Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-13
F. B. !. Leads Probe
OF ) Plant Blasts
Which Killed "a
Sabotage Clues Sought;
Incidents of Violence
Elsewhere Investigated

A series of blasts in explosives
plants-one of which was engaged
In defense manufacture-drew the
attention of investigators today in
an attempt to determine whether
they were connected with possible
sabotage efforts.
A three-way inquiry was begun
into the explosion in which eight
were killed and 26 injured at the
plant of the United Railway Signal
Co. in Woodbridge, N. j., yesterday.
Although there apparently were no
indications of sabotage. authorities
had not altogether ruled out this
possibility. The company makes
railroad signal torpedoes and other
devices
Three were killed in the plant of
the Trojan Powder Co., Allentown,
Pa, which had Army and Navy con-
tracts for explosives. Those killed
were in building where decorators
were made.
Four separate agencies pursued
independent Investigations into this
blast. Lehigh County Coroner A. M.
Peters concurred with company in
vestigators that it was purely acct
dental"
There is not the remotest posi-
bility of sabotage" declared John
Bronstein, treasurer of the company.
F. B. I. agents and State police,
also investigating, have made no
announcement.
Dynamite Blast Kills 3.
Another three died in the Burton
Powder Works of the American
Cyanamid and Chemical Corp. at
Edinburg, Pa, in an explosion OF
1000 pounds of dynamite.
While Coroner T. F. Nugent ques-
toned plant officials and workmen,
police said the cause probably would
never be determined because the
explosion left nothing that could
assist investigators.
r. B. I. men were conducting In
vestigations at each plant. City
and county officers joined in the
Woodbridge investigation.
All three explosions occurred two
months to a day after the mysteri-
Gus blasts which killed 81 September
II in the plant of the Hercules
Powder Co. at Kenvil, N. j.
On the heels of the explosions
Yesterday came reports of other
blasts and violent incidents, at least
one occurring under mysterious cir
CumstanceS.
A 1OOOO-gallon storage tank ex-
ploded at the Canton Refining Co.,
Canton, Ohio. About 1000 gallons
of fuel oil burned fiercely and
threatened four other tanks for a
time. The blasts force blew the top
off the tank and knocked down sew
eral employees, but none was in
jured. 1t appeared to be accidental.
In Oklahoma, an explosion DAM
aged units of the Phillips Forester
No. l oil we'll under circumstances
which the plant foreman said were
mysterious. No one was working at
the time.
Two men were killed and two
others injured when a shipbuilding
crane at San Francisco's Western
Pipe and Steel Co. capsized. The
incident was reported to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
Fire believed of incendiary origin
broke out in locker room of the
Todd Dry Docks in Seattle shortly
after plant officials had begun an
investigation of a series of incidents
In which machinery had been dam
aged with emery dust at the dock
yard. The fire caused little damage.
Commenting on the chain of eX-
plosives plant blasts, Chairman
Martin Dies of the House Commit
tee Investigating Un-American Ac-
tivities, declared he was dispatching
investigators to every scene of
trouble"
He said "the acts of sabotage in
the past "a hours are only a begin
ming" and added that he would ask
q congressional appropriation to
conduct a Nationwide "close-in' on
all subversive elements.