Eddystone explosion
On April 10, 1917, four days after the United States declared war on Germany, an explosion at the Eddystone Ammunition Corporation's artillery shell plant in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, killed 139 people. The majority were women and girls who worked in the loading room, loading shells with black powder. 55 of the victims could not be identified and were buried in a mass grave. Hundreds more were injured. The victims were arguably among the first American casualties of World War I. The explosion was initially blamed on German saboteurs, and later on Russians. It may in fact have been an accident caused by malfunctioning equipment. Background The Eddystone Arsenal, built in 1916, was located near Chester, Pennsylvania, where the Eddystone Power Station now stands. At the time of the explosion it was reportedly manufacturing shells for the Russian White Army. About 380 women and girls worked in the plant's "F" Building. The company had placed newspaper ads specifically recruiting "girls" for the job. The building had three divisions: the pellet room, where girls made the black powder fuses that ran through the center of the shrapnel shells; the loading room, where the fuses were inserted and "pocket cups" at the bottom of the shells were filled with loose powder; and the inspection room, where the finished product was inspected. Normally only about thirty girls worked in the pellet room, but two weeks earlier the company had hired about seventy more to fill a large rush order that was due to be shipped in a few days. Disaster On Monday, April 10, 1917, just before 10 a.m., a massive explosion demolished the plant's "F" building, killing 139 people. According to the New York Times, it started when some 18 tons of black powder somehow ignited, setting off thousands of shrapnel shells, causing "a series of detonations that shook a half dozen boroughs within a radius of ten miles of the plant." The majority of those killed were women and girls who worked in the loading room. Hundreds of others were injured, some maimed or badly burned. Some bodies were found in the nearby Delaware River. Workers may have sought safety there from the fire and drowned, or they may have been thrown there by the blast. Aftermath Rescue efforts The company employed special guards who were the first on the scene. They were joined by the fire department and cadets from the nearby Pennsylvania Military Academy. One of their first tasks was to stop the fire from setting off the more than 50 tons of black powder that were sitting in a storage facility near the loading and inspection area. Several men climbed to the roof of the facility and hosed it down. Many rescuers were injured by flying shrapnel. One, John Hansen, had his leg blown off. One reporter wrote that for the locals who rushed to the offices of the Chester Times for news of their daughters, "it was their first taste of what war means, for this is war. It