Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-03-27
PLOT SCENTED
IN BIC EXPLOSION
At JERSEY CITY
Jarvis Stores, Housing Supplies
for Overseas Armies, Com
pletely Wrecked.
LOSS ABOUT Sl,sOo,OO0

Jersey City, n. j., March 27.-An
explosion in the six-story building of the
Jarvis Warehouse Co, Inc, at Thirteenth
and Provost streets, where supplies OF
various sorts for our armyin France were
kept, tore that place to pieces yesterday
afternoon at 3.07 o'clock and rocked not
only Jersey City and its environs but
parts of New York and Brooklyn as well.
What caused the blow-up had not been
positively determined early today, but
when fire which followed the explosion
had been pretty well exting1ished, ap-
proximately 81 100000 worth OF prop
crty had been destroyed and a serious
handicap had been placed upon one Of
the chief railway lines which aid in
supplying our overseas forces.
The Erie railroad repair shops which
employ 500 men and women and had
been running to fun capacity, were en-
tircly wiped out. The Eric has no other
shops within 100 miles, il is said, and the
road is certain to be seriously crippled
In addition to this it lost Is locomotives
which were in a roundhouse nearby
and which cannot be replaced in these
DAYS for their original cost of s2O,tD
each. In the present state OF affairs
each was worth several times that amount
Twenty freight cars, costing primarily
at least 81 900 each, were also consumed.
Their worth like that Of the engines r.
did not depend upon their cost, though,
but upon their service ability. They
cannot be quickly replaced
SO also with the supplies which were
housed in the Jarvis plant They were
worth together with the building itself
at least 81 O0O,0OO il was estimated
LII hav
wire for trench fronts to embalming
fluid, but consisted in tho main of things
like canned tomatoes, salmon, beans,
coffee, biscuits and other ediblcs. 1t
was not so much their immediate cost
which made difference but the difficulty
Of speedily replacing them
so far as could be determined early
today, no ono was killed by the first eX
ploson or a series Of lesser bursts which
followed it, although from the looks of
things az the beginning it seemed as
though there must have been a dreadful
loss OF life. Not many were even scrl-
ously injured. This was because a
little fire which preceded the first cxplo-
sion caused an alarm TO he sounded, and
the employees Of the Jarvis warehouse
were able 10 flee to safety
The only official explanation o. the
probable cause Of the explosion came last
night from James r. Connolly. inspector
of combustiblcs for Jersey City After
long interrogation Of X. Nj. and T.. }.
JARVIS the proprictors Of the warehouse,
and OF several of their employees, lnspec-
tor Connolly $ i'd:
1T is possible that the explosion re-
suited from certain gases, caused by tho
fire which preceded il, reaching four car
loads of chloratc Of potash. which were
being handled in and about Building G,
one Of the group Of structures which
make up the Jarvis plant.
Il have testimony that this amount
Of chlorate Of potash, perhaps 10000
pounds, was in course Of handling when
the fire started and | am told by chem
lists that gases from fire will cause chlor-
ate Of potash 10 explode.
An enemy plot IS limited at and every
clue Is being run down.