Evening star., 1947-02-21
Los Angeles BIasf,
Fatal 10 IS, Blamed
On Acid Defonafion
BY the Assoeiofed Press

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21.-After
O night spent probing beneath
glaring searchlights, police to-
day fixed the death toll from the
city's worst explosion in 81 years
at IS. OF the 158 injured suff1-
GENTLY to require disqualification,
several were feared dying.
The scene, as police and fire.
men sifted the blasted rubble of
an electroplating plant, resembled
a garishly lit nighttime movie set,
but there was nothing fictional about
the carnage.
Doctors tentatively identified one
of the bodies, blown almost to bits,
as that of DR.. Robert MCGEE, the
plants chemist and metallurgist,
described by police as in charge
of plating formulas. He and g.
year-old girl were earlier listed as
missing, but the girl was reported
found.
Building Blew Apart.
The one-story brick plant Of the
J. J. O'Connor Corp, at 932 East
Pico boulevard, a mile from the
center of downtown Los Angeles,
blew apart In binding flash of
chemicals at .9:45 am. yesterday
But it was hours before a clear
picture of the disaster could be
pieced together.
Police and fire officials finally
agreed that it was caused by the
detonation of perchloric acid, an
extremely unstable substance kept
under pressure in refrigeration be-
cause at room temperature it Is
seething, heavy liquid. But how the
acid was set off remained mystery.
Mr.. OConnor told reporters, I'VE
were doing something for the Gov
ernment" This, he later amplif1ed,
was the aluminum-plating of hos
pital beds and chairs under a secret
trade process. Not in the plant at
the time, he was reported in collapse
at his home last night.
Boy Killed Blocks Away.
Most of the victims of the city's
worst blast since the Los Angeles
Times dynamiting killed 20 men in
1910, were in the plant or adjacent
heavily damaged buildings, although
a 10-year-old colored boy riding his
bicycle several blocks away was
killed by flying piece of metal.
Four houses were almost demol-
ished, windows were broken in 300
within a miles radius, glass shat
tered as far distant as 10 blocks, the
entire downtown district was jolted
as If by earthquake, sending terror
ized citizens to telephones, quickly
jamming police and newspaper lines.
Twelve fire companies battled the
resultant blaze and a dozen spot
fires started by flaming debris in
the neighborhood.
Likened to Atom Blast.
A towering cloud of smoke, which
many witnesses likened to that in
newsreel of the Bikini atom bomb
blast, mushroomed up, and hung
over the area for minutes.
Thousands OF curious thronged
into the area, hampering fire and
rescue operations and doing some
looting. but they finally were cleared
out by emergency police squads.
A graphic description came from
Dewayne Bearss, %, of South Gate,
a salesman, who with his father,
Frank, was in the front office on
business:
"One minute we were sitting In
an orderly office. The next minute
there wasn't any office. I was
thrown to the floor. I didn't know
what happened to dad. I heard him
groaning on the other side of
section of roof that crashed between
us. I was lucky. All the wreckage
around me was light. I was able
to dig myself out"
Owners Daughter Injured.
The elder Mr.. Bearss. "A, was
dead when rescuers reached him.
Miss Lillian O'Connor, 43, daugh-
ter of the owner, also in the plant,
was among the seriously injured.
She told investigators that nor
mally 25 persons were employed,
but that only Is were at work yes
terday.
The building department promptly
posted more than score of homes
and buildings in a radius of several
blocks as unsafe, and unhurt occu-
pants were being cared for by relief
agencies.
To survivors of the explosion, the
blast felt like an earthquake, an
atom bomb and even the end of the
world RPDOrterS milling about the