabham
who ordered his removal to a hos
pital.
FARRELL was in the engine-room at
the time of the explosion. He was
blown out of an open door a distance
of seventy-five feet. He was taken
to the home of William Bradhurst
and from there to st. Elizabeth Hos
nital. Gressner, who also was in the
boiler-room, was hurled against q