Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1917-04-11
liz KILLED IN
Big ARMS BLAST
IN UNITED STATES
One Hundred and TWenty-0ne
Also Injured in Plant Near
Chester, Pa.
MANY GIRLS AMONG VICTIMS
Bodies of Women Blown to Atoms by
Terrific ExpIosions-Thirty Thou
sand Shells ExpIode-PIot
Is Hinted

+
Chester, pa, April 11.--One hundred,
and twelve nDRl:siQpts, most t% btbem
women and girls, are known to have
lost their lives and 121 were injured
by series of terrific explosions in the
Shrapnel building Of the. EddystOne
Ammunition corporation at, EddystOne,
one mile from this city. MunyGof the
injured were MORALLY hurt and it is
feared the final death list will reach $50,
while some who We're hurt probably
will be maj jfq # fri. life, atets q.
How my OF, the 800 or more en-
plOyees in the building, in which were
stored approximately 10000 shells, es-
capped is almost beyond conception, as
there was scarcely fragment of the
structure left intact.
Fire Adds to Horror.
Fire added 70 the horror and most
Of The bodies We're SO badly charred
that identification was impossible.
In the absence of any official state
ment, many theories as to the cause
Of the disaster. one OF the worst ever
experienced IN This section, were nd
vanced. i.l!.nurs Of plots and arrests
Of persons both inside and outside OF
the plant were numerous, but all
lacked confirmation.
After spending several hours inves-
tigating they reported that they had
learned from officials of the corpora
ton who made an investigation that
il quantity Of sirapnel had heen placed
near Il radiator and the heat might
easily have exploded it. Their opinion
is that the explosion was purely acct
dental and they scout the suggestion
that it was TIE result of plot.
An official of the corporation. in dis
cussing the probable cause Of the OK
ploson. declared that ut no time did
he believe there WAS more than one
h;lli ton Of l.ONhc! in the building :.
one time, aid that I.l.s YVES never ii.
bulk.
The explosion. which was felt in
Philadelphia, Il distance of - miles. oc-
CURED about ten o'clock in the morn
ing in what is known as the 40 f"
building, Il twO-story structure, Is by
300 feet.
Workers Chiefly Women.
In this building time fuses were pre-
pared. more than so per cent of the
workers being women and girls. Prob
ably fifty men and boys were employed
in the building at the time of the blast,
and the majority of them escaped.
Great excitement followed the eX-
plOsiop. a heavy pail of smoke dark
ened the entire town, which has
population of about 5000 This was
soon lightened by the flames from the
burning building.
Rescue squads composed Of other
employees at the plant were quickly
formed and Il call for assistance was
sent to Philadelphia, Chester. Whining
ton and other nearby points
Militia Guards Plant.
The entire Chester fire department
responded and umbuances from Phila-
delphia and Chester were soon at the
scene. A strong guard of Pennsyl.
vania militiamen &nd cadets from the
Pennsylvania Military academy was
thrown around the plant and everyone
except those assisting in the rescue
work were forbidden to approach.
Fifteen minutes after the explosion
the bodies of the dead and injured
were being carried out.
Bodies Thrown 200 Yards.
Several bodies were tished out of the |
200 yards from the Inflated
building, and it is feared that others
may have been blown into the river !
still farther away. All We're badly |
lnutilated and many were burned be-
vor3 -Escc.niticn