Evening star., 1932-03-09
a WORKERS KILLED
BY GAS EXPLOSION
INSIDE HUGE TANK
Residences Shaken Over Area
of Many Blocks at
Camden.
BODIES ARE RECOVERED
AFTER TORCHLIKE FIRE
Men, Elated at Getting First Days
Work in Weeks, Express Happi-
ness Before Going to Deaths.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CAMDEN, N. j., March 9.-Fourteen
workmen were killed and four injured
two seriously, in an explosion OF q puri-
flying tank at the Public Service Electric
& Gas Co.. plant here today.
Oficials of the company gave out the
following statement:
1.-The cause of the explosion has not
been definitely ascertainDd, but is be
lieyed to have been due to spontaneous
combustion.
"The latest information that We have
Is that there were at least 18 laborers
employed in the purifying box tank.
Fourteen bodies have been recovered.
-Four employees were taken to the hospi-
bal. Later two were released. The
other two men are in a serious condi-
hon.'
At least one man escaped from the
tank without injury just before the
6last.
Residences for blocks were shaken by
he explosion, the scene of which Is q
fnile from the central city area.
The scene of the blast was made har-
rowing by the cries of relatives OF the
doomed men. Police roped OF the
streets block from the gas tank. Spec
tators by the hundreds blocked the
thoroughfares beyond the ropes.
A tremendous roar announced the
accident, while practically the entire
force of workmen, many Of them earn
ing their first pay in weeks, were trap
ped below.
lowed was speedily extinguished by fre-
men and then the search within the
chambers was begun.
Outwardly the tank showed no signs
of the explosion because the I'D had
been removed before the workmen
entered. 1t is square steel struc-
ture, 20 by 20 feet and Is feet
deep raised from the ground on steel
girders Is feet in height.
Within it is separated into upper and
lower compartments, braced by many
girders. and longitudinally divided into
east and west chambers.
Gas Collects in Sawdust.
The metal interior was coated with
a mixture of charcoal, sawdust and sui
phuric and other acids used in purify
ing the gas, which is then piped across
the street to a distributing tank.
In the sawdust composition gas COL
lects. Several times q year 1t is neces-
sary to clean it and the workmen, who
had done this work before, commented
today on the unusually heavy aecumu-
lation.
On the outside of the tank stairway
like fire escape and a small open
elevator provide means of entry for the
the workmen and the removal of the
old purifying material. The elevator
also is used to carry up the new mix
ture with which the walls are coated
Rudolf Walker, 40. colored, said he
saw a slight fame at the bottom of the
tank after he had been working there
20 minutes, indicating the sswdust and
sulphuric acid lining had caught fire
He said:
Il shouted to the other men This
looks bad Then I ran to get a fire
engine. was near the top of the tank
and I climbed out and was running
to the corner to sound an alarm when
heard big explosion. 1t made an
awful noise.
"As I turned around, I saw flames
shooting from above the top If the
tank.
When I sounded the alarm, I ran
back to the tank and helped to get
some Of the other fellows out"
Unable to Do Much.
Walker joined firemen In removing
the dying and dead.
It wasn't able to help much" he
said later, because it was so hot anc
frS1
thing the f1remen had to do was tx
put out the fire before they could reach
the men who were in the bottom o.
the tank
Benjamin Plevinski, grocer, who's,
store and home are opposite the tank
told OF hearing terrible roar" as tn
tank blew up.
My whole house shook" he said
"and didn't know what had happened
looked out Of the window. The fame
were shooting out of the top of tn
tank"
Samuel Simpkins, a butcher, ran t
the tank to aid in the work of rescue
/ knew several of the worknlen VIII
had gone into the tank he said. THE,
had been unemployed for a long tim
and were happy at the fact they ha,
finally gotten jobs, even Of temporar
nature.
Some of them had been in my stor
to tell me they we're going to be EN-
ployed and would be getting their pa,
again"
Tries to Save Relatives.
Among the first of the neighbors +
Join in the rescue work was Frank Pts
stella. AT the sound of the explosio,
he ran from his home without his Goa
and climbed up the iron stairway, re
sembling a fire escape, on the outsid
of the tank.
MY fathers in there" Pissitell
cried. My ther-in-law's in ther
too. They went to work this morning.
At the top of the tank the flame
drove Pissitella back and he collapse
on the stairway, Firemen carried hir
down
Ambular ces brought plain woode
coffins to the scene, which were carrie
to the top of the tank on a stairwa
and then lowered by block and tack
after bodies were placed in them.
SCHOONER IN TOW