Evening star., 1940-11-12
Eleven Killed
In Blasts al )
Plants in East
Explosions Rock
Pennsylvania and
Jersey Areas
picture on Page A-2.)
BY the Associated Press.

plosions in widely separated sections
of the industrial East today rocked
two powder plants-one engaged in
filling defense orders-and a factory
manufacturing railway torpedo
signals.
Eleven were known to have been
killed and more than score were
injured, several critically.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
officials in Washington Immediately
undertook preliminary inquiries into
the three blasts.
First of the blasts razed the plant
of the United Railway and Signal
Co. at Woodbridge, N. j., about Is
miles from Manhattan. Commune
ties in the populous area were
shaken by the explosion.
After hours of searching, Wood
bridge police expressed belief that
all bodies had been recovered. They
denied an early report from State
police headquarters at Trenton that
Is were dead and 10 missing. An
independent check disclosed only
five bodies at morgues in the
vicinity.
Two Pennsylvania Blasts.
The second blast ripped apart the
Burton Powder Works of the Amer
ican Cyanamid & Chemical Corp.
in the village of Edinburg, miles
west of New Castle in Western
Pennsylvania-killing three men,
Deputy Coroner T. A. Mckay re-
ported.
The dead were identified as Lee
Waddell, IS, New Castle; Elmer Kill
duff, 80, Edinburg, and Howard
Duncan, "a, New Castle.
Sales Offices of the corpora ton in
Pittsburgh reported the Edinburg
plants production was devoted sole
ly to commercial materials, and no
Government orders were in produc-
ton there.
A spokesman for the company at
Edinburg declined to give any in
formation on the blast, the second
in the corporations plants within
three days. An explosion at its acid
plant at Bound Brook, N. j., killed a
plant superintendent and injured
three workmen Sunday.
Three Killed in Powder Plant.
Three persons died in the third
explosion at am. at the Trojan
Powder Co. plant, miles northwest
Of Allentown. Pa. There were no
injuries to others there. The ex-
plosion was officially described as
accidental. The small building was
wrecked. .-
The Trojan company held defense
orders for S202 $50 for explosives for
the Army and Navy.
So far as could be determined,
the two other firms held no defense
contracts.
The three men killed in the Trojan
plant were identified as Fred Weller
of Scheresville, Pa: Hugh Fisher,
Allentown. and William Schoen-
fielder. Brienigsville.
After an investigation Coroner
Alexander NJ. Peters reported that
the blast was "just an unfortunate
accident"
The conclusion smashed windows
in homes over a wide area in the
surrounding countryside.
First of the identified dead was
Dominic La Penta of Woodbridge.
father of IA children and for so
years an employe of a water COM
pany whose repair shop was also
destroyed
Michael j. Angel, investigator for
tho Cfotn nf EynlnctUpc
said the blast occurred in the primp-
ing room, where the powder in use
was not explosive under normal con-
ditions unless given heavy blow.
Woodbridge Toll May Be 25.
Preliminary estimates of the
Woodbridge plant death toll varied
from to Is, but Police Capt. John
Egan of Woodbridge township, in
which the plant was situated. ex-
pressed belief that no more than 20
persons were employed there. 1t
manufactured railway track tor
pedoes, flares and similar equipment.
Police said there we're Is buildings
at the plant, but only half Of one
remained standing after the blast.
Also demolished was the repair
shop of the Middlesex Water Co.,
adjoining the signal plant.
Injured included persons in their
homes nearby and on the street.
Windows were shattered over
radius of quarter mile. while many
were broken in Bayonne, II miles
away.
Buildings shook in much of Gen.
trail and Northern New Jersey and
throughout Staten Island, N. Y,
which is Just across a sound from
Woodbridge.
Bodies Are Mutilated.
John Costello, undertaken to whose
morgue the first five dead were
taken, said the bodies were mutt
lated.
Coroner j. ]. Flynn of Middlesex
County and Police Chief George E.
Keating of Woodbridge started in
vestigations in an effort to learn the
cause of the blast.
The explosion gouged two big
craters in the ground and made a
shambles of the plant, which
sprawled over an area of about 100
yards square. 1t rained lead pipe
from the water company's shop.
On the opposite side OF Wood
bridge avenue, which runs between
the heart of Woodbridge and Port
Reading, was a three-family home
where IA children were getting
ready for school.
Fred Vanderhof, one Of the ten
ants, said he was sitting in his
kitchen when he heard terrific ex-
plosion. He was cut by flying glass.
but rushed to make sure his baby
was safe, then hurried to the street.
There he found his mother-in-law,
Mrs. Julia Gulics, bleeding pro-
fusely from scalp cut.
John Macy, water company en-
ploye, 100 feet from the signal plant.
was knocked down, stunned and cut
in several places.
Electric service to large part Of
Woodbridge was disrupted when the
explosion tore down q line from the