Bisbee daily review., 1918-05-19
200. KILLED IN OF NUNITIONPLANT
Many Workers Are Burned to Death After Being Blown Into Air; Property Loss Estimated at $1, 500, 1000.
CBy Review Leased Vvire)

PITTSBURG. Pa. May IS-Prob- ably 200 men were killed today when an explosion O. T. N. T. demolished the plant of the Aetna chemical con- pany at Oakdale on the Panhandle division of the Pennsylvania railroad. 16 miles from here.
 Five hundred workmen were startled at noon by a report. not much louder than the crack of a pistol. IL came arOm the soda house. but they knew it's deadly import. and they rushed for the nearest exit. Before they could gain the open the air seemed to burst into flames. the earth heaved and rocked. and with a roar that wss heard for miles. the long factory build- ings weer hurled high into the air carrying with them pOnderOus equip ment and scores of men. A great cloud of dust and smoke settled over the scene and through its deadly fumes torn and mangled forms dropped to the earth. many dead, but others to meet their end in the flaming debris.
 Blown Half Mile
 The number of dead had not been determined tonight and it is possible that it may not be known for days. fl indeed it ever will be known. State and county authorities agreed that it would reach 200.
 Many of the injured. some of whom were scund half a mile from the rem nants of the factory, were brought to Pittsburg hospitals by special trains and in ambulances, all of them so badly hurt that in only a comparative , ly few cases were physicians able to hold out any hope for their recovery. The property loss was estimated at S1 .50O, ,0OO
 Immediately after the second explO- sion the mass of broken beams and twisted timhers broke out in a great blaze. while the highly inhamabie chemicals used in the manufacture of T. N T. and T. N A. added fuel to the flames. Blast after blast followed as the heat reached the tanks. each one scattering the burning embers and endangering property in the entire community. NoXious gases spread over the valley and surrounding hills. making perilous the worko f rescue.
 Buildings Block Tracks
 Telephone and telegraph wires were wrecked by the explosion and tine tracks of the Pittsburg. Cincinnati. Chicago and St Louis. railroad (The Panhandle route) were blocked by the itlling !ildings. An emplOye hastened to Carnegie. four miles distant where wreck and relics trains were made mp and hurried to Oakdale. while every hospital in Pittsburg sent ambulances with nurses and doctors. Company guards. under the direction of state constabulary surrounded the burning ruins. and were later reinforced by deputy sheriffs and deputy coroners.
 For time it seemed as if it would be impossible to reach the wounded because of the heat. the constantly widening zone of gases and the danger from explosions. But the nurses and doctors. aided by the officers, made thei rway as best they could.
 One young nurse, Miss Meryl Asch- elman of New Haven. member of the stan of St Johns hospital. Pitts .burg. who was among the first to answer the call for help. was perhaps fataly injured She was acting as a stretcher bearer. carrying a wounded man to the ambulance when in one of the explosions she was thrown to the ground and the patient on the stretcher was killed One of her legs was blown of.
 Burned by Acids
 Other rescuers were caught near a little stream into which acid and oil had poured It exploded as thel'