MUNITIONS EXPLOSION 41 KILLED: 100 INJURED

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE

A great part of the west-end of Ashton-under-lyne, a Lancashire cotton town, was practically demolished by an explosion in connection with a privately owned munition works about 4.20 on Wednesday afternoon. A fire broke out at the works, which the firemen there were unable to cope with. An explosion followed, with the result that two gasometers in the vicinity blew up. This occurred in a densely-populated area. Great havoc was caused, and hundreds of residents were rendered homeless, and were housed in the West-end Council school. Up to this evening forty-one dead bodies were recovered from the débris. The injured number about 100, many of whom are in a critical condition. Hardly a vestige of the munition works remains. Boilers and barrels of burning tar were projected long distances. One fell on Clayton’s hay and corn warehouse in the adjoining town of Dukinfield, and set fire to it and demolished it. The clocks of St. Mark’s Church, Dukinfield, and St. Peter’s, Ashton, were blown away, and much damage done to the stained glass windows and roof. A portion of a boiler weighing over a ton was blown over the house-tops into John-street, Ryecroft, children having narrow escapes. Mr. S. Dreyfus, managing director of the works, seeing an explosion inevitable, ran to the workpeople shouting, “For God’s sake, run for your lives.” He and the firemen heroically fought the flames, and when the explosion came were buried in the débris. When dug out Dreyfus was unrecognisable, and he was only identified by the initials on his socks by his father, Dr. Dreyfus, ex-councillor of Manchester City Council. The damage at the adjoining mills was so great that the machinery stopped. The cause of the explosion is unknown. telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive