Bisbee daily review., 1918-07-03
EXPLOSIONS IN SEMET- SOLVAY PLANT SHAKE CITY OF SYRACUSE AND SHAY MANY EN- PLOYES; DEPORTATION STARTS DISASTROUS CONFEDERATION IN MAMMOTH WORKS
cRv Review Leased wiren

(By Review Leased Wirel
 SYRACUSE, N. Y., July 2.-At least sixteen persons were killed and 200 injured end the huge plant. of the Semet-sloway company, at Split Rock, near here, virtually wrecked by two explosions of trinitrotuIuoI at s:3o o'clock tonight.
 Terrific concussions from the explo- sions rocked large business buildings in the center of this city, smashed plate glass windows and caused a panic in the residential districts. The explosions followed fire that had raced beyond control and spread to the TINT" vats.
 Two let go, burying workers under an avalanche of debris and scattering the flames to adjoining buildings.
 At a late hour tonight the flames were burning fiercely and there was constant danger of more explosions. Volunteers firemen were pOwerless, Aid was sent from Syracuse but at midnight the water system broke down.
 Five hundred workers were in the plant when the fire broke out. Its or | igin has not been ascertained. The workers fought the flames and when they ran to safety were caught in the 1 first explosion.
 Men were hurled in all directions. |, Two, caught between burning build ings, were blown through a wall. Still alive when picked up, there was not a shred of clothing on their bodies. 1 The second explosion followed the first after fifteen minutes. The explO- sions crumpled buildings in the vicin- | ity. Homes of workmen across the road from the plant collapsed. Burning i timbers were blown to the roofs of | buildings across the railroad tracks which divide the plant. Families fled across fields in con ! fusion. A woman, hysterical, carried a tiny kitten clutched to her breast.
 James Russo and Arthur c. Good | fellow were analyzing samples in the plant when the cry of fire" called them to building No. l. GOodfelloN tells this story:
 Russo grabbed a hose and I tried I to help Smoke was thick and we could not see. Little explosions kept letting go inside the building. There was not enough water to be of any use.
 We knew that big explosion wa' coming, and We ran. Just as we reach ed the foot of a hill the blast lei go. It knocked us both flat on oul faces"
 A telephone message from Split Rock brought the first word of the ac cident to the city. It reached poiic' headuuarters in the form of a reques for all the ambulances. The shock o the explosion, a minute earlier, haC tied up all the telephone lines, caus ing a delay before the ambulancei were on the way.
 Both fire and explosions, according to workmen who escaped, were con fined to the east side of the plan which is made up of about fifteeI buildings.
 There are three of the TINT plants in the first of which the flames orig mated. Next to them are six plant in which nitric acid is handled. Bc yond them, only a hundred yard away, are four plants in which picri , acid is handled. All of these were Ol the south side of the railroad tracks
 At midnight the flames had eatel into the picric acid plants and wer : making slow headway toward th giant tanks of oleum. Most of the small explosions wer