One hundred years ago, a major industrial flash fire in Chehalis at the Imperial Powder Company caused the gruesome deaths of eight young women working in an explosive materials factory off Coal Creek Road.
The fire, which occurred in the main plant near a railroad track that held a boxcar for loading powder, killed Bertha Crown, 14; Sadie Westfall, 16; Eva Gilmore, 16; Tillie Rosbach, 18; Vera Mulford, 14; Ethel Tharp, 20; Bertha Hagle, 16; and Ethel Henry, 18, all of Chehalis.
The eight girls were part of a crew of 11 young women working in a room where the flammable powder was packed into boxes on Nov. 1, 1911. One fell ill before lunch and went home; another had been taken by a plant manager to another room.
According to reports in several newspapers, including The Centralia Daily Chronicle and The Centralia News-Examiner, electrician Frank Hull noticed a “blue flame” near a paraffin tank in the main room. He shouted to warn others as he noticed hundreds of pounds of loose powder covered the floor.
A flash fire broke out, reportedly with a force that blew the male employees near the doorway out of the building and through the open boxcar. Eva Zavolosek, a survivor, was also blown out of the area and ran up Coal Creek Road, where she was picked up by someone in a car. Crown was found near the front door with burns over 90 percent of her body and was taken to St. Helen Hospital in Chehalis, where she later died of her injuries.
Early reports, according to research compiled by Rochester resident Terry Walker and recounted in articles from The Oregonian, Seattle Times and other papers who ran the news on their front pages, said the other seven girls who died were trapped behind a workbench.
“The powder simply went up in a flash and those who were not near exits had no chance to escape,” The Oregonian article printed Nov. 2, 1911, read. “Their work bench was in their way and completely cut off their road to safety even had there been time. Some of the men who escaped were thrown several feet by the blast of air caused by the sudden ignition.”
The Chehalis Bee-Nugget’s Nov. 9, 1911, edition said rescuers were unable to get into the building due to flames spreading rapidly, needing to wait until the fire died down to “examine the ruins and find the charred bodies” of the girls. The girls’ unrecognizable remains were brought into the coroner’s office that evening.
The plant was destroyed, and the very next day Coroner James Sticklin formed an inquest jury that brought together several local businessmen and bankers, who convened for 30 minutes. The same Chehalis Bee-Nugget edition reported Samuel Hartman, T.C. Rush, C.E. Prewitt, E. M’Broom (sic), J.B. Sullivan, and Francis Donahoe did not establish the cause of the fire but declared the Imperial Powder Company blameless.
“We, the jury impaneled to inquire into the death of the following named persons ... find that they came to their death by fire in the packing room of the Imperial Powder Company, November 1, 1911,” the jury’s statement read. “We also find that the fire was purely accidental and the jury holds the company free from any blame.”
Company representatives testified they knew no cause of the blast, and speculated various reasons it could have happened. The Daily Chronicle printed in its Nov. 2 edition, the day after the fire, that reports among citizens had circulated that workers and supervisors had regularly taken smoke breaks in the immediate vicinity of flammable powder.
“The report is also freely circulated in Chehalis that frequently employes (sic), and even bosses at the plant, engaged in smoking while at work around the buildings,” the article read.
An interesting piece of testimony came from Zavolosek herself, who told the jury the girls would have survived had they not run back into the packing room for their coats. The Daily Chronicle then printed in its Nov. 3, 1911, edition an article entitled “Were Girls Posted?” which reported suspicions being aroused in the inquest room that one of the girls had been coached on what to say at the witness stand.
The girls’ remains were damaged so severely that positive identifications of only two girls were made. Ethel Henry’s uncle identified her remains; a half-melted ring was the only way to identify Ethel Tharp. Tillie Rosbach’s brother-in-law, Harry Kanouse, identified her based on a missing tooth, but a dentist disagreed with the identification, saying her bridgework did not match up.
A mass memorial service was held at Chehalis Methodist Church Nov. 4, 1911, where community members gathered to mourn over the remains of Gilmore, Hagle, Westfall, Rosbach, Mulford and Crown. The memorial was so well-attended that all business in Chehalis was suspended between 2 and 3 p.m. that day.
Two other funeral services were held, with Tharp’s taking place Nov. 5 and Henry’s Nov. 10.
The community announced plans to create a “big monument” that would be placed on a common grave of five victims at the Greenwood Masonic Cemetery — which is today located off Jackson Highway south of Chehalis city limits, and just east of the terminus with 20th Street. The monument and subsequent memorial never happened, as the idea was forgotten — it wasn’t mentioned again until 1956, when a new owner of the Masonic Cemetery announced he would see to the creation of a memorial.
That, too, never came to pass.
The only victim of the disaster ever to receive a grave marker was Ethel Henry. The other girls were buried in separate caskets in the common grave, which bears no detail and the only marker that even exists is a concrete boundary on the hillside south of Chehalis.
Eventually even those graves were covered by brush and dirt. The girls who died in a tragedy that made national news were all but forgotten.
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In part 2 Monday, we examine the legacy of this tragedy. Family members of the dead girls share memories that remain 100 years later, and we look at how this tragedy influenced the then-young industrial insurance program in Washington state.
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Christopher Brewer: (360) 807-8235
