1983 — May 27, Explosion, illegal fireworks factory, Webb’s Bait Farm, ~Benton, TN– 11

–11 Curtis/LeBlanc. “1983 Multiple-Death Fires in the [US].” Fire Journal, 78/4, July 1984, 45.
–11 O’Brien, John. “20 Charged in Plot to Deal in Fireworks.” Chicago Tribune, 8-29-1985.
–11 O’Brien, John. “Trials Muffling Thunder of 4th.” Chicago Tribune, 7-4-1986.
–11 Pitta. Catastrophe: A Guide to World’s Worst Industrial Disasters.
–11 UPI. “An employee of an illegal fireworks factory that blew…” 6-27-1983.
–11 Woods, Jeff. “The owner of an illegal fireworks factory that blew…” UPI, 5-29-1983.

Narrative Information

Curtis and LeBlanc/NFPA: “Eleven people reportedly died in an unverified fireworks factory combustion explosion with no ensuing fire in Benton, Tennessee.”

Media

May 29, 1983, UPI: “Benton, Tenn. — The owner of an illegal fireworks factory that blew up and killed 11 people — including his mother, brother and uncle — was charged Sunday with 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter.

“Dan Lee Webb, 30, who secretly operated the unlicensed fireworks factory on a worm farm in the southeast Tennessee mountains, casually walked into the Polk County Jail and surrendered at midnight Saturday – 26 hours after a nationwide alert had been issued for his arrest. Webb, described by neighbors as an ‘upstanding citizen,’ was jailed in lieu of $300,000 bond pending a June 2 court appearance on the manslaughter charges.

“District Attorney Jerry Estes said prosecutors still were considering charging Webb with 11 counts of second-degree murder. Conviction on the 11 counts of involuntary manslaughter would be punishable by 55 years in prison….Webb also was charged with illegally manufacturing and possessing explosives….

“The 40-by-70 foot metal factory, apparently in operation for up to six months, was tucked into a wooded hillside on Webb’s worm farm — a fish bait business.

“Webb’s wife, Linda Sue, was jailed under $50,000 bond as a material witness to ensure her appearance in court. Webb’s brother, Larry, was freed under a $50,000 material witness bond.

“The explosion apparently occurred while workers were mixing explosive chemicals so powerful they could have been intended for use by criminals and terrorists, Estes said. ‘This substance that was being used is highly sensitive. Almost any little bit of friction — even scuffing shoes on the floor — can spark this stuff off,’ Estes said.

“The bodies of the seven women and four men were hurled as far as 100 yards. Webb’s mother, Beatrice Webb, 51, his brother, David Nelce Webb, 21, and uncle, Albert Kenneth Johnson, 52, were among those killed, said Webb family attorney Jim Nave. The lone survivor, Webb’s step-uncle, Tommy Webb, 31, was critically burned and lived only because he was outside mowing grass when the factory exploded.

“All 11 victims, who ranged in age from 19 to 52, were identified by Sunday. Funerals for mother and daughter, Faye Tranthan, 38, and Tanya Tranthan, 19, were held Sunday and the rest were scheduled Monday and Tuesday.

“The two-story factory, guarded by an electronic camera and fronted with an electric fence, included a fireworks assembly room upstairs and a chemical mixing room downstairs where the blast was ignited, Cleland Blake, state forensic pathologist said. ‘It appears that the factory was in full operation at the time,’ Blake said. ‘Something accidentally sparked a motor or a wire, possibly somebody walked in there with a lighted cigarette. We may never know the exact cause….

“The fireworks factory was kept such a secret that friends of people working there said they had no idea explosives were manufactured. Most of the workers had been laid off from factories and needed jobs, relatives said.

“Authorities found $20,000 worth of unexploded explosives outside the factory — including M-80s, M-100s and four 55-gallon drums of volatile chemicals. Payne said a ‘monster’ explosive device — 4 inches in diameter and 10 inches long — also was found.” (Woods, Jeff. “The owner of an illegal fireworks factory that blew…” UPI, 5-29-1983.)

June 27, 1983, UPI: “Benton, Tenn. — An employee of an illegal fireworks factory that blew up and killed 11 people — including the employee’s mother and sister — linked the alleged owner Monday to the explosion.

“Debbie Trentham, 18, testified she worked on a fireworks assembly line at the factory and linked Dan Lee Webb, 30, to its operation. Miss Trentham said she earned $5 an hour and it was paid in cash. ‘Who paid you, Debbie?’ Assistant District Attorney James Watson asked Miss Trentham. ‘Dan handed it to us,’ said Miss Trentham, whose mother Faye and sister Tanya were killed.

“Polk County General Sessions Judge Frank Hammons bound Webb to the August term of the grand jury on 11 manslaughter charges and charges of possession and manufacture of illegal fireworks. Webb — whose mother, brother and uncle were killed in the explosion – faces a prison sentence of up to 55 years. He remained free under $150,000 bond.

“The 40-by-70 foot, two-story factory on Webb’s Southeast Tennessee worm farm erupted May 27 — hurling bodies as far as 100 feet, shooting a mushroom cloud 80 feet in the air and shaking the earth 20 miles away. ‘All I could see when I got there was a fire with secondary explosions going on,’ Polk County Sheriff Frank Payne testified in the preliminary hearing. ‘We began scouting about looking for people who might be in need of aid and that’s when we found bodies and pieces of bodies strewn about the area.’

“Miss Trentham said she started working at the factory in April. She was not asked where she was the day the factory exploded. ‘After they filled the firecracker tubes with the chemical stuff, I put liquid glass on one end of the tubes and then I put on the fuses,’ Miss Trentham testified….

“Officials of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said the explosion ignited while one worker was mixing the highly volatile chemical ingredients for flash powder, used to load fireworks manufactured at the clandestine factory….ATF officials said at the conclusion of their investigation that they probably will never determine exactly what touched off the explosion because the factory was blown to pieces. Bob Holland, chief of the ATF’s explosion response team, said a worker could have ignited the flash powder by trying to light a cigarette. Three packs of cigarettes and a disposable butane cigarette lighter were found in the charred debris of the factory, along with purses and other personal belongings of the seven women and four men killed.

“Other possible causes included sparks from electric drills and other equipment found inside the fireworks factory and from a bare light bulb that hung by a wire from the factory’s ceiling, Holland said.

“Webb was charged when he returned from a business trip and surrendered at the Polk County Jail the night after the explosion.

“Flashpowder was packed into M-80s and M-100s manufactured at the plant, Holland said. Banned by federal law, the explosives are known as ‘quarter-pounders’ because they pack the power of a quarter-stick of dynamite.

“Holland said friends of the victims told investigators that workers generally mixed the flashpowder by hand ‘like a salad.’ But Webb’s wife, Linda Sue, ran from her house on the worm farm after the explosion and reportedly told neighbors the workers were ‘trying something new’ when the factory blew up, Holland said.

“Holland said Mrs. Webb has refused to discuss what she told the neighbors. He said the workers could have ignited the explosion by trying to mix flashpowder with an electrical appliance.

“Records inside Webb’s home showed the factory had been in business for 20-23 weeks and manufactured more than five million M-80s and M-100s for a profit of $1.25 million. Officials said it was the largest illegal fireworks factory ever discovered. M-80s and M-100s are sold on the black market at fireworks shops and other roadside businesses, Holland said.”

Aug 29, 1985, Chicago Tribune: “Chattanooga, Tenn. Three Chicago-area men are among 20 people in nine states indicted Tuesday on charges of conspiring to make and sell $1.5 million worth of powerful M-80 and M-100 firecrackers.

“All of the firecrackers allegedly were manufactured at a worm farm north of here in Benton, Tenn., where six men and five women were killed in an explosion May 27, 1983.

“The Chicago-area men named in the federal indictments allegedly obtained 288,000 of the silver-coated firecrackers at secret delivery points in the Chicago suburb of Lansing and in nearby Hammond, Ind. ‘I hope these indictments will highlight around the country the dangers these devices cause in the countless loss of hands, fingers and eyes,’ John Gill Jr., U.S. attorney for eastern Tennessee, said at a press conference on the steps of the federal courthouse here. ‘What are considered by many Americans to be under-the-table, fun fireworks are really high-explosive materials,’ he said.

“Gill was joined by officials of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which investigated the unusual case after the Benton explosion. They said the illegal fireworks factory had been operating on the edge of the Cherokee National Forest for about six months before the blast, which apparently was triggered by a spark that ignited aluminum flash powder in the air.

“The owner of the farm, Dan Lee Webb, was convicted of federal and state charges arising from the explosion, which claimed the lives of his mother, brother and an uncle.

“On the day of the explosion, the indictments said, Webb was in Lansing delivering 86,400 M-80s to Walter Noeth of Chicago for $9,600.

“Webb was not among those indicted Tuesday, but sources familiar with the case said he is expected to testify in the trials of the others over several months.

“According to the indictments, at least 1,542,880 of the M-series firecrackers were manufactured at the worm farm beginning in December, 1982, and ending in the fiery deaths the next May.

“The three Chicago-area men named in the indictments allegedly received the first product: 72,000 M-80s that were shipped to Lansing in January, 1983. Subsequent shipments totaling 288,000 devices allegedly were made to the three, identified as Noeth, Kenneth Farley of Chicago and Ronald Schrouder of suburban Justice.

“In addition to the Chicago-area shipments, other major deliveries were made to a postal carrier in Pennsylvania and to other defendants in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, New York and Georgia, the indictments said.

“Authorities said a key defendant in the indictments is John Franklin Miller Sr. of Toledo, a licensed fireworks manufacturer who has been convicted numerous times of violating federal explosives laws. He is charged with ‘assisting’’ in the creation of the illegal fireworks plant at the worm farm and with arranging for the delivery of chemicals and literally miles of fuses used in the manufacture of M-80s and M-100s.

“Miller was named last December in documents filed in federal court in Chicago as having supplied pyrotechnical materials used by illegal firecracker plants in Orangeburg, S.C., where two people were killed in an explosion May 24, 1983, and at a plant in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, where a man was killed in a blast in 1978.

“Stu Kenney, a former Chicago police officer who now is chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office in Nashville, said large profits and high unemployment often attract people to work in the unlicensed, uninspected bootleg fireworks plants. He said a single M-80 costs no more than 10 cents to make but sells for as much as $1.”

July 4, 1986, Chicago Tribune: “Chattanooga, Tenn. If the crackle of exploding firecrackers this Independence Day weekend is less deafening and the number of related injuries fewer, that may be due to a series of arrests stemming from a federal investigation into illegal fireworks.

“After a recent two-week trial, the jury returned guilty verdicts against four men described by federal authorities as key figures in an interstate ring of fireworks bootleggers. Sixteen others pleaded guilty.

“Evidence in the case showed how the four who went to trial converted a Tennessee worm farm into a secret bomb factory that produced hundreds of thousands of the powerful M-80 and M-100 firecrackers. The clandestine plant, situated on the edge of the Cherokee National Forest, later exploded, killing 11 workers.

“How it came into existence to supply illegal explosives to markets in nine states, including Illinois and the Chicago area, is detailed in court documents and the testimony of the farm owner, Dan Lee Webb, along with Chicagoan Kenneth Farley, an admitted member of the ring.

“Farley identified John Franklin Miller Sr., an Ohio fireworks manufacturer convicted of conspiracy in the case, as the principal source of start-up information and pyrotechnical materials for the secret factory.

“Miller and three others convicted by the Chattanooga jury face sentencing July 21. They are Orville A. Weigelt, 57, of West Lake, Ohio; Ronald R. Schroeder, 35, of Justice, Ill., and Howard E. Bramblett, 54, of Ocoee, Tenn. Miller, 75, of Holland, Ohio, has been named in documents filed in federal court in Chicago as having supplied materials used by illegal fireworks plants in Orangeburg, S.C., where two people died in an explosion in 1983, and at a plant in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, where one man was killed in a blast in 1978.

“Webb, now serving a prison sentence for manslaughter, testified that on the day of the factory blast in 1983 he sold 86,400 of the M-80s to Walter Noeth, also of Chicago, at a motel in Lansing, Ill. Earlier that same year Webb said he sold 72,000 M-80s in Chicago. Noeth, among 16 defendants who have pleaded guilty in the case, faces sentencing here Monday.

“The others admitted doing business in illegal fireworks in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee, Georgia and North and South Carolina.

“Farley came to the attention of federal investigators in 1983 when he was arrested in possession of 53,000 high-power firecrackers destined for sale in the Chicago area. Authorities say that in addition to testifying as a government witness, Farley provided inside information on the manufacture of illegal fireworks to the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that has led agents to arrest traffickers of explosives.

“As recently as May 20, investigators said information developed in the Chattanooga case resulted in the seizure of 14,000 M-80s in the Chicago suburb of Norridge. A man and his son from Arlington Heights, Ill., were arrested along with a Chicago man when they allegedly offered to sell the firecrackers to undercover BATF agents. Charges are pending in that case.

“Documents in the Chattanooga case alleged that Miller and Bramblett, for example, received ”commissions” of $10 each for every case of the M-series of firecrackers produced at the factory on the Webb farm. Each case was sold at wholesale for $160. There are 1,440 M-80s to a case….

“‘Playing with illegal fireworks is literally like playing with dynamite,’’ Stephen E. Higgins, BATF director, said in a warning issued after in the wake of the Chattanooga convictions. Of the estimated 100,000 people who suffered injuries in fireworks-related accidents last year, he said many were the result of a ‘black- market industry which has little concern for public safety.’” (O’Brien, John. “Trials Muffling Thunder of 4th.” Chicago Tribune, 7-4-1986.)

Pitta: “….On April 19, 1984 Dan Lee Webb received a ten-year federal prison sentence for manufacturing explosives without a license. On May 1, 1984, he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charges and received a ten-year prison sentence for possessing and making illegal explosives. He served it concurrently with the federal sentence and in addition was fined $10,000.”

Sources

Curtis, Martha H. and Paul R. LeBlanc. “1983 Multiple-Death Fires in the United States.” National Fire Protection Association, Fire Journal, Vol. 78, No. 4, July 1984, p. 45.

O’Brien, John. “20 Charged in Plot to Deal in Fireworks.” Chicago Tribune, 8-29-1985. Accessed 4-19-2020 at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-08-29-8502260548-story.html

O’Brien, John. “Trials Muffling Thunder of 4th.” Chicago Tribune, 7-4-1986. Accessed 4-19-2020 at: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-07-04-8602170575-story.html

Pitta, Terra. Catastrophe: A Guide to World’s Worst Industrial Disasters. VIJ Books India Pvt. Ltd, 2015. Google preview accessed 4-19-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=8raOCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

UPI (United Press International). “An employee of an illegal fireworks factory that blew…” 6-27-1983. Accessed 4-19-2020 at: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/27/An-employee-of-an-illegal-fireworks-factory-that-blew/7156425534400/

Woods, Jeff. “The owner of an illegal fireworks factory that blew…” UPI, 5-29-1983. Accessed 4-19-2020 at: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/05/29/The-owner-of-an-illegal-fireworks-factory-that-blew/7953423028800/