The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-22
FRENCH TROOPS
RUSH TO RESCUE
OF BLAST VICTIMS
Only 800 of 1900 Slain Have
Been Identified.
Over 1900 Persons Injured by
Oppau Catastrophe.
SALT PETRE WAS The CAUSE
Bodies Torn to Pieces and
Buried Under Debris.
Huge Crater Dug by Force of
Terrific Blast.
Bodies Torn to Pieces and
Buried Under Debris.

Berlin, Sept. ga special cabinet
meeting was held this afternoon to
appropriate money and devise relief
measures for the families of victims
of the gigantic explosion of the plant
of the Badische Anilinfabrik COM
pany at Oppau. Minister of Labor
Braun has left for the scene of the
disaster.
Paris, Sept. 22.-The explosion
that wrecked the Oppau plant of the
Badische Anilinfabrik company is
Thought by some to have been the re-
suit of experiments with new war
gases. telegraphed the Oppau corre-
spondent Of La Liberte, this after
noon.
More than 900 bodies have been re-
covered. the dispatch said.
The factory was completely gutted
and the damage estimated has risen
TO several billions of marks.
Mayence, Sept. 22.-While estimates
of the number of dead from Wednes
DAYS explosions, which destroyed the
Badische company's great chemical
plant at Oppau. were placed today at
1900, the total of persons actually
found to have been injured exceeds
the first figures by a wide margin.
Already $500 persons have received
treatment for hurts sustained thru the
effects of the explosion.
Bodies of the dead to the number
of $50 had been recovered this fore
noon.
French Army To Aid Victims.
Berlin, Sept 2z.-The entire medi-
cal staff of the French army of occu-
patton on the Rhine has arrived at
Ludwigshafen to assist in treating the
vast number of persons who were in
jured in the gigantic explosion which
wrecked the plant of the Badische
An:linfabrick company at Oppau.
All hospitals in Ludwigshafen and
Mannheim are crowded and scores of
public buildings and private houses
have been converted into hospitals.
Hundreds of families are homeless.
General De Gouette, commander-in-
chief of the French army of occupa-
ton, and a detachment of French
assist the Germans in relief work.
Following an investigation. officials
of the company issued a statement
saying the blast had occurred in a
warehouse containing 200 tons of am
monia sulphate. The exact cause is
not yet known.
Whole Region Hard Hit.
The little suburb of Oppau. on the
Rhine, was a scene of desolation and
woe while the whole countryside for
miles around bore witness of the ter
rifle force of the explosion.
Doctors, ambulances and medical
supplies have been rushed to Ludwigs-
hafen from all the nearby cities
Thousands of workmen, volunteers and
soldiers, are engaged in searching the
wreckage of the factory and homes
for bodies.
Temporary morgues have been
erected all around the scene of the
explosion and today they presented
scenes of pathos. Frantic women be-
sieged the buildings searching for
missing fathers, husbands, brothers
and sons.
Police guards had been established
around the morgues and it was all
they could do to hold back the scream
ing, weeping, surging masses. Every
family in the wrecked town had suf-
tered bereavement and many persons
far distant from the scene had been
killed either by the shock or by flying
debris.
Many of the bodies were so badly
torn and mangled as to make identifi-
cation impossible. 1t is expected a
public funeral will be held for these
Some of the victims were completely
blown to pieces, making it uncertain
that the exact number of killed will be
unknown unless they are checked up
thru the company payroll.
Workers Had Gruesome Task
The relief workers had a gruesome
task. AS they tore thru the mass of
wreckage, they came upon human legs
and arms and bodies from which the
heads had been torn.
Graphic stories We're told by sur
vivors. They said there was a dull
roar. followed by a burst of flame nd
then terrific detonation which shook
the earth like an earthquake. Enor-
nous clouds of black and greenish
smoke rolled upwards in clouds.
The seismograph instruments in the
schools at Stuttgart, sixty miles away,
recorded tremors similar to those
made by an earthquake.
Two hundred residents of Mannheim
were killed and 200 were injured
After the explosion, living working
men fled covered with blood and
Crime. fighting their. way thru the
thick clouds of chemical fumes
Many of them were naked as they
had just completed bathing after their
shift in the works when the explosive
let go.
Iron gates in the plant were torn to
pieces like paper. Strong wooden
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