The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-13
THREE STATES ARE ROCKED BY
 BIG EXPLOSION
Two Hundred Tons of Pow der at DuPont Plant Let
 Go, Wrecking Works.

ing cap and fuse works of the Du Pont Powder Co. at Pompton Lakes N. J., blew up at 9:3O o'clock last night with a roaring crash that shook all northern New Jersey and Man. haitian and was felt as far away as New London, Conn.
 Persons were hurled from their beds in Upper Montclair and Pater- son, miles away, and in Caldwell win dows were shattered. Because of the terrific force of the blast first reports were. that a score of men had been killed, but up to midnight there were only two known dead.
 There were two distinct explosions, about five minutes apart. There was a blinding flash and roar and then a burst of flames which lighted up the country for miles around. Then a vivid silence, with a great light streaming in strange bluish colors toward the sky, while people held their breath and tried to realize what had happened. Then another ter rife. lighting like flash and a louder rumbling roar.
 Strange Whistle Is Mystifying.
 There was a strange whistling sound heard by those near Pompton and Haskell as the aftermath of the explosion, and then as the silence of disaster came again there was only the steadily rising pillar of flame and the cloud of smoke to indicate where the greatest explosion of the Haskell hod
 In a few minutes the roads leading to the plant were filled with people running and with automobiles. Women whose husbands were at work there went crying and wringing their hands toward the high fence that en- closes the large tract of land where the powder buildings are scattered far apart.
 The night shift of 800 men had gone to work in the little buildings, a few men to each house, and it was feared that the force of the detona- ton had been so great that many of them must have been terribly injured, if not killed.
 Telephone Wires Down.
 Just what happened inside the works when the cap and fuse house went up could not be learned for some time because the force of the explosion had ripped down tho telephone wires for miles around.
 But the terror of the explosion in the towns nearest to the plant itself was not much more than that of peo- pie in villages and cities further away. Tn Paterson, Pasaic, Caldwell and other places people whZse nerves had been strained by the bombarding fire of the night before at Kingsland won dered what was in store for them this time as their houses rocked and cell- ings came down on their heads and pictures and bric-a-brac rattled and to~tffe floors.
 They ran fearfully into the streets to stand and gaze at the great column of flickering flame that made the country roundabout so light that one could see to read 8 newspaper And as they waited there came the second explosion, more terrific even than the first, and in Upper Montclair and Paterson people were knocked off their feet
 Doctors Wife Describes It.
 The whole countryside near Pomp- ton Lakes rocked and trembied, ac- cording to Mrs. William s. Colfax, wife of the chief physician for the Du Pont company. Her home, which is more than a mile away from the scene, was nearly wrecked. The plas- ter fell every window in the house was broken and furniture wasEoppled over and damaged.
 T was in the automobile with my husband when the terrible crash ,arpe," Mrs. Colfax said over the tel ephone last night. i've were going to call on some friends and were driving toward Pompton Lakes. Our house is ] mile from Pompton Lakes, and we 1ad gone about half way when the ex plosion came. The deep banging and laundering sound was first, then there was a peculiar whistling sound md the earth shook. A second flare ID came, followed by a third more ;errific than the others. We could see he light, and I decided it was the fuse and cap works at Pompton Lakes.
 My husband turned the car around and drove me back to our home. The telephone was ringing, and he was told to come immediately. I take it ,here was work for him there. The night shift must have gone to work. and there are 600yof them there.''
 Six Buildings Destroyed
 The entire plant of the Cap ana Fuse works, consisting of six or eight one story buildings, was destroyed by the explosion, and two workmen were killed, according to Dr. George w. Col fax of Pompton Lakes. The office building and the records of the com pany were also destroyed. VI It is not known how many persons were in- jured but Dr. .Colfax believes that most of them had time to go out after the first explosion which was small in to those which followed.
 The explosive used in the Cap and Fuse works was illuminate of mercury, the highest explosive handled in this section. It is made with quicksilver and nitric acid, and explodes with a very slight detonation.
 Three shifts of men work at the plant One shift goes on at a. n., another at D. m. and another at midnight. The total number of men employed in each shift is about 250, according to Dr. Colfax
 The plant is located three-quarters of a mile from the center of Pompton Lakes village to the east Every win- dow in the village was smashed and much damage was done.
 The company doctors rushed to the scene of the explosion and prepara- lions Were made in the hospital in rJo.l>k11 +o faka oaro of a Ia aroa nuro