Crew of Forty Killed

Warning of New Blast

W. H. Sandberg, manager of the Texas City Terminal Railways, had said there was an "even chance" that the High Flyer would explode.

Fire fighters from four cities poured streams of water on the vessel. A tug had attempted to pull it away from the dock and into the bay.

At near-by Lamarque, the State Highway Patrol said that one of the explosions was that of an oil tank on the Republic Oil Company's tank farm.

Mayor J. C. Trahan said he knew of 300 dead. G. B. Finley, State Highway Commission official, said at Austin that aides at the scene had indicated the toll would reach 1,200. Wiley Whatley, Houston police sergeant at the scene, estimated that the death total would be between 450 and 500.

Midwestern headquarters of the Red Cross at St. Louis reported that 500 bodies had been brought out of the explosion area late yesterday and that more bodies were being found constantly.

Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, hero of Bataan, visited the city and said:

"I have never seen a greater tragedy in all my experiences. I have come here to offer this stricken community every facility that the Army can place at its disposal."

He is now Commanding General of the Fourth Army.

Crew of Forty Killed

Mayor Trehan, who wears the Purple Heart for buzz bomb wounds received in Belgium, said that "no buzz bomb could ever compare with what happened here."

"It is such a terrific tragedy that the people have not been able to realize what happened," he added.

The chain of explosions was set off by the blowing up of the French freighter, Grandcamp at 9:12 A.M. yesterday. The ship was obliterated and its crew of forty perished.

The Grandcamp explosion followed a fire that started at about 8:30 A.M., while it was being loaded with nitrate and, The Houston Post said, "possibly with small ammunition."

The Texas City Fire Department seemingly had the fire under control when the explosion came.

The huge war-built plant of the Monsento Chemical Company was virtually destroyed by fire. It was at first reported that the fire was started by an explosion set off by the ship blast. An official of the company said in a wire from St. Louis last night, however, that "there was no explosion within the plant itself."

He was Dan J. Forrestal Jr., assistant director of industrial and public relations for the company, who flew to the scene yesterday afternoon for an investigation. A large proportion of the 500 persons employed by the plant were killed or injured, he said, and more than 100 were unaccounted for.

The blasts rocked the surrounding region for 150 miles.

Mr. Finley said: "Rescue parties bringing out casualties from the blast area estimated that about one out of every three persons had been killed, which would indicate around 1,200 dead."

He referred to the dock area, where the principal damage occurred and where there were about 3,500 persons when the explosions began.

A reporter flying over the scene likened it to bomb destruction of European cities in the recent war. The mushrooming cloud of smoke that arose was described as resembling the aftermath of the atom bombing of Hiroshima.

The first eye-witnesses to move into the area after the explosion saw workers stream from buildings with blood gushing from noses and ears the result of concussion.

"Bodies were tossed about like playing cards," said a reporter for The Houston Chronicle.

Earlier, E. A. Boehler, a Houston policeman, had reported:

"Bodies can be picked up by the dozens in the fire area, but you cannot get in to them."

Relief and rescue workers swarmed into the city from all directions. National Red Cross headquarters in Washington set aside $250,000 for relief work and sent thirty disaster experts to the scene.

It was from records of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in Washington that the disaster was listed as the country's worst, in lives lost, in ten years. The next worst, the Atlantic coast hurricane of September, 1938, took 682 lives.