1930 – April 3, explosions, Pennsylvania Fireworks Display Company, Devon, PA     —     10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 1-31-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 15  Chester Times, PA. “15 Dead, 75 Injured in Fireworks Blast.” 4-3-1930, p. 1.

— 10  Bradford Era, PA. “Devon Blast Kills 10 and Injures Many. Fireworks…” 4-4-1930, 1.

— 10  Bradford Era, PA.  “Pennsylvania State Briefs (by the Associated Press.)” 4-5-1930, 1.

— 10  Bradford Era, PA.  “Probable Cause of Blast Fatal to 10 is Explained.” 4-8-1930, p. 1.

— 10  Chester Times, PA. “Inquest Started into Devon Blast: 10 Dead, 2 Missing.” 4-4-1930, 1.

— 10  Goshorn, Bob. “When the Fireworks Factory in Devon Blew Up.” 1978, p. 57.

— 10  Lebanon Daily News, PA. “Excessive…Explosives…Devon Fireworks Plant.” 4-7-1930, 3

— 10  Raftery. “They Still Feel Impact of Devon Explosions.” Philadelphia Inquirer, 7-28-1991.

Narrative Information

Goshorn: “Noise from the blast, it was reported, was heard for fifty miles, in places as far away as Trenton, where the windows in the State House were rattled, and Wilmington. In southern New Jersey some people thought there had been an explosion at the DuPont plants along the Delaware River….

“The cause of the blast was a series of tremendous and terrible explosions at the Pennsylvania Fireworks Display Company, Inc., located on the north side of Old Lancaster Road in Devon just north of the underpass where the road is crossed by the railroad tracks. At a few minutes after ten o’clock in the morning of Thursday, April 3, 1930, shortly after the delivery of thirty kegs of black powder, three devastating explosions, in quick succession, shook the plant. Ten people were killed and scores of others injured. A pall of smoke, lighted up from time to time by exploding fireworks, covered the valley as flames enveloped the remaining buildings on the property….

“Vardaro had been making fireworks in Devon for about twelve years, starting in 1918 on a small scale in the kitchens of the workers’ homes. As the business grew, he shortly afterwards built a small factory with several small frame shacks for storage on the seven acre site, the operation at that time being known as the Devon Fireworks Company.  By 1930 the plant, now the Pennsylvania Fireworks Display Company, Inc., had expanded to include a total of fourteen metal and frame buildings, including eight larger buildings and six smaller five-foot square sheds for the storage of the various ingredients used in the manufacture of firecrackers, torpedoes, aerial bombs, pinwheels, rockets, and other fireworks the company produced.

“This was not the first explosion at the fireworks company. About two years earlier, in June 1928, according to one report, there was an explosion which blew the roof off one of the buildings and into the road, the explosion also causing the building to catch fire. Fortu­nately, no one was in the building at the time, nor was anyone injured. The building was so badly damaged that it was never rebuilt, however.

“A year later, in June 1929, in a letter to the Bureau of Inspection of the Department of Labor in Harrisburg, the general secretary of the nearby Neighborhood League, Alda A. Makarov, expressed concern over the alleged employment of minors by the company, also stating that there had been “several minor explosions” at the site and that she felt there was danger both to the children and to the district immediately adjoining the property. (In reply for the Bureau of Inspection, Elsie F. Middleton reported that inspections of the factory by the State had showed that the proprietor of the plant seemed to be doing everything to comply with the law and that no evidence of violations of the law had been found.)

“But while this may not have been the first explosion there, it certainly was the last one. After the blast, the entire area was likened by army veterans to the No-Man’s Land of World War I. Every bit of vegetation was destroyed, large trees ripped apart, their branches shattered and torn off. The force of the exploding fireworks and powder left great holes, like shell craters, in the black, pock­marked earth.  Except for the office and one concrete foundation, there was not a timber projecting more than two feet above the ground to indicate where buildings had been. For some time afterwards, visitors, as one newspaper described it, “stood and talked or merely gazed with awe-struck eyes at the scenes of ruin on every side”.

“The proprietor of the plant, Luigi Peruzzi of Devon, was at first reported to have been away from the site when the explosion occurred, but was later found to be one of the ten persons killed. The others were identified as Josephine Capelli, Angela Chicarelli, Carmela D’Antonio, and Jennie Ricci, of Devon; Mary Hopkins, of Berwyn; Anna Sittimio, of Paoli, Alfred Salamone, of Norristown, John Furia, of West Philadelphia; and Vitiantonia d’Amenito, of Upper Darby.

“Response to the disaster was almost immediate. Firemen and fire trucks from all along the Main Line – Paoli, Berwyn, Wayne, Radnor, and even Bryn Mawr and Ardmore – rushed to the scene, the firemen frequently risking their lives “in the inferno of blazing fireworks” as they fought to control the fire and keep it from spreading….Cars passing on the Lincoln Highway were commandeered to take some of the more seriously injured to the Bryn Mawr Hospital.

“The exploding fireworks also scattered burning debris over a wide area, causing numerous field fires in the vicinity, obviously adding to the difficulties of the firemen and others engaged in rescue and relief work.

“The fireworks plant was not the only site to suffer major damage as a result of the explosion. The Eagle Signal Tower, the control center for the interlocking switches on the Pennsylvania Railroad, was in the line of destruction, force from the blast knocking the signalman on duty, Max Schwartz, from his chair. All the overhead wires were also knocked down across the tracks, and it was several hours before service could be resumed. The windows in a train stopped at the Devon station were also blown in by the blast, the flying glass injuring a number of passengers in the train.

“Several small houses and residences along Old Lancaster Road, across from the fireworks company or adjacent to it, were either leveled or so badly damaged beyond repair, twisted and torn from their foundations, that they had to be razed to the ground. The expensive home of Stephen Fuguett, on the Lancaster Pike at Valley Forge Road, the colonial mansion of John Cornelius, in which members of the Cornelius family had lived for 104 years, a hundred yards to the east, and the home of Guy R. Wheeler, all prominent residents of the area, were virtually wrecked.  Other homes seriously damaged included the mansions of other well-known families, among them the home of William A. Gray, an attorney in Philadelphia, that of Mrs. Charles M. Lea, widow of a retired publisher and philanthropist, where the extent of the damage was estimated to be over $50,000, and that of Mrs. William McCone, whose home “was wrecked almost beyond repair”. Homes as far away as Berkeley Road, including houses owned by D. Alleva and Emidio DeJoseph, were badly wrecked inside….

“Probably the biggest business property loss, aside from the fireworks company itself, was suffered by the Benjamin C. Botner Paper Box Manufacturing Company, located only about a quarter of a mile away on the south side of the Lincoln Highway at Valley Forge Road. Over 1700 panes of glass there were reported shattered and the steel sashes just recently put into the building blown out.  The interior of the offices of the C. A. Lobb and Sons lumber yard, also only a short distance away at the northeast corner of the Lincoln Highway and Old Lancaster Road, was similarly ruined….

“Many of the early theories as to the cause centered on the delivery, apparently in error, of an abnormally large amount of black powder to the plant on the morning of the explosion, thirty kegs being delivered instead of the usual three to five kegs. However, S. J. Ryan, head of the Quarryman’s Supply Company in Norristown, which had delivered the powder to the fireworks company, told reporters that “to think that 30 kegs of black powder, that is 750 pounds, could have caused it (destruction of this magnitude) is ridiculous”. (This opinion was later corroborated in the testimony to the jury of Ralph Ashton, assistant to the director of explosives at DuPont, who testified that in his opinion such a large explosion could not have been caused by black powder unless there were quantities of 10,000 to 15,000 pounds on the site, and also in the testimony of Robert W. Hackett, of the Inspection Division of the State Department of Labor and Industry.)

“A new lead developed on Saturday when Chief of Police James Nugent, of Tredyffrin Township, was rummaging through the debris at the scene of the explosion and found in the wreckage a gas stove with all its jets fully open. The stove, which was of a type used for heating purposes, had been blown more than fifty feet from its original location.

“With Chester County District Attorney John Guss conducting much of the questioning, the jury heard testimony from about a dozen witnesses altogether.  Among them were William Kneibel, of Norristown, who testified about the delivery of the powder to the plant; two experts on explosives, Ralph Ashton, of DuPont, and William Weise, a former fireworks powder mixer with long experience at the Victor Fireworks Company in Elkton, Maryland; and two employees of the Inspection Division of the state Department of Labor and Industry, Robert W. Hackett and H. H. Lippincott, both of whom again affirmed that in their opinion the plant was not being operated in violation of the law, although Hackett also commented that the “regulations are probably not stringent enough for thorough safety”. He also added that in his opinion there was too great a quantity of explosives on hand at the plant, the term explosives including both the ingredients from which the fireworks were made and the finished product awaiting shipment.

“Chief of Police Nugent also testified about his discovery of the gas stove, while Victor Vardaro gave information about the layout of the plant, the arrangements inside the various buildings, including the locations of the stoves, and described the processes and ingredients used in the manufacture of fireworks, though he could not give any details about the amounts of powder and other ingredients on hand. He did declare that there was no large quantity of aerial bombs on hand, however, and that he knew of no dynamite or TNT.  Other witnesses included Peter Nugent, a brother of the police chief, who had installed the gas jets in the drying room, Stephen Fuguett, and Alexander and Antoinette Vardaro….

“In the aftermath of the disaster, several ironic and strange twists were revealed. On a tragic note, it was reported that Peter Chicarelli, the father of Angela Chicarelli who was one of the persons killed in the explosion, had had a “premonition” and had urged his daughter to leave her job with the company. Another of those killed, Josephine Capelli, had planned to announce her engagement to Achille Pizza within the next two weeks.

“On the other hand, Esther Sims, who had worked at the company wrapping firecrackers and making “dago” bombs and torpedoes, had left its employ on just the preceding Saturday after working there for over two years. The two brothers of Chief of Police Nugent had also been working on jobs at the plant, but fortunately had been delayed on that particular day and had not reached the site by the time the explosion occurred.  Several others, including Buck Weaver, a well-known local baseball player and umpire, similarly reported last-minute delays or changes in plans that kept them from the immediate area on that fateful Thursday morning.

“Equally fortunate was Mrs. Thomas Corkhill, who lived in a house on the Lea estate; the house was destroyed except for the kitchen, into which Mrs. Corkhill had entered from another part of the house just before the explosion.

“Perhaps one of the oddest twists, though, resulted from the peculiar pattern of destruction from the blasts, which was much heavier to the east than to the west. Some homes only a half-mile or so to the west of the plant, it was reported, were relatively undamaged, while to the east the area of damage extended for five miles. In the same vein, while the large plate glass windows in the three-months old McClure Fahnestock Packard showroom, at the intersection of Conestoga Road and the Lincoln Highway, were demolished, it was reported that the large greenhouses of Alfred M. Campbell, on the other side of the Highway and a shorter distance away from the fireworks plant, escaped serious damage with only a few panes of glass broken….

“Through the Disaster Committee of the Wayne Branch of the American Red Cross, a temporary office of the Red Cross was set up at the Neighbor­hood League’s Baby Clinic on Grove Avenue in Devon, near to the stricken area, where arrangements were made for families whose homes had been destroyed to be housed with other families in Berwyn and Wayne. At the same time, the Neighborhood League collected many of the now homeless children in the area and took them to its Wayne headquarters, where they were kept all day and entertained by volunteers until families could be reunited.

“The Anthony Wayne Post 418 of the American Legion also began to provide care for others of the 200 men, women and children made homeless by the blast. Cots and blankets were made available by the Navy Department and Marine Corps Quartermaster in Philadelphia, being sent out to the area in a convoy of trucks.

“The parish house of St. Mary’s Protestant Episcopal Church was opened for all families whose homes had been wrecked by the explosion. The Devon branch of the Needlework Guild supplied needed garments, and people and businesses throughout the area answered generously and appeal for bedding and blankets and donated other supplies for families suffering from the blast. Boy Scout Troop Paoli 1 assisted, as a troop, in the rescue work and helped to clean up the debris at damaged homes. Aid was also given by the Chamber of Commerce and many other organizations.

“….It was estimated by the Red Cross that $40,000 would be needed for relief work to help the stricken families; in less than three weeks a community fundraising drive sponsored by the Wayne branch of the Red Cross produced over $38,000 in donations from individuals and business establishments in the area.

“It was a real community effort in the face of what was described as “one of the worst disasters ever experienced in this section” — when the fireworks factory in Devon blew up.”  (Goshorn, Bob. “When the Fireworks Factory in Devon Blew Up.” Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3, Fall 1978, pp. 57-64.)

Newspapers

April 3: “Fifteen persons were believed to have been killed and fifty-five others injured, at least twenty of them so seriously they will probably die, and scores were treated for minor cuts and bruises when explosions demolished twelve one-story, frame buildings of the Pennsylvania Fireworks Company, Devon, shortly after 10 o’clock this morning. Devon is fifteen miles north of Chester.

“Eight charred bodies were recovered from the debris shortly before noon, but only one was identified as the bodies were mangled and charred beyond recognition.

“Eight of the ten dead already recovered were removed to the morgue of U. G. Mauger at Malvern….

“Of nine bodies recovered, only two…have been identified… Those identified were Victor Antonio, 65, a watchman for the firm, and Luigi Peruzzi, the son-in-law of Alexander Vardaro, proprietor of the fireworks company.  The other victims were literally blown to pieces and physical identification will be an impossibility, physicians said.  Only through a check of the list of employees can their identity ever be learned.

“There were known to be 36 employes, seven of them girls, in the main plant at the time of the blasts.  So far none of them have been found alive.  Ten victims met death in the central building of the company.  Two of them were women….

“Traffic was jammed in many of the towns along the Main Line as thousands of persons rushed to the scene of the holocaust….

“Victor [Vardaro] said that his father had just been called from the industrial or center building to answer a telephone in one of the other smaller structures.  He also left the main building with his father to go to another one of the plants.  This accounted for them not being killed in the ruins, Victor said….

“Officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad stopped all trains through Devon as it was feared other explosions might occur from the fire which was sweeping the fireworks plant from the earlier blasts.

“All telephonic and telegraphic communication with the stricken town was cut-off and the telephone and telegraph companies had dispatched crews to repair the shattered lines.

“The first contingent of critically injured arrived at the  Bryn Mawr Hospital, four miles from the scene of the disaster, about 10.30 a.m.  It consisted of 13 persons, two of them unidentified, who are so critically injured and burned that they will probably die.

“The main plant, largest of the twelve buildings, and located in the center of the group was the scene of the first explosion….

“Factory inspectors of the State Department of Labor and Industry here began an investigation, into the cause of the explosion within fifteen minutes after it occurred.  R. W. Hackett, supervising Inspector, accompanied by Inspector H. M. Lippincott, rushed by automobile to the scene.  Lippincott, who frequently inspected the place said it was well constructed and ‘admirable safety precautions’ were taken there always.  The storehouse was separate from the workrooms for the greater safety of the employes, he said. A thorough investigation will be made, nevertheless, he promised.

“Practically every window in the small town of Devon was shattered by the explosion….

“As rescuers rushed to the scene a second blast again stunned the town and was followed five minutes later by a third one. Each explosion was more violent than the preceding one, and as the final blast punctured the air not a building of the twelve in the plant was left standing.

“A group of interns and nurses from the Bryn Mawr Hospital was rushed to the scene and preparations were made at the institution to take care of the injured.  At noon today the hospital was jammed to the doors with injured, some of them dying.  Their screams added to the general hysteria that prevailed all along the Main Line.  Medical patients at the hospital, excited by the screams and moans of the frightfully burned and injured, joined in the confusion, some of them becoming hysterical.

“Extra beds were hastily constructed and houses near the plant that were not too badly damaged by the blast were hastily pressed into service to take care of the more severely injured who could not be transferred to the hospital.  Volunteers by the hundreds rushed to the scene and offered their aid, and groups of school children rushed about Devon collecting medical supplies and clean bundles of cloth for emergency work….

“Mrs. Anna McCone, an invalid, is believed seriously hurt by falling debris which crashed through the roof of her home….

“The Pennsylvania Railroad depot at Devon was badly damaged and much wreckage was strewn along the tracks….

“The first explosions occurred in the center of the plant when a building where aerial bombs were stored went up.

“Indication of the force of the explosion could be gained by the fact that Trenton, where the rumblings were heard and slight concussions felt, is more than 30 miles from Devon.  Residents of Hammonton, N.J., reported that houses were shaken there….Chester, Doylestown, Norristown, Bristol, Marcus Hook, and other Pennsylvania cities reported the concussions.  Philadelphia, Ardmore, Radnor, Paoli, and nearby cities in the Main Line district reported serious damage.  Many windows were shattered and signs and other movable lights wrecked by the explosion.  Trenton, Mt. Holly, Camden, Burlington, Woodbury, and other cities along the Delaware river in New Jersey were reported to also have felt the blasts.

“Debris was hurled several miles by the force of the blasts.  Automobiles passing the plant were knocked from the highway.

“Two hundred employes at the factory of B. T. Beutner, a short distance away, were routed when bits of debris fell on the plant and their hurried exodus added to the confusion. 

“Continued explosions of fireworks stored in the wrecked buildings handicapped rescuers and kept many of the firemen at a distance.

“The traffic tie-up on the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was said, resulted from damage to a signal tower almost a half mile distant from the destroyed fireworks plant. Workmen in the tower were hurled to the floor….

“Shortly after the explosion a detail of cadets from the Valley Forge Academy were rushed to the scene and assisted in administering first aid to the injured.

“Another detail of cadets from the same institution were dispatched to the scene and held the frantic relatives of the victims from plunging into the burning buildings in search of their loved ones. The cadets had to use fixed bayonets to hold the panic-stricken persons at bay.

“A group of small school children walking along the Lancaster pike, several hundred yards away, narrowly escaped being killed when an automobile, parked outside the main building that went up with the first explosion, fell a few yards away from them. The car was sent hurtling through the air like a cannonball and was reduced to splinters by the impact….

“E. J. Regan, freight clerk for the Pennsylvania Railroad at Darby, told a reporter:

I was in the baggage room of the Devon station when the first blast at the Penn fireworks plant was felt.  It shattered all the glass in the building and tore off part of the roof on the residence of C. J. McLaughlin, ticket agent, upstairs.

I ran out of the building in time to see a huge cloud of smoke rising over the powder plant.  People were running screaming in all directions and dozens were lying wounded or stunned on the ground.

A train was standing at the station and half of its windows were blown out.  Another train, coming from Philadelphia, was advancing up the tracks and was just opposite the plant which is about 400 yards from the station.  When the explosion occurred it nearly rocked the moving train off the tracks and a score of passengers on it were cut by flying glass….

Two men in the signal tower a half mile down the line were stunned by the concussion and the tower itself was badly damaged….

The waiting room of the station was turned into an accident ward and at least 25 of the injured were treated there….

The firemen from the surrounding towns did heroic work and exposed themselves to death many times in their fire-fighting work.  However, they had the situation well in hand in about an hour and all danger of further spread of the flames was removed….”

(Chester Times, PA. “15 Dead, 75 Injured in Fireworks Blast.” 4-3-1930, p. 1.)

April 3: “Philadelphia, April 3. – (AP) – Ten persons lost their lives and more than 30 were injured today when a series of explosions virtually wiped out the plant of the Pennsylvania Fireworks Display company, Inc., at Devon, 16 miles west of Philadelphia….

“Although hospitals reported treating only about 20 injured persons, many more were treated on the scene….

“There were three heavy explosions which caused most of the damage, followed by smaller blasts over a period of 20 minutes after the first great shock. Rescuers were forced to remain at a distance until the explosions ceased, when hundreds of persons rushed into the rescue.

“Eight of those who lost their lives were killed outright and their bodies were badly charred before they were dragged from the burning ruins. Another died shortly afterward and the tenth, a girl, died in the Bryn Mawr hospital this afternoon, four hours after the explosion.[1] She was terribly burned….

“According to Alexander Vardaro, proprietor of the fireworks plant, the first explosion occurred in a building at the extreme northwestern corner of the property where a quantity of dynamite was stored.  “The only thing I could think of that would cause the explosion would be friction, said Vardaro.  “It would be possible for the nails of the shoes of some of the workmen moving about the building to cause sufficient friction to set off the dynamite. The exact cause probably will never be known”.” (Bradford Era, PA.  “Devon Blast Kills 10 and Injures Many. Fireworks Factory is Wiped Out by Series of Explosions.” 4-4-1930, p. 1.)

April 4: “`Fire or combustion’ caused the disastrous blasts at the Pennsylvania Fireworks Display Company, in Devon yesterday, which resulted in the loss of ten lives, with two missing, and injury of two score others, Victor Vardaro, 23-year-old son of Alexander Vardaro, president and manager of the firm, testified at the coroner’s inquest at Malvern today.  Vardaro, in making his assertion, denied reports that friction was responsible for the terrible tragedy.  He also refuted reports that 30 cans of powder had been delivered to the plant a short time prior to the series of blasts.  Only three cans of explosives had been received, he said, and these were being opened by his brother-in-law, Luigi Peruzzi, when the first blast occurred….Three cans of powder were received during the morning from the Hercules Powder Company of Norristown, he testified…. Peruzzi was in charge of the powder building while he was in charge of the front building, Vardaro said.  He had opened six cans or about 150 pounds of powder in all when the blast occurred.

“District Attorney John M. Guss, of Chester county, questioned the witness, under the direction of Coroner Ford.  ‘I ran to get my father at the sound of the first blast,’ Vardaro said, ‘and I was knocked down by a second explosion. ‘I didn’t know anything for a time.  When I regained my sense I went in search of my mother and sister and then the third blast took place.’  The factory employes were making salutes and flares at the time according to the youth’s story.

“All of the employes were able and experienced except a girl who had only been employed for three weeks, testified Vardaro. The new girl was permitted to handle only the finished products, he said.

“Officials believe there were twenty-one persons on the property when the explosions began….

“The ten victims are located in the mortuary at Malvern awaiting the outcome of the inquest.  In the meantime five other persons in the Bryn Mawr Hospital are reported by the staff as seriously injured.

“Today the scene of the busy little plant resembled a battle scene.  Hardly a vestige of material remains as evidence of the twelve busy building standing there yesterday. Homes within the immediate territory of the plant stand shattered, mute evidence of the force of the three blasts, which followed one another in rapid succession.

“More than two hundred persons, most of them Italians and relatives of the explosion victims, were rendered homeless by the three blasts which wrecked their homes.  They were provided with beds last night by various charity organizations and the American Legion Home in Wayne.  The American Legion also hastily collected clothing for the destitute….

“Authorization was received from Washington in record time to draw upon the Quartermaster Supply Depot in Philadelphia for cots and blankets, and several truckloads were sent to Wayne last night.  By 9 o’clock the American Legion men had facilities to care for several scores of persons….By 10 o’clock this morning most of the 200 rendered homeless by the hapless blast had been thoroughly provided for.

“Every window in a six-car train of a Paoli local, which was running westbound opposite the plant at the time of the explosion, was shattered by the tremendous force of the first blast.  The crew was injured as were many of the passengers, but the motorman, although painfully cut and bruised, stuck to his post until he had safely operated the train out of the danger zone. After stopping the train a distance down the track from the plant, he alighted to assist in the rescue work, but collapsed. He was Ben Hackett, of Overbrook.  E. L. Shock, conductor, H. B. Hershey, brakeman, and sixteen passengers were also treated for cuts and bruises.

“The force of the explosion was felt in many towns within a 35-mile radius of the plant.  Homes were rocked in Germantown as people rushed to the streets, fearing an earthquake.  Pictures were reported knocked from the walls in many areas of West Philadelphia, and inhabitants all along the Mail Line, and as far north as Trenton, N.J., reported feeling the shocks distinctly….

“Policemen in Devon and extra forces of men proved helpless in the face of the huge situation and it was necessary to call out army reserves to augment the force. A company of cadets from the Valley Forge Military Academy, four miles from the scene of the explosion, aided materially in keeping curious persons who dared death for a closer view of the debris from getting within the danger zone.

“The force of the blast was tremendous. Persons more than a mile away were knocked to the ground by the force of the three detonations, each one succeeding the other in increasing violence.  A motorcycle cop, patrolling his district on Gulph road, nearly a mile from the scene of the explosion, was thrown from his motorcycle with such force that it was necessary to remove him to the Bryn Mawr Hospital with the accident victims for treatment.  A woman, sitting in a rocking chair nearly a half-mile away from the plant, was also thrown to the floor, and a painter was knocked from his ladder as he was painting the side of a house….

“A settlement of Italian homes directly across the road from the powder plant was virtually wiped out by the force of the fierce explosions….

“All day long a search was made for Alexander Vardaro, president and manager of the fireworks company, and just when he was to be listed among the missing he was arrested by State Trooper John McNulty at the Devon station of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Vardaro was boarding a train at 5:15 for Philadelphia and seemed to be in a daze.  He was taken to the Wayne police station for questioning…..

“Automobiles along the Lancaster pike were overturned or shoved from the highway by the force of the successive blasts….” (Chester Times, PA. “Inquest Started into Devon Blast: 10 Dead, 2 Missing.” 4-4-1930, p. 1.)

April 5: “Philadelphia – Coroner’s inquest in fireworks plant explosion at Devon fails to reveal cause of blast which killed 10 persons.” (Bradford Era, PA. “Pennsylvania State Briefs (by the Associated Press.)” 4-5-1930, p. 1.)

April 7: “Harrisburg, Pa., Today. (AP) – Investigation of the explosion which claimed ten lives at the plant of the Pennsylvania Fireworks Display Company, Inc., at Devon last week has revealed indications of excessive amounts of explosives stored there, Harry D. Immet [unclear] chief of the bureau of inspection, Department of Labor and Industry, said today.  Upon his return from several days investigation of the blast, Mr. Immet, who is in charge of the enforcement of regulations concerning safety in industry, asserted:

It is indicated very strongly there was an excessive amount of explosives in storage at the plant at the time of the explosion.  We have found lading bills showing as much as 700 or 800 barrels of explosives delivered there in a day.

“The nature of the explosives have not as yet been determined, Mr. Immet said.  Regulations of the department, Immet added, provide that explosives must be stored at a ‘proper’ distance from the place where work is being done.  What would constitute a ‘proper’ distance in the Devon plant depends on the amount of explosives he explained.

“Periodical inspections of the plant previous to the explosion, the bureau chief said, revealed ‘nothing that we had authority to criticize.’ A complete report of the explosion will await completion of the coroner’s inquest, Immet said. ‘Whatever else happens, this will afford an opportunity to present requests for stricter regulation of fireworks and other plants handling explosives.  If we do not have enough authority, we will go to the next legislature with a bill to carry out thoughts into law’.” (Lebanon Daily News, PA.  “Excessive Amount of Explosives at Devon Fireworks Plant.” 4-7-1930, p. 3.)

April 7: “Philadelphia, April 7. (AP) – Use of gas heating and lighting units and heavy stocking of raw and finished explosives “probably” caused the explosions at the Devon, Pa., plant of the Pennsylvania Fireworks Display company last Thursday, a coroner’s jury decided tonight. Ten persons lost their lives in the explosions, several others were injured and 200 homes in Devon and the surrounding countryside were damaged.

“In its written verdict the coroner’s jury recommended enactment of a “stringent law to cover the manufacture of fireworks, taking into consideration the location of plants and the quantity of raw and finished materials to be carried at any one time, and providing that plants of this kind be subjected to frequent and rigid inspection.”

“The jury held that the explosions probably were caused by the use of gas stoves in the workshop for heating purposes and the use of gas jets in the drying room. It added that “the greatness of the explosion was caused by the large quantity of finished bombs and other fireworks and the large quantity of black powder stored on the premises”.” (Bradford Era, PA. “Probable Cause of Blast Fatal to 10 is Explained.” 4-8-1930, p. 1.)

Sources

Bradford Era, PA. “Devon Blast Kills 10 and Injures Many. Fireworks Factory is Wiped Out by Series of Explosions.” 4-4-1930, 1. http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=140270038

Bradford Era, PA. “Pennsylvania State Briefs (by the Associated Press.)” 4-5-1930, 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=140270054

Bradford Era, PA. “Probable Cause of Blast Fatal to 10 is Explained.” 4-8-1930, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=140270078

Chester Times, PA. “15 Dead, 75 Injured in Fireworks Blast [Devon, PA].” 4-3-1930, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=95231026

Chester Times, PA. “Inquest Started into Devon Blast: 10 Dead, 2 Missing.” 4-4-1930, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=95231038

Goshorn, Bob. “When the Fireworks Factory in Devon Blew Up.” Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3, Fall 1978, pp. 57-64. Accessed 3-26-2012 at:  http://www.tehistory.org/hqda/html/v16/v16n3p057.html

Lebanon Daily News, PA. “Excessive Amount of Explosives at Devon Fireworks Plant.” 4-7-1930, 3. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=129288523

Raftery, Kay. “They Still Feel Impact of Devon Explosions. Three Share Memories of the 1930 Fireworks Factory Blasts that Killed 10 Workers and Injured 18.”  Philadelphia Inquirer, 7-28-1991. http://articles.philly.com/1991-07-28/news/25784577_1_fireworks-factory-first-explosion-initial-blast

[1] This was Josephine Cappelli, 18 of Devon. (Kay Raftery. “They Still Feel Impact of Devon Explosions. Three Share Memories of the 1930 Fireworks Factory Blasts that Killed 10 Workers and Injured 18.”  Philadelphia Inquirer, 7-28-1991.)