The Washington times., 1917-01-13
SUSPECT FTREBUG
IN Big EXPLOSIONS.
Widespread Probe Is to Be Made
by Authorities of Two
Powder Blasts.
Continued from First Page.)


after talking with surviving work
men. One of the du Pont company
doctors was quoted by the sergeant
as saying he had counted eleven
dead.
Members of the Pompton Lakes
police force familiar with explosions
which have been numerous in the
vicinity of last nights blasts, de-
clared 1t always is hard to name the
number of dead They said that at
the first blast workers always start
to run, many of them running so far
they never come back. Counting or
noses under such conditions, it was
stated, avails little.
Du Points Report Two Missing.
It always is the company's practice,
these men stated. to say nothing about
the number OF dead. The du Points
statement accounts for only two miss
ing.
Hints of incendiarism in connection
with the blaze which caused the eX-
plosions are many. James Lyman,
superintendent of the plant, said the
fire started in a glazing barref' a
cylindrical piece of machinery in
which powder is mixed with graphite
to reduce the friction. From here, he
said, 1t spread to a magazine in which
400, 600 pounds of smokeless powder
to be used in cartridges for machine
guns. This caused the big explosion.
he stated.
Windows All Out.
Not a house in the village of Pomp-
ton Lakes has a whole window today.
Houses belonging to- the company and
located three-fourths of a mile away,
were lifted from their foundations
and flung. twisted and broken, to the
ground.
A report that guards at the plant
had beaten back the men when they
started to run was denied by eye
witnesses, who said workmen, guards.
and residents of the village fled at
the first warning.
Make Nitro-gIycerise.
The Haskell plant, in which last
nights explosion occurred, manufac-
lures nitro-glycerine smokeless pow
der, which, under certain conditions,
does explode and for this reason the
accident at Haskell, unlike similar
accidents at Carney's Point, shook Ehe
surrounding territory.
twenty-five explosions have oc-
CURED in this plant since the company
began making munitions for the al
lies, but in each instance officials in
charge have insisted that they were
accidental.
Starting with a brief flash in what
is known as the glazing barrel at the
Haskell plant, the flames last night
spread quickly to the blending house
and ate their way toward the three
big magazines containing nearly a
million pounds of powder.
Warned Village.
With the flash came the warning
cry OF nearby workmen and in a mo-
ment the 800 men on the night force
were racing and yelling through the
village, rousing the Inhabitants as
they ran
The country roundabout was filled
with fleeing terror-stricken men.
women, and children, when a little
later the earth bumped and shook
with the rumbling roar as the first
magazine blew up.
Sheds, ramshackle houses and out
buildings collapsed. Thousands of
window panes shivered from their
frames and ratified to the ground. Ma
chinery in small factories in Haskell,
Midwife, Bloomingdale, and other
towns nearby jumped from their
bases and tumbled about, smashing
floors and ceilings and in some in
stances wrecking buildings.
Sky F1ared Red.
Instantly the black night sky fiared
red from the burning powder plant.
Thousands OF people throughout New
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and
Connecticut felt the rumbling jar of
the explosion, and from windows as
far away as Albany looked out and
saw the fire light leaping against the
sky.
Buildings four miles from the scene
of the blow-up were wrecked, win
dows were smashed fifteen miles away
and automobiles five miles away from
the place were blown from the ground.