New Britain herald., 1917-04-11
INTRIGUE BLAMED FOR DEATH OF l22
Officials Of Eddystone Ammuni-
 ton Corp. Suspect Plotter
ACCIDENT THEORY WEAK

motive Works Converted From For mer Opinion-Twenty Missing and Many Injured Arc Expected to Die. Chester, Pa, April 11.-President ] Alba B. Johnson, of the Baldwin Locomotive works. changed his the ory that the Eddystone explosion was ! due to an accident after a visit today to the plant. He now agrees with the view of Samuel M. vauclain, pres- ident of the Eddystone Ammunition corporation. that plotters caused the explosion.
 Although we have only circum- stantial evidence" MT. Johnson said, it looks as if some one touched off bomb or a time clock with an ex- plosion attached. have become con- vinced, after talk with the Eddy stone officials, that the explosion could not have occurred through an acci- dent"
 The police have released two sus-
 
 1 arrested last night. Four different sets of investigators are at work. President Vauclain said today: The disaster occurred in the build- ing devoted to loading shrapnel for the Russian government with black powder commonly known as the base charge. There were 10000 pieces of shrapnel in the building.
 There were three explosions, it appears. in rapid succession with about ten seconds between the first and last. The plant had been in- spected by the best experts in the country, and pronounced execution ally well designed in every respect. In the design and construction of the buildings, accidents virtually were eliminated from the loss list of possi- bihties.
 Ignition by dropping is exceedingly remote" said Captain w. M. Will helm. the general manager and vice president of the plant commenting on the theory that g shell. accidentally dropped. might have caused the ex- plosion. Black powder. of the kind loaded into the shrapnel shells, will not Ignite by striking, but will ignite by friction. For that reason no per son was permitted in the destroyed building except with rubber-soled shoes There were guards at every door and nobody could enter the building without passing the inspec- ton of the guard. Secret service men also worked among the employees within the building ito see that all safety rules were observed" President Vauclaln said the families nf 1y@ S~,S, provided for by the company. Replying to 8 rumor that the Anglo French commission had taken over the stock of the Eddystone company, MT. Johnson declared there was noth- l ing in it. "The stock of the Eddy stone is all in American hands," he said.
 Dead Placed at 1922 Revised lists of the fatalities resulting from the explosions placed the dead at 122. the majority being girls and young women. Between 12O and 125 men, women and girls were injured, many being so burned and torn by shrapnel that death was hourly expected. Twenty others employed in the struc- ture. which was blown to splinters, are missing.
 Although police worked through the night attempting to establish identity of the dead they were ham, pered by the condition of the bodies and the fact that the time book, re- cording all employed in the structure, was destroyed by the first blast of the explosion. Some of the victims were
 blown into the Delaware river, so that an exact calculation of the dead never may be possible.
 Many Investigations in Progress.
 The armies of investigators today
 concentrated on sitting the narratives
 of survivors. Separate investigations
 were begun by federal, state, muni-
 cipal and company officials. The en- tire force of special agents of the de- . partment of justice's bureau of inves- , tigation in Philadelphia, was assigned to running out a maze of leads, many ! of which were admitted to be based mostly on rumor, but from which in l formation of importance may be de-
 veloped.
 Captain Walter Wilhelm, general . manager and vice president of the
 munitions company, started a separ.
 ate inquiry. while police of Philadel.
 phia and Chester investigated severa angles of the destruction. The state . investigation is in charge of Lew Pal. mer, chief of the bureau of inspection ? of the state department of labor Gangs of laborers. guarded by pickets. worked until an early hour to .. day clearing away the wreckage ol y the "F"' building. Work was re- sumed as usual today in all depart
 ments except the box loading ant shell base departments which were > housed in the ruined building. The ' plant will be in complete operation on April 24 it was announced.
 Instances of conspicuous brayer, were numerous during the work O.