New Britain herald., 1928-02-11
EXPLOSION TAKES
 HEAVY LIFE TOLL
(Continued From First Page)

ference for today to decide on in vestigatory steps. Roche was per- sonally acquainted with several of the dead and many of the injured. AS he entered the devastated area at the head of a searching party he stumbled over the body of Collins. an old friend.
 Gases Of Her0isnl
 Heroism found frequent expres- sion at the. hospitals to which the more seriously injured were rushed. William Flannigan. 32, a welder. was brought to the Massachusetts General hospital at Boston with three fellow workers. Although his face was burned almost beyond rec ognition Flannigan gamely insisted that the other men be treated first.
 As Charles Poirier. an assistant foreman at the plant. fought off death at the same hospital. his wife refused to budge from outside the ward door where she had sobbingly taken up waiting post.
 Mother Of Four Collapses
 Mrs. Martha Landrigan. mother of four children, who had been early cheered by mistaken information from firemen that her husband was safe, collapsed when his body was identified. Landrigan had been a deep sea diver for years and had only recently retired from his peril ous profession for what his family thought would be safer work.
 Gilligan, another of those killed, left a wife and six children, the youngest of whom was born a week ago. Friends who have not yet told her of her husbands death, report ed that the family had only S2 in cash.
 Probable Cause
 President R. B. kahIe of the com pany declared that the explosion probably was caused by the failure of a low pressure still. The affected still formed one unit in a total of 25 in the plant which covers a tract of 50 acres on the bank of the Mys- tic river over Charlestown.
 The first blast came with a roar that was heard in cities for miles around and almost immediately a gigantic cloud of thick black smoke spurted upward. Within a few min- utes five alarms summoning helI from half dozen nearby cities had been sounded and the entire area was shrouded in the gloom of the oil pail through which jets of flame leaped 200 feet into the air.
 Visible Far Away
 The smoke was clearly visible tn Lexington to the north and Brain. I tree, miles to the south. and wal reported by ships we'll down to the horizon at sea. Medical Examiner Thomas $. Burrell who was in Som- erville turned his car about at the sound of the explosion and raced foi this city.
 Fire apparatus was rushed from Maiden. Medford. Chelsea and Bos. ton 10 help check the spread of the flames which for a time threatened battery of 10 storage tanks eacl containing 10000 gallons of oil. Bremen Are Aided
 A company fire brigade of 250 maI joined with the regular fremen il battling the spread of the burning liquid in the direction of these tanks
 Preliminary investigation indicated that most of the dead and injured probably had been at work in tn. boiler and machine shops adjacen to the first still which exploded Both of the buildings were levellet by the blast and fire. In the plant office. several score of clerical em ployes became panic stricken ant one girl was knocked unconscious il the rush for exits. Fellow worker returning when it became apparen that the building was in no danger found her in that condition and sh was taken to hospital to be re vived.
 Early Arrivals
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