The Traveler… great disaster in Oakdale…

May 21, 2018 by  
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A few days ago I journeyed to New York City by way of The New York Times of May 19, 1918 where I found that first reporting of the terrible disaster in Oakdale, Pennsylvania. “Probably 200 men were killed today when an explosion of TNT demolished the plant of the Aetna Chemical Company, at Oakdale, on the Panhandle Division of The Pennsylvania Railroad… The 500 workmen in the plant were startled at noon by a report not much louder than the crack of a pistol. It came from the soda house. The men knew its deadly import, and as one they rushed for the nearest exit. Before they could gain the open the very air seemed to burst into flames, the earth heaved and rocked, and, with a roar that was heard for miles, the long factory buildings were hurled high into the air, carrying with them ponderous equipment and scores of men…”

More explosions followed with many lives lost, some men were never found or identified.

~The Traveler

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