FIREWORKS BLAST KILLS 7 WOMEN.

ARMY, NAVY, FBI PROBING BLAZE NEAR ROCHESTER; TEN INJURED.

Rochester, N. Y., Nov. 6. -- (AP) -- Seven women were killed and 10 other employes of the Rochester Fireworks company were injured in an explosion this afternoon at the company plant in the town of Perinton, Sheriff ALBERT SKINNER said.
Authorities identified the dead as:
EVELYN M. BIGELOW, 27.
ANGELINA MANDELL, 31.
YOLANDA GOVINO, 29.
VIOLA CLOSE, 60.
MARY PARSONS, 43.
BERTHA ARCHAMBO, 53, all of East Rochester.
EVELYN ELLIS, 48, of Fairport.
Officials of the fireworks company said the condition of some of the injured was so critical that deaths might result.
Army, navy and FBI officials began an investigation.
The explosion was caused when a tray of powder carried by a workman was set down or dropped hard enough to create a friction spark, investigators said.
The blast, which started a fire, was comparatively light, witnesses said, but the powder fed flames spread so swiftly through the one-story building that only one or two of the employes at work escaped unharmed.
The seven burned to death were trapped in the building the sheriff said.
Workers had started on the 4 p.m. shift and one of them, EVELYN ELLIS, hd just been employed 20 minutes earlier. The building was the only one used by the plant for the night shift and flames razed it in a few minutes.

Charleston Gazette West Virginia 1942-11-07
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!