New-York tribune., 1918-03-28
c garetteStub
Caused Big
Jersey Fire
Weigher Admits Smoking,
Against Rules; Held
for Arson
q Company Officials
Put Under Arrest
Will Be Arraigned To-day,
Charged With Storing
Explosives

A SmOulderlng cigarette stub, care
lessly tossed into pile of chlorate of
potash, caused the fire which destroyed
property worth S2,000oOO in Jersey
City on Tuesday and precipitated the
series Of explosions which shook New
York to its rock foundations. This
was learned yesterday, when Jacob e.
Altman, a weigher, admitted to Cap
tain Tunney, of the Bomb Squad, and
officers of the Naval an.. Military In
telligence bureaus that, seeing mo
harm in a SMOKE" he had lighted a
cigarette while engaged in weighing
the potash in the plant of the Jarvis
Warehouses, Inc, and had dropped the
burning stub to the floor, where it
ignited a small quantity of the chemi-
cal which had fallen from the con-
tainerS.
Altman, who is fifty three years old,
married and has two children, was ar
rested on charge of arson and will be
arraigned to-day in the Jersey City
Criminal Court. Following his con-
fession, Lamber M. Jarvis. president of
superintendent of the structure. and
Edward P. FloydJones. secretary of
the j. L. & B. S. Riker Company, 19
Cedar Street, Manhattan, owner of the
Potash, were arrested charged with
violation OF state and Federal laws
regulating the manufacture, storage
and sale of explosives.
They will be arraigned in Jersey
City to-day before United States Com
missioner James B. Carpenter, jr. Bail
Of $1,000 was furnished for each of the
off al hxy
Pyle. of Jersey City. Altman, after a
pathetic parting from his family, was
locked up.
According to his story to Captain
Tunney the lighted cigarette stub lay
harmlessly enough upon the floor until
he attempted to stamp it out. The
loose potash, being in comparatively
large pieces. did not ignite, he said, un-
til he had pulverized it by treading
blaze spread rapidly until Altman was
forced to flee.
II got two men to help me weigh
the potash" he said Harry Davis, a
checker. was working with us. A few
minutes before 8 o'clock lit cigarette
Davis was smoking, too. When l got
through l put the stub on the floor. I
tried to put it out with my foot, and
the potash got on fire. 1t famed up
when l tried to stamp it out. l do not
know the names of the other men
there. They were 'Chenangoes' l hired
in the street. Davis and l hollcred
Fire. l did not know the potash was
inf1ammable. Davis said it was crystal
potash. 1t was in kegs of 100 to 125
pounds. We would open a keg and
weigh it, and the potash wouli leak
out and spill. One of the men said:
This is what they make powder out Of
and that it would burn If mixed with
dirt. l had not been drinking and
Davis had not. The laborers had;
could smell it,"
Mr.. Jarvis, upcn examination, said
his building had contained besides
chlorate of potash, chloride of lime
and hydrogen peroxide. Chemists en-
gagged in the investigation said the
mixing of these chemicals could have
caused the explosions. Following this
testimony, Mr.. Jarvis and tie other of
tcials were arrested.
After the Black Tom disaster in
1915 the Jersey City authorities re-
fused to permit the storage of any ex-
plosives within the city limits. The
Federal government supported the
city's stand and refused to permit
railroads to route shipments of ex-
plosives through the city. Officials of
the Erie and Lackawanna railroads
yesterday insisted that they had lived
up to the letter of the law in this re-
gard. The authcriti however, are
Eot yet satisfied that the demolished
warehouse contained no explosives of
q more powerful character than those
disclosed.
flre engines and tugs continued yes
terday to pour water on the shoulder
ing ruins at the scene of the fire.