The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-04-10

FACTORY
!. HORROR
Bale 9 : Plant Near Philadel-
pHS Ient up in Roar This
= ,rning, Killing 101
People. 81.
NEARLY ALL WOMEN
Greatest Catastrophe % Far in Ameri'
ca Since War Factories Began
Making eatf-DealIne
Supplies. ..

| UNITED Press Leased Wire Service. !
| CHESTER, Pa, April 1o-Thou-
| sands of pounds Of explosives in.
| tended to MAIN Europe's soldiers,
today were touched off in some un.
known fashion and reaped horrible
harvest Of death among young girls
! and women. .,..
At least one hundred employees Of
the Baldwin Locomotive Works muni.
| tions plant, mainly girls employed In
| filling shrapnei cases, were missing
late this afternoon. Bits OF charre d
| bodies scattered over an inclosure OF
| great extent and resembling a Euro
! pean battlefield in the great craters
torn out of the earth by the heavy
explosions, made it difficult to ascer.
tain the exact death list.
| An official statement late this aft.
| ernoon from Coroner White Of Ches.
ter said 101 were known to be dead.
| All the bodies had then been taken
from the ruins. Although the num-
Der Of dead was officially reported,
1t was impossible to secure the
names because the bodies were all
SO badly charred It was impossible
to ascertain in many cases even
whether they were men or women.
Coroner White stated that there
was only one woman who had been
taken from the wreckage that could
ever possibly be identified.
Two hospitals were filled with in
Iured. The list will reach nearly
two hundred. Many cannot live.
Their bodies were torn and twisted
by the heavy explosions or burned
by the terrific heat, their features
bIackened and we'll nigh unrecogniz-
able.
Anguishne scenes occurred around
the site of the explosion.
Armed guard, inspired by wild
rurors Of German plots and deter
mined to search out the truth Of
such rumors, coIdIy flung back weep
ing relatives Of those known to have
been employed In the plant where
the explosion occurred.
The cries Of the sorroWing ones
rose all afternoon above the sound Of
intermittent popping Of shells.
Occasionally guards would bring
out black bits Of flesh of the dead
or terribly injured survivors.
Two hospitaIs-the Crozier and the
ferers.
ne TSO CTOSS SOSltAsSS VI W
ton, DEL, philadelphia, Chester. Wal
Iinoford and other nearby cities al.
ready mobiIized BY the Gerr1an-Ameri-
can war turned at once to the aid Of
the stricken city, all nurses and physi.
Gle ms volunteering at once.
The explosion was the most violent
and the most horrible Of any Of the
munitions catastrophies that have &C.
CURED in America. Philadelphia was
shaken as If by an earthquake. Three
distinct explosions occurred before the
mass Of deadly mater began pop
pina off. A fire started once, its
flames eneufing the few ,at surviv
ed the stunning shock Of he expIos.
ion.
So many Of the victims who sur
vived are UNCONSCIOUS or deIirious
from their injuries and so many OF
the dead were literally burned crisp
that It may be several days before
complete list is available.
For a time the authorities forcibly
refused admission of frenzied reIa-
tives and friends to the morgue. The
horror was the more heart gripping
since most Of the victims we're
women.
The ground near the plant was so
badly torn up that ambulapces could
not approach. A heavy pail of smoke
hung over the whole district and in
termittent explosions were still oc-
curing after one o'clock this after
noon.
The cadet battalion Of Pennsyl-
vania military college at Chester,
under command of Captain Louis s.
Morey. Tenth United States cavalry,