Evening star., 1924-03-02

BluDdo, JOhn W. Ming, Arthur toie.
The explosion occurred at 1l:30
a m, in the ordnance salvage plant.
| The nitration works has been leased
| to the ammonite company for treat
| ment of Army INT to be used as
agricultural fertilizer.
l Blown on Earth.
The building. two stories high, 800
| feet long,. and of hollow-tile con-
! struction. was literally blown from
| the earth, along with the men be-
| lieved to have been within it. The
shock was felt for sixty miles, shat
| tering windows, lifting roofs and
! toppling chimneys in many cities.
! If in an earthquake.
| The single destructive blast crush
ed forty buildings Of the Nixon COM
| pany's celluloid novelties manufac-
| turing works, which surrounded the
! INT plant, and raZed as if by she'll
| fire the encircling dwelling OF 200
| employees, whose little settlement
was known as the town of Nixon.
Flames Burst Out.
| Through shattered roofs and crum-
| bIed walls. upon piles of fimsy cell
4 luloid sheets in every one of the
| Nixon building. showered embers,
blazing INT and boiling acid
| broadcast by the explosion. The
! blue flames of the highly inflamma-
| BILE celluloid with which all the
/ structures were filled burst forth on
\ . Of hyc
| blow torch, cutting down every one
| and everything within radius OF
| several hundred feet.
| The screams of men and girls pin
! ned down by steel girders. crushed
I by falling walls of tile or caught be-
meath severed pine lines which show
| cred them with nitric acid, mingled
| with the cries of housewives and
children whose dwellings only a few
| feet from the celluloid works came
tumbiing down upon them.
| Dash Ont I'm Frenzy.
| Men wounded and frenzied. with
clothes burned off and bodies scorch-
ed black, ran out upon the road to
| New Brunswick, two miles away.
!
| lied by Maj. a. 5. Casad at the Rari-
! tan Arsenal. were speeded by auto
mobile to the place of the explosion
| almost before the echoes had died
| a away.
| Accompanied by the arsenaTs am
! bulance and hospital corps, they
were the first TO attack the flames
and start rescue work.
| Later il was discovered that four
| of the arsenaTs high-explosive mag
| azines had been crushed by the ex-
| plosion and the roofs Of two others
! blown in. Fourteen companies of
| fremen helped check the flames,
/, which for time threatened to
| spread to the arsenars scores of
! power warehouses. e.
Heroic Rescues Recorded.
| Doctors and nurses from hospitals
! in nearby cities were early on the
scene. Numerous heroic rescues were
recorded. nurses and soldiers work.
| ing side by side. amid the smoke and
/ dense yellow fumes which ali day
, rolled up from the ruins as tank after
| tank of nitric acid and ammonia
/ burst.
| An hour after the explosion tile VIII
lage of Nixon and the twenty acres or
| more of buildings which had housed
! the explosive works looked like a
| sector of battle front--no mans land.
! Only a few fragments Of wall re-
| mained standing.
For two miles the narrow road
leading from the main highway was
| lined with automobiles hub deep in
| mud, past which rushed fire appa-
Army cars. and people running and
crying Stretcher bearers carried the
; dead and injured through crowds OF
relatives of the victims who besieged
the gates of the plant. Telephones
| were being installed on every stand
ing pole, to replace the lines of COM
| munication that had been swept away
by the explosion. Airplanes with
photographers circled overhead.
Cause Is Mystery.
Those uninjured who had seen the
explosion were unable to tell what
caused it. Those who were in it and
survived were unable to talk.
1t was said the INT was part OF
| two million pounds that had been
| purchased from the government :
| Raritan arsenal by the Columbia Sal
! wage Corporation and removed from
! big shells at the arsenal magazines
! The powder had been turned over 10
! the ammonite company at Nixon,
| whose employees were the first victims
/ of the blast.
J The mystery of the explosion was
deepened by the declarations of COM
pany officials and employees that. theo-
! retically, INT should burn without
I exploding; that although it is Il high
| explosive, it Is q SLOW" one and re-
| uuires heavy detonating cap TO set
! it off. The only explanation ad-
| vanced was that friction. a short-cir-
| cuited electric wire or g. foreign sub
| stance in one of the tanks fired some
!! of the INT when it was confined.
| causing it to explode and act as a
| detonator for all the INT in the
| works.
Although the fire was considered
/ under control tonight, additional men
| and apparatus We're summoned. with
! reinforcements of the state police, to
/, guard against possible spread of
| the flames to the alcohol storage
| tanks and the few ruined buildings,
| where stocks of sheet celluloid are
| exposed to flying sparks.