The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-05-28

Fire Marshal Lahey's finding follows:
 On Tuesday afternoon at or about the hour of 5:10 o'clock, daylight saving time, May IT, 1888, terrific explosion occurred in the rear of No. B Welton street, on property owned by Mrs Theresa Moran, and occupied jointly by the tenants of a six apartment block, wood frame, and T. J. Moran and Sons, builders and contractors. The detonation rocked some of the nearby build ings, and was heard as far away as half a mile. Fortunately no was injured.
 In the yard and located near the garage of the Moran com- pany was a so-called sheet iron drum, the 50-gallon oil type, and used by the house occupants for the storage of waste papers, tin cans, and other waste material of the household. On top were waste papers, to which a match was applied by Nelson Strossner, yard man for the Moran com- pany. About IS minutes later as Strossner continued along with other duties the explosion oc- cured.
 The noise was so noticeable that firemen attached to Engine Co., 2 and Truck Go. 3, located nearby, first believed it came from near by gasoline station. Captain Jo- seph J. Kelly, drillmaster and de- partment instructor, made an im- mediate investigation, and at once called the Marshal and his staff. Patrolman Patrick O'Rourke on duty nearby also responded. After noticing the condition of the can, and its contents, the Marshal had placed them under lock and key until the following day. In the meantime, neighbors and occu- pants were interviewed, but lit- tie or no tangible information was obtained.
 Following our custom, we ar- ranged for the appearance of MT. Joseph Neil and MT. Ray Sjostedt of Watertown, recognized expert chemists; had the Police Dept. very well represented by Lieut.. Wm. Pollard and Lieut.. Patrick Moylan, and the state police dept. repre- sented by two alert members, Vic tor c. Clark and Frank Starkel, the latter official inspector of ex- plosives, and noted for his adept ness in this particular line; we al- so called in MT. Frank D'Aurio, employed by the city for years in the use of explosives. In addition we obtained the viewpoint and opinion of MT. Frank Patterson of the Patterson Explosive Com pany of Torrington and MT. Kya. roth s. Allen of the American Cyanamid and Chemical Corp. Our immediate aim, of course, was to determine the cause of 1t all, and what brought 1t about. there fore we felt with all branches properly represented, we could not go astray.
 But we really did not have to go as far as we did go, as cir cumstances later proved, for when we turned over the twisted can and emptied its contents onto the cement floor, we were confronted by package of 60 percent dyna- mite, two eight inch sticks cut in half, and wired together properly, with two electric exploders irn- beded so as to allow for instant discharge; another electric ex- ploder was also found. This was convincing evidnce that dynamite caused the explosion of the day before, along with the testimony of Capt. Kelly that a distinct odor of powder was prevalent at the time he examined the container. It was also there when the Mar shal arrived with his aide, Legge, and Chief Cavanaugh.
 The drum measured three 1t. in