Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 April 1947 — Page 1

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* the grimmest tragedies of American disaster history.

_ above which a United States flag hung at.half-staff—could

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~ FLAMES REFUSE TO: DIE—This Josip of the Monsanto Choice] plant shows the fierce blaze still burning

bis morning, ignored: in: iis hunt for dead.

: Order Gradually Being Restored to Stricken: Area; Rescuers Search Ruins for Victims

BULLETIN TEXAS CITY, Tex. April 17 (U.P. ).— Firemen this afternoon were bringing under control the last blazes of a 24-hour chain’ of explosions ‘and flame which ravaged this Texas gulf coast industrial town and left perhaps. 700 persons dead.

By ROBERT E. BROWN United Press Staff Correspondent

TEXAS CITY, Tex., April 17.—Firemen are fighting seven raging oil fires in’ this shattered Texas gulf coast industrial town which was rocked today by new blasts— one of which disintegrated another freighter at the docks.

The new explosions threw chunks of metal for miles :

and killed and injured many who had escaped earlier explosions, - . . ‘ Governor Beauford Jester jssued from. Austin an official estimate, based on Red Cross figures, that 600. to 650 persons had been killed, and 3000 injured. In Washington the Red Cross said. 400 were known dead “with possibly 250 ‘to 375 additional dead in one of

Count More Than 400 Bodies

Mr. J ester’s estimates were broken down as follows: - Embalmed dead, 864; positive dead, 400; estimated dead, an additional 200 fo 250. Hospitalized injured, 350 to 400, many in serious condition; estimated total injured, 3000. Order gradually was being restored; the Red Cross said. No caspalty figures could be much better than a guess. More than 400 bodies had been counted. “Not ‘until the flames subside could the thousands of rescue workers hope to reach other bodies—perhaps scores, perhaps hundreds—in the waterfront ruins. The vast Monsanto Chemical Co. plant—Ileft a “ruined shell’— may hold the fate of many persons, officials said. About 800 were working there yesterday morning when a French freighter loaded with nitrates blew up. The fate of crewmen aboard the French Lines ship Grand Camp and the American freighter High Flyer, which was torn to bits by an explosion today—16 hours after the Grand Camp’ explosion—was undetérmined. First word that any aboard the French ship had survived came from the’ French Lines office in New York. It was reported there that at least five were alive, two of them Sritically injured. are ~ 7 Oil Fires Burning J. C. Trahan, mayor of this town which yesterday had 18,000 inhabitants of whom half already had fled, said he believed all danger of further major explosions had been passed. But United Press correspondents, peering from the shattered windows of an upper story of the city hall—

see seven big oil fires sending their tall flames, topped with pillars of black smoke, into the sky. A north wind blew the smoke and noxious fumes out over Golveston bay, and helpéd to keep the flames from spreading inland... Of it, Deputy Mayor J. H. Hill said: “The Lord is on our side.” wis he emphasized. that:

vet”

“We are not out of the

MAP OF ‘DESTRUCTION—This map shows the general larea of devastation in Texas City, with arrows indicating the important features. .

fighting oil fires, were rushed into the area by truck and boat from Baytown and Houston. There was a report that* dynamite might be used to halt the flames if they spread further. The town was alin, Concern of most remaining .residents centered around the high school gymnasium where the yellow-tagged bodies of the dead lay in long rows for identification by relatives. ‘Damage estimates ranged from $50 million to $125 million. TheMatter figure seemed to observers in the blasted area more likely to be correct. ‘Devastation of War’

Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, hero of Bataan, called the disaster which. began 24 hours ago when a French Lines freighter loaded with nitrates caught fire at the dock and exploded, worse than “the devastation of war.’

As thousands of rescue workers toiled into the second day of the tragedy, the major damage included: The freighters Grand Camp—on which originated hel little fire which lead te the disaster—and High Flyer destroyed. Two smaller ships and several barges destroyed. The huge $19 million Monsanto Chemical Co. plant burned and blasted to a “hollow shell.” Fifty or more oil tanks burned out. Two 0il refineries heavily damaged. " Most of the docks, ware-

houses, and office buildings along the waterfront destroyed, buildings wrecked as far as two miles away, houses shaken and windows broken over an area of 140 square miles, Five hundred automobiles parked in the area reduced to twisted wreckage. A tank of chlorine gas blew up and threatened for a time to spread deadly fumes over the town, but a favorable wind blew the gas out to sea.

Food Prices Decline For 3d Straight Week

NEW YORK, April 17 (U, P).~ Wholesale food prices for the week ended April 15, declined for the third consecutive week, Dun & Bradstreet, Inc, reported today. Thé agency's index for 31 basi¢ foods in general use, for the latest week, dropped to $6.24 from $6.41 in the preceding week and $4.20 in the corresponding 1946 period. Price declines a. es i wheat, rye, hams; es, lard, - a at oe, le” cee

"Spin of xt, 8 denial of spc vio

FORECAST: Partly cloudy and somewhat wa

THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1947

rmer tonight and tomorrow.

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Red Cross Conducts Blast Area. Search

Eighteen Indianapolis families to: day dwait word concerning relatives and friends in Texas City, Tex. The 16cal chapter of Red Oross said it has sent inquiries about Hoosiers in the stricken city where hundreds are dead, but that it has received no replies. Local Red Cross workers maintained a 24-hour service toward the inquiries. : Many Hoosiers in Area Several local families reported kin working for Monsanto Chemical Co., which was blasted by an explosion yesterday. Other Hoosiers were reported working or living in areas which were rocked by explosions and swept by fire. A Muncie woman flew to Texas last night to search for her husband, employed in Texas City. Meanwhile, penicillin, blood piasma and drugs are being flown from Indianapolis to the stricken city in answer to appeals. More than 2000 pounds of drugs from El Lilly & Co. and blood plasma from the.state board of health were flown from Indianapolis to Houston, Tex. yesterday by Chicago & Southern airlines. Drugs Get Priority Another 500 pounds. of narcotics from Lilly's went out on the airline's noon flight today. The line also is holding 1500 pounds of blood plasma in readiness at the airport in case more is needed. Richard Pfennig, airlines district manager, said ‘drugs and plasma were being given priority on each flight and that some passengers and express ‘were put off yesterday to make room for the medicine. He sald Ft. Wayne, "Evansville, Detroit and Toledo also are sending supplies but that Indianapolis’ conFino was the largest to date.

Mayor Orders End

To Gas Violence

& Coke utility strike. “If necessary, I will use the entire police force to prevent further violence and threats,” asserted the mayor, He said he referred to several instances in which the homes of employees now working at the com-

(Continued. on Page 10—Column 3)

Man's Conscience :

Hurt for 12 Years BELLINGHAM, Wash, April 17 (U. P)~C. A. Hartinan, Seattle, walked into a mercantile store here today and handed $10 to a surprised clerk. “I got it : througty | error by | a sald.

€0COA, steers, hogs, lambs airport.oonirol wwer 38. miles away |, "while flour, oats, barley on FOE =r sot spn’ aéetase oe

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Mayor Tyndall today ordered an! end to violence in the Citizens Gas |

Entered as Sécond-Class Matter at PostoMes Indianapolis, Ind. Issued daily except Sunday |

Tired Doctor Say

ROW. ON ROW THEY. LIE_4 Toros City oh hol ora an a morgue. Relatives ‘ day in an effort fo laniy the 180: "bodies,

Ty. Come fo Be Identified

* Too Stunned. to Weep, Disaster Survivors * ‘Hunt Lovéd Ones at 3 Milestones of Viagedy..

‘ . h 3 * ‘By 0. B. LLOYD Jr. United Press Staff Correspondent _ TEXAS CITY, April 17—Guards with fixed bayonets kept the crowds back today from the windowless McGar garage. ’ Insidé, 150 embalmers prepared the dead for burial. Too tiréd, too stunned to weep, the survivors searched for loved: ones. ‘They garried | els grief silently on unsteady legs today back and forth between three places. ? “Their search centers on McGar's K garage, the high school gymnasium |' ey ep oming, : across the streep where the bodies were taken when they were ready for burial—and the city hall four blocks away where the death list is posted. * ” » ” ». THE PUBLIC is not allowed in‘|side” the "garage to interfere "with the embakmers. Ambulances, bakery wagons and laundry trucks carrying the dead roll up in an endless”stream ‘from | {the "blast area along -the waterfront. An ambulance door opéns and the bodies are wheeled cut .on little carts common to ambulances. Attendants strip the bodies of clothes, mostly rags, ripped by the blast. They search for ‘some mark of identification—a ring, wallet, a card or a company badge.

329 Treated, 5 Die In’ Emergency Room

By MARY FRASER Reporter for the Houston Press

GALVESTON, Tex. April ‘17.—A husky man lay on a stretcher. One eye was totally gone. His left foot ‘was nedrly severed. “They keep coming,” a doctor said. This is the emergency ward of the John Seally hospital. ‘Two sailors bring in a youth of 20 on another stretcher. “May we have this stretcher back| most of the dead so far were soon?” one of them asked. . |from the Monsanto plant, the reA nurse deftly administers a hypo. fineries or the city terminal and

Doctors pass from one to anothe: identification badges were frequent. as soon as their wounds are band-

aged, trying to keep up with the| ambulance drivers still bringing the injured from Texas City. Five Die in Room

Another victim waits in a wheel chair. He is wearing overalls and a straw-hat, One tired nurse said 329 were treated in nine hours yesterday in the 12_by 13 receiving room. Five died in the room. Five high échool boys came in and emptied an overflowing basket of bloody rags. Everyane pitched in to help. The stretchér-bearers were volunteers, black and white, old and young. A young man waiting oh ‘a

young

Nee THE BODIES are laid in lines on strips of black tar paper, - , Bradley K. Parker, Texas City} émbalmer, is in charge of Idenugs cation.

Outside it is bedlam. “I just héard you identified my husband's body,” pleaded a girl about 20 with the guard at the door.

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Interesting News—

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Frost Does Littl Damage to bape

Marshall Keeps Slight of Big 4 Agreement on Austria’ Shouts

“Krug Lied,” Lewis

Below freezing temperatures recorded im most of the state last night resulted in only slight—if any, damage to farm crops in the central a portion, county agricultural agents, jv reported today. - 2 A layer of frost covered most of the city as ‘downtown

The HOARE Of AMOTION. . » .s ress ss AN Othman and The Phone Stri and The

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relatives and friends through the night, mute, ful—waiting for word of lo

Inside it {is breathlessly quiet, blankets, °

On Inside Pages

Additional Stories and Photos of Texas Blast... The Heat's on—Elwood Gambling, Bookie Muncie Citizens Fight Rackets. ... :..

LOCAL TEMPERATURES Mine Probers........: haere h A Boune, Sam... 34 10am... 48 [Board Tp Qopsider County WelTam... .3 1am... 51 |" fare Job Case... ae Sam... a 12 (Noon) .. 52 (1a Follette and "Wolcott win. fam... #4 1pm ...58 | Oilers Awards for Distin-