July 21, 2024 • 35 mins
July 2, 1918 an explosion at a munitions plant shook the night, killing 65 men, injuring dozens more, and nearly took out the city of Syracuse in the process. The cause of the explosion has never really been identified though there are several theories. Was it sabotage, and if so, was it an inside job? In this episode, we dive into the history of Split Rock and the explosion on that fateful night in 1918. We'll also dive into some rabbit holes, exploring the discovery of the Hart's Tongue Fern and the evolution of the Pinkerton Detective Agency & the first female investigator- Kate Warne.
For more on Split Rock- Check out the Onondaga Historical Society's YouTube Channel
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(00:00):
On July 2nd, 1918, an explosion would rock ammunitions plant.
Just outside of Syracuse. New York that had been essential
to the allies victory in World War One.
The explosion would take the lives of dozens of men, injuring
dozens more, and nearly. Took out the.
City of Syracuse in the process.The true 'cause for the.
(00:22):
Explosion is still a mystery andthe quarry site, now abandoned,
is considered. To be a hotspot.
For Paranormal Activity, I'm Amanda Morgan, and this is New
York. 'S dark side.
(01:02):
I want to give a shout out to the Onondaga.
Historical Society. And the late historian and.
Split Rock expert Richard. Miller, The lectures that were
given on Split Rock. Quarry which are available.
On YouTube were the major sourcematerial.
Used for this episode. I'll link to the channel in the
show notes and on the web. Page for this episode.
(01:24):
I personally had never. Heard of Split Rock?
Quarry Until doing a search for paranormal locations in New
York, it's been a bit since I'vedone coverage on a paranormal
site. Flashback.
To my Rolling Hills Asylum episode, if you haven't heard
that one, please. Check it out.
What I wasn't expecting was to find this gem of history only a
(01:46):
little more than an hour's drivefrom my house and my dad and I.
Took the opportunity to go for ahike.
And. Check out the site OI will be.
Releasing some. Pictures of our exploration
there to our social. Media pages and they are on the
web page for. This episode as well.
(02:07):
O please check them out. We'll be diving deep into the.
History of the quarry. And I'll just be honest, there
was a lot more. That I could have covered so.
If you're interested in diving deeper into the history.
Of the quarry, please check out those.
Lectures on YouTube from the Anandaga.
Historical Society. That I mentioned Richard Miller
(02:29):
also. Wrote a couple of books on split
rock. And they were limited edition
prints and it. Looks like a few.
Of them are out of print from the Onondaga.
Historical Society. But you may be able to find them
on eBay or through another. Source if you are.
Interested in finding them, I would have loved.
(02:49):
To. Talk to him about it and
potentially have him as a guest on the show, but unfortunately
it seems that he has since. Passed away I believe.
Before even finishing out the lecture series on Split Rock,
which is just incredibly sad. So in memory of Richard Miller
and. Just because it's cool.
(03:11):
Please take time to check out your.
Local Historical Society support.
Them and go visit them see. What cool piece of.
Information they may have and then let me know what you find
out about that. And with that, let's dive into
the episode the settlement of Split Rock, New York was.
(03:31):
Established by Irish. Immigrants in the 1700s the name
of. Split Rock stuck for a few.
Reasons First the French Canadians that lived in the
nearby settlement of. Rockville that were.
Working in the early quarries inthe area.
Where the larger split rock quarry would.
Eventually become were reminded.Of a split rock.
(03:53):
That they would pass on their way from Canada.
They would, on their travels, pass an area where the Hudson.
River split two hills. And in split.
Rock. There was a gully with.
A bit of a stream through. It that split.
Two mountains of stone One of the two mountains in the quarry
would end up being named Canada Hill.
(04:14):
Split Rock is also a. Quarry term.
So between the two items, there the name.
Stuck for the quarry Split Rock quarry originally.
Started out as a limestone quarry in 1796.
Some of its major contributions at that time was building the
original Erie Canal. As well as other.
Locks and canals in the state, and it even provided a stone for
(04:38):
the Washington Monument in Washington, DC the.
Quarry itself was active for a century before.
Becoming repurposed by another company. 1 interesting sidebar
before going on to that piece ofinformation was that.
The site of Split Rock. Quarry had some historical
significance in botany. Frederick Pirsch, A.
(05:00):
German botanist would find the American Hearts tongue Fern on
July 20th, 18 O 7. The Fern had never been recorded
before and reminded him of a similar Fern in Europe.
The Fern has long leaves that resemble a tongue shape,
inspiring the name. The heart spelled Hart is the.
(05:22):
Red stag of medieval times. So basically the Fern looks like
the tongue of a stag. To save the Fern, they had tried
relocating it to. Other areas of the state though
it. Sounds like that may not have.
Worked the best. And the plant was on the
endangered list for a long time.It was thought.
To have only been in this small area of New York, but they did
(05:44):
find another colony in Chittenango and more recently
found large colonies of it in Minnesota.
So it's been taken off the endangered.
List. So there's a little bit of
history. For any plant enthusiasts who
listen, I myself am a. Terrible real life gardener.
I often joke that I have a blackthumb and I cannot keep
(06:05):
succulents. Alive for the life.
Of me, but I am. Proud to say that.
In my current save of The Sims, 4I evolved some potatoes to
magnificent quality this morning.
So there is that. OK.
I've. Said this before, but.
One of the things. That I have loved.
About doing this podcast from the beginning is that as I am
(06:27):
researching a case, I come across other things that I want
to add to my research. List.
And researching this episode didnot disappoint.
In one of the video lectures on Split Rock, Richard Miller
alludes to the Filer family in the early.
Days of split. Rock The Feiler family was one
of the. Later of the early.
Settlers coming to the area theycame in the 1800 they ran a
(06:52):
company. Store which was the.
Center of the Community and Feiler Quarry, another of those
smaller quarries in the area of Split Rock.
He has a picture of the children.
Of Byron Feiler in front of the general store in his lecture
notes. And Byron's father was involved
in the sudden death of his wife.So I am going to have to
(07:14):
investigate that because. The way it was.
Presented seemed like a significant piece of local.
History. And I was able to find a book on
it so of. Course I ordered that.
And now it's on my reading list.Expect that story.
Sometime in the future. Back to the quarry itself,
Cement Solvay. Company was a Belgian company
that made chemicals in the 1860sBelgian chemist.
(07:36):
Ernest Solvay developed the. Modern form of producing sodium
carbonate, also known as soda. Ash, which is.
Used today in a large number of manufacturing.
Processes such as glass. Lithium ion batteries, food and
pharmaceuticals, including aspirin, the two ingredients
for. This are salt.
Brine and limestone. The lectures I watched.
(07:56):
On the Onondaga. Historical Society's YouTube.
Channel went more in depth on how.
This works so if. You're interested in finding out
more about that. I've linked it in the show notes
and on the web. Page for this episode.
But I won't bore everyone with the details and to be honest,
the. Whole process is far.
Beyond me but. He did a really good job of
explaining it. The Solvays would.
(08:18):
License two Americans, William BCogswell and Roland.
Hazard to produce soda. Ash in the United States and
they would partner with them to.Start the Solvay process.
Company in 1880. Four they.
Built their production plant in what is now Solvay, New York,
which is a bit NE from the quarry.
As time went on, the company started to move things.
(08:40):
Closer to the quarry, TNT started to be produced by Split
Rock Quarry. In 1900, by 19 O, 7A picric acid
plant was. Relocated to Split Rock Quarry
to help protect the process. Of making the chemical from
competitors, they wanted it in amore.
Isolated spot to. Help ensure their patents.
Were safe this will. Come back to play later in the
(09:00):
story. Picric acid was used by France.
Italy and England in World War One.
It was used in bombs and grenades and working with
Picric. Acid was an.
Extremely dangerous. Job it also.
Sounds kind of gross. There was a.
Picric acid plant in Yellowstonewhere 18 women had been hired to
do the packing and the public started calling the girls the
(09:22):
Yellowstone girls because. Working with the Picric.
Acid would turn their skin yellow.
They were also called. Canaries or.
Powder girls either. Way it just sounds like.
You could easily. Tell what they were doing.
This was an extremely dangerous.Job because picric acid is
highly explosive. There was a high amount of dust
that would result from the process of packing and if
(09:44):
anything, that was iron oxide innature.
Touched the dust, it would explode.
There was a picric. Acid plant that had a plumbing
issue and when the plumber came to fix the problem the whole
plant exploded when his wrench. Touched the dust.
On the pipe that needed repair, according to Richard Miller.
You could see where the split rack quarry was.
(10:05):
From a few miles away because there was a constant.
Yellow cloud over it due to the picric acid.
Production. Also produced as Split Rock
Quarry was poison gas. It's unclear where the.
Poison gas were exactly. Stored.
And if I wasn't already on a couple of watch.
Lists I probably. Ended up on some more while
researching this episode. On July 28th, 1914, World War
(10:29):
One began and because of this the Summit Solvay Company would
establish an ammunition facilityin Split Rock Quarry in 1915.
By 1918, about 2500 people were working in the facility the
munitions. Factory at Split Rock was.
Instrumental to the first. World War which?
I had no idea. About.
(10:50):
It was a bit mind blowing to me that a.
Piece of history was. Only a little over an hour's
drive from my home, and even more.
So to see it. In such a state.
Of disrepair, which we'll talk about.
Later on, I guess I don't know if disrepair.
Is the right word. Unpreserved.
We'll go with unpreserved, most of the people working at Split
(11:11):
Rock. Quarry were either older.
Than 50 or as young as 13 to 14 years old, since most of the men
in the area had joined the. War several of the.
Foremen were in their. Teenage years due to the.
War and the nature of what was. Being produced there, Split Rock
Quarry was. Highly protected, with perimeter
fences and watchtowers guarded by men armed with automatic
(11:33):
weapons to help prevent. Theft and sabotage.
So obviously for fun children inthe area.
Would put. Together dummies stuffed with
things. Like straw and cloth.
And they would head. Out to Split Rock.
Quarry and throw the mannequins onto the perimeter fence near
the watchtowers. Then they would yell to the.
Guards that someone was trying to enter the compound to get.
(11:53):
The guards to react. And shoot the dummies so they
blew in the bits. Sounds like fun summit.
Sulvey had also employed. Some Pinkerton men to help
protect the company secrets. And I feel like I've come across
the Pinkertons before, but I don't believe that I've done a
deep dive into them, so here is my second.
Rabbit hole for the day. A man named Alan Pinkerton
(12:15):
immigrated to Chicago in 1842, and though he had no prior
experience, he would end up having a tremendous impact on
the history of law enforcement he started out making.
Barrels but. Around 1847, while searching for
lumber on an island in the Fox River.
He came across a group of. Counterfeiters and decided to do
(12:36):
some more surveillance on them after gaining more information
about them and their movements. He reported all.
That he knew to. The local police.
Becoming a local. Hero there was.
So much publicity from the arrest that came from the
information that he. Gave that he.
Became inundated with people calling him for help on other
(12:57):
investigations. He became Chicago's first police
detective and then worked as an agent for the United States
Postal Service. Not long after that, in 1850, he
would open the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
By the late 1850s, the company was making a name for.
Itself through its work. Not only rooting out criminals.
But also with the private security.
(13:18):
Work that they were completing for the railroad companies.
The Pinkerton Company created a logo you may be familiar.
With a large. Unblinking eye and a slogan We
never sleep, which led to the nickname.
Private Eye for detectives. In 1856, the Pinkerton Agency.
Would hire its first. Female investigator, a woman
(13:38):
named Kate Warren. She was a master at undercover
work. I'm not going to dive deep into
her right now, but she sounds amazing and maybe.
I'll do a bonus. Episode on her sometime among
one amazing feat that she did. Was help.
The Pinkerton Agency potentiallythwart an assassination attempt
on Abraham Lincoln Allen Pinkerton had.
(13:59):
Allegedly discovered the plot. While investigating.
Rumors that there were plans to sabotage the rail.
Lines near Washington, DC Pinkerton had.
Heard that there were. Plans to try to assassinate
Lincoln during a planned train switch.
As part of his. Tour in Baltimore.
His tour schedule was highly publicized, so this was well out
(14:21):
there. For anybody to do anything with
Pinkerton, working with several other agents, including Kate
Warren, acted quickly. They disguised.
Abraham Lincoln and posed him asan invalid.
Brother of Kate. And had him secretly board an
overnight train that passed. Through Baltimore, several hours
ahead of his published schedule,he arrived safely.
(14:42):
But there was a lot of. Criticism that Lincoln didn't
stick to his. Published Schedule.
There were also not any arrests.Of the would be.
Assassins, leading to some speculation that the.
Plot was either highly exaggerated.
Or completely made-up. At this point, we'll never know,
however. To tie this up.
Kate Warren became. So valuable to the.
(15:03):
Pinkerton Agency that when she died in 1868, which side note,
she was super young like only 35at that point, Alan Inkerton had
her buried in his family plot. The Inkerton Detective Agency
would have the first national database for criminals, creating
the mug shot and keeing track ofthem.
With their Rogues gallery, they've had a.
(15:24):
Lot of other contributions too, but I think it's time to get
back to our story. Summit, Solvay.
Would end up buying a lot of. Property around split Rock.
In 1916, to build railways to help bring the explosives out, a
lot of the land around the area was owned by farmers and they
didn't want explosives being shipped through their land.
Of course, the city of Syracuse also didn't want Summit Solvay.
(15:47):
To use the trolley. System that was already.
Established obviously to. Prevent explosives from going
through the city. So they.
Would end up building a railway system in a different area and
you're probably wondering when are we getting to the explosion
while we're here, let's. Do it.
There was. Actually an explosion prior to
1918, the first explosion at. Split Rock Quarry.
(16:09):
Happened on February 18th, 1916.Summit Solvay Company had hired
an under qualified chemist to run the company sometime around
December 1915. So he lasted a long time, the
chemist decided. That he could easily double the.
Production of TNT by just doubling the.
Batches except. He neglected a very important
(16:31):
thing and that was to account for the additional fuel and
pressure that would be produced by doing so due to the
increased. Pressure a tank would.
Explode and threw five men through the brick walls of the
building. Due to the.
Weather at that time being February and snow and sleet and
all the other fun stuff that happens in February.
(16:51):
It was very difficult. For first responders to try to.
Get to the factory to try. To help the men one of the poor
men who died was. Working his very first shift.
Ever in the factory and another man had only been there.
A few weeks the. Explosion in 1918.
Occurred for a different. Reason.
And to an extent, it's still really unclear.
(17:14):
As to why but. It started in part.
Because of a fire. Fire was not uncommon at.
Split Rock Quarry. According to Richard Miller,
they happened every. Couple of days.
And the men were. Well prepared to deal.
With them, they had fire drills frequently.
There were gravity water. Tanks on site for them to have.
(17:34):
Good access to water to douse. The flames.
But one very important thing that the company had skimped out
on was sprinklers. The building that the.
Fire started in on July 2nd, 1918.
Per state. Regulations at the time should
have had sprinklers. Due to its height.
The building itself. Was truly three stories high.
But the company had managed to get it.
(17:56):
Classified as. A1 story building The building
itself was very open and insteadof having different.
Floors. There were actually catwalks for
the. Second and third levels of the
building the company. Would tell the state.
That the workers didn't, actually.
Have to go up. Into the.
Catwalks for their jobs. And that was basically how they
(18:17):
had gotten around having to install sprinklers.
Had there been sprinklers? It's likely that this tragedy
that was about. To ensue would not have
happened. The production of TNT in this
building meant that there were constantly explosive fumes in
the building as well. So on the night of July 2nd,
1918. It's believed that what started
(18:38):
the fire? Was an overheated gear on a
grinding machine. Though there would be.
Prevailing rumors of other. Causes, which we'll get.
To in a little bit. The building was not actually
attended at the time the fire started.
But the workers? Quickly became aware of it and
got to work trying to extinguish.
It with hoses. Around 8:30 PM.
The fire would quickly spread tothe.
(18:59):
Structure of the building and atthis point it became out of
control. To add to the problems that the
workers were having trying to put this fire out, they began
having issues with the water pressure.
The water pressure issues would lead to a.
Lot of speculation later that the explosion.
Was due to sabotage. Because there were conflicts in
the reporting as to when the. Water pressure issues started.
(19:22):
The issues with the water pressure occurred.
Because they had multiple. Hoses attached.
That were all pulling from the same water.
Source. So while they.
Didn't. Truly lose water pressure.
They lost nozzle pressure, whichmeant that the.
Water. Was not shooting out as far as
it had been. The fire continues to get out of
(19:42):
control and the men at that point are told to run for their
lives. They had.
Valiantly fought the fire for aslong as they possibly.
Could because there was. A really true concern.
That it would spread to the picric acid.
Production buildings and then across the gully to Canada Hill
where they had production buildings for poison gases and
(20:05):
if that exploded. A poison gas cloud could descend
upon Syracuse, causing utter devastation.
I mentioned that the water pressure concerns led.
To a lot of. Speculation about sabotage being
the reason for the explosion, and Richard Miller goes into
this quite a bit in his lecture,which to be honest, I.
Found it A. Little bit confusing, so I'm
(20:26):
going to tell you what. I got.
Out of the conversation, my understanding of what happened
is that in the media reporting the following days after the
explosion, the time stamps were based on daylight savings time,
which started during World War One.
The company did not follow daylight savings time.
(20:47):
So all of their. Records of the event have
different time stamps than what was reported on in the
newspapers. So the 830 started the fire.
Documented by the company. Was reported as.
Starting at 7:30 in the. Press.
So to the public, it looked likethere was this huge delay.
(21:09):
In trying to fight the fire whenthere actually wasn't one of
the. People who had.
Observed the explosion would. Also later describe.
Seeing a mushroom shaped cloud and there.
Is a real possibility. That there was work being done
on radioactive material as well at Split Rock Munitions.
(21:30):
Factory as there was. Some early work being done on
the makings for an atomic bomb. At this point, Dr. Alice
Hamilton had visited. Split Rock quarry well.
Before the explosion and she hadworked for the state government,
she had made multiple. Reports that Split Rock.
Quarry was incredibly safe and the munitions factories there
(21:53):
were incredibly. Safe due to the fact that all
the vats that they used to. Store TNT were.
Closed. They were covered.
There was a predominant theory early on.
That the fire had started as a result of a spark.
Falling into a VAT of TNT. And that theory came about just
to kind of give. People A.
(22:14):
Quick answer as to. What?
Happened to cause the. Tragedy, but that's.
Not an accurate statement. Immediately following the
explosion, an inquest was calledto investigate and this inquest
included District Attorney Walrath, the county coroner at
that time, Crane, John Wilson, astenographer and then Martin
(22:34):
Doyle. He was a.
Senior Chief Engineer and H Dwayne Bruce.
He was a senior attorney and both of.
Those two worked. For Summit Solvay Company,
coroner Crane was the lead on the investigation and they
wanted to know. What started the fire?
What caused the? Explosion.
And then what caused the man's death?
They would end up having about 700 pages of documentation into
(22:58):
the investigation, but most of that was spent trying to
identify what. Started the fire.
And again, that's. Still up for debate?
At the end of the inquest, they would announce that the company
should have had sprinklers. Duh.
And they would also conclude that there wasn't a spark.
That caused the fire, but they would say it was.
(23:19):
Related to organic material falling into a VAT and they
would spend the summer trying toprove that, but again the.
Vats were covered. So it doesn't seem like that is
an actual thing either. There were multiple other
investigations into the explosion being led by the
military, the government, the County Fire marshals, and all of
(23:41):
these investigations went on simultaneously when TNT building
#1 exploded. It would fly.
Up into the air and came crashing down on the picric acid
production building. This would cause a second
smaller explosion after the initial one, and then there were
subsequently much smaller explosions as vats of TNT blew
(24:03):
up. Due to the heat.
From the. Fire, but the day.
Following the explosion summit, Solvay Company would actually
announce in the press that they had been setting off explosives
and that was what blew up the plant.
And it seems like this was initially done intentionally
because on July 1st, the government had started taking
(24:24):
over different TNT plants and a lot of the companies began
threatening to blow up their ownplants to protect their
processes and the secrets of their patents.
The Summit Solvay Company would.Later clarify their.
Statement that they weren't trying to blow up their plants
intentionally, but they were trying to.
(24:44):
Create a fire break to protect the rest.
Of the buildings. This backfired because it blew
out. Towards the north, which?
Took out all of their administrative.
Buildings and their laboratory. Where all of their.
Documents were kept including all of their patents and on top
of that when the firebreak explosion.
Occurred there were still. Men working in that area, laying
(25:08):
down hoses. The men who had been standing
working on the hose. All died.
There was only one man who had been leaning down, working on
the connections and he was the lone survivor.
So if the company. Did try to set off.
A firebreak explosion. They never warned the workers
(25:29):
about the impending explosion inJuly of 1918.
The Syracuse Journal reported that the District Attorney
District Attorney Walrath. Had testimony from workers.
That. Three men had sabotaged the
plant and that those three men. Quote are or were workers for?
(25:49):
The company. So it was.
An inside job in August. There was a report for the
Syracuse. Journal that those men may be
charged with manslaughter and would get the wartime Max the D.
As record for this does still exist.
At the Onondaga County. Courthouse, But it is.
Contaminated with asbestos A. Copy of it was.
(26:10):
Made though and sent to the United States Attorney General's
Office. I'm not sure when that was, but
I'm interested to see if anything ever comes of it if.
It's ever released. Publicly, who knows?
There also was a. Prevailing theory that the
Germans. Had actually caused the.
Explosion for sabotage the. Archives.
Of what happened at. Split rock that were.
(26:31):
Published in the Syracuse Journal, however, most of them.
Except for the. The July and August report that
I just mentioned with the DA. All the rest of their reporting.
On this is gone. It just disappeared.
From the Syracuse library, not only the reading.
Copy, but all of the backup copies are just.
(26:53):
Gone just like they never existed.
Very strange. 60 men officially were on the record as being.
Killed due to the. Explosion Initial reporting had.
65 dead with 50. Injured.
They were. Able to get counts early on
because they did multiple. Roll calls, though there would
(27:14):
later be. Confusion regarding how many
people were missing after the explosion, and there's a
reasoning behind that that we'llget to in a little bit.
Two of the men killed were Pinkerton men, and this is.
Really sad because their. Remains were actually switched
for a period of time. One of the Pinkerton men with
(27:35):
the last name of Crowley was from Watertown, NY, and he was
shipped home to his mother and subsequently, you know, had the
funeral buried him a week later.After he was buried.
Coroner Crane came to his mother's door and told.
Her that she. Had been given the wrong body
and that the man she. Had buried was actually.
(27:57):
Another Pinkerton man with the last name of Baxter.
So they then needed to exhume her son.
Or who, she thought. Was her son and replace his
remains with other remains and the remains of.
Baxter were returned. To the morgue, so.
Just so. Heartbreaking.
I can't I can't imagine it wasn't just factory.
(28:19):
Workers that were. Killed in the explosion, there
were also government. Workers, Researchers.
And at least one soldier whose name was on the roster.
At split rock, but his. Body was never found.
So again, just incredibly sad. The reason that there was so
much confusion with how many menwere missing after the explosion
(28:40):
was. Because people were giving.
Fictitious names of employees totry to get into the morgue to
view the horribly dismembered bodies from the explosion, and
some of the papers at the time had even interviewed men who
were bringing. Their dates to the.
Morgue to view horribly dismembered bodies.
(29:04):
I'm sorry, but that does not sound like my idea of a good
time on a date. That's just going to be a no
from me. Later reporting would say that
over 100 men were injured or missing and there's no.
Record of. How many of the injured?
Died because of the. Explosion after the fact.
(29:26):
Either related to their. Injuries or from inhalation.
Of the toxic gases that resulted.
From the explosion so. Yes, there were sixty that died.
Initially, but more. Could have died later.
On on the railroad tracks near the plant they found 8
Winchester rifles just abandonedand the Syracuse Journal would
(29:50):
come out again and report that there were still 8 missing men
that they needed to go find whenthe vats cooled down enough for
like an actual search. However, Coroner.
Crane at this time. Refused to take.
Them because he had. The bodies he was.
Expecting already. So they would.
(30:10):
End up finding these 8 missing men and I'm sure they found more
but they had to put their remains into duffel bags and
just leave them along the ledge.At Split Rock because the
coroner. Refused to take them.
What the fuck? There were also reports.
That you can still to this day find.
(30:31):
Body parts of workers. From the explosion, when I went
with my dad, we did not find anything fully.
But according to Richard. Miller When he was going up
there around the times of his lectures, he was still finding
pieces of body. There was also one man who tried
to fake his own death and his. Widow would actually.
(30:54):
End up being awarded damages. This man fled to California and
by pure coincidence, someone whohad worked with him as.
Split Rock Quarry. Happened to run into him while
he was out looking for a job andhe reported him back to Summit
Solvei. So this guy ended up getting
caught and it's just a good reminder that it's a small.
(31:15):
World out there people to this day there are still. 15
unidentified sets of remains from the split rock explosion.
The 15 unidentified were all buried in a single grave at
Morningside Cemetery in Malone, NY.
They had a funeral ceremony that.
Included a Rabbi A. Catholic priest and a Protestant
(31:36):
minister. To try to cover.
Everything for them with their final rites.
There's also a memorial at. The cemetery.
With the names of. The deceased workers.
The man. Who faked his death?
Was caught before the memorial was placed so his name does not
appear on the memorial. In case you are wondering.
One other really sad fact is that Summit Solvay Company did
(31:59):
not carry workers compensation even though it.
Was a state law. The company had to pay damages.
To the widows which. Ended up being a ridiculously
small amount of money. $6 a week.
Plus an additional 2. Dollars a week if the widow had
a child. These payments did not fall into
an inflation. Clause.
So what? They got just remained.
(32:22):
As it was without. Ever being adjusted for
inflation as time went on, the families.
Also had to cover. Their own funeral expenses for
their loved one. If a widow remarried the payment
stopped. So I ran the conversion for $8
in 1918 to 2024 and it equates to $166.39 a week in U.S.
(32:43):
dollars for 20/20. Four for a.
Woman and a child, and I know that the cost of living and
everything is vastly different. All these years later.
But that does not seem like enough for a woman to survive on
and raise children in 1918. If I'm wrong, someone please let
me know. After the TNT factory explosion,
(33:06):
the company did continue. To produce picric acid.
And other. Materials at Split Rock.
Quarry for the duration of WorldWar One.
The site was then bought by the state of New York and used as a
site for the Department of Transportation until the late
1980s. While it's still in part owned
by the. State the site is.
Abandoned except for those who. Choose to hike, bike or
otherwise explore the area. It also seems to be a.
(33:29):
Popular spot for parties. Judging by the obvious signs of
fire pits and abandoned beer bottles and other litter I
mentioned that my dad and I wentout to explore back in May.
I've posted those. Pictures, the site is said.
To be haunted. Unfortunately, we did not
experience any paranormal activity.
But I will say that the site does feel very heavy with the
(33:52):
history. That happened there.
The only thing still standing isthe old stone.
Crusher, which is covered. From top to bottom with.
Various graffiti there are. Tunnels there again just.
Covered with graffiti, there areother.
Signs of what once was around the site, with remnants of
bricks and metal fastenings among the rocks and the weeds.
(34:14):
Some visitors to the area have reported hearing voices and
footsteps, or even hearing the engine of the old stone crusher
revving there have also. Been reports of spirits.
In green or yellow hues from thechemicals.
That were produced here if you choose to explore.
The area or maybe conduct your own paranormal investigation.
Watch your step and enjoy a piece of New York history.
(34:38):
With that, I'm going to close out today's episode with a
reminder. To check out our website.
For all source material and those.
Photos both historical. And from my visit.
There a while back. You'll also find the YouTube
lectures from Onondaga Historical Society presented by
the late Richard Miller. Check out your local Historical
Society or history. Museum if you have one in your
(34:59):
area and if you do, let me know what you found out.
About your local history that surprised you.
As always, please make sure you are.
Following the show on your podcast Platform of choice and I
am always incredibly. Grateful for a rating.
Review and Oregon A. Share to help others.
Find our community wishing you. All a great week.
(35:20):
Ahead an I hope. You stay curious.
On July 2nd, 1918, an explosion would rock ammunitions plant.
Just outside of Syracuse. New York that had been essential
to the allies victory in World War One.
The explosion would take the lives of dozens of men, injuring
dozens more, and nearly. Took out the.
City of Syracuse in the process.The true 'cause for the.
(00:22):
Explosion is still a mystery andthe quarry site, now abandoned,
is considered. To be a hotspot.
For Paranormal Activity, I'm Amanda Morgan, and this is New
York. 'S dark side.
(01:02):
I want to give a shout out to the Onondaga.
Historical Society. And the late historian and.
Split Rock expert Richard. Miller, The lectures that were
given on Split Rock. Quarry which are available.
On YouTube were the major sourcematerial.
Used for this episode. I'll link to the channel in the
show notes and on the web. Page for this episode.
(01:24):
I personally had never. Heard of Split Rock?
Quarry Until doing a search for paranormal locations in New
York, it's been a bit since I'vedone coverage on a paranormal
site. Flashback.
To my Rolling Hills Asylum episode, if you haven't heard
that one, please. Check it out.
What I wasn't expecting was to find this gem of history only a
(01:46):
little more than an hour's drivefrom my house and my dad and I.
Took the opportunity to go for ahike.
And. Check out the site OI will be.
Releasing some. Pictures of our exploration
there to our social. Media pages and they are on the
web page for. This episode as well.
(02:07):
O please check them out. We'll be diving deep into the.
History of the quarry. And I'll just be honest, there
was a lot more. That I could have covered so.
If you're interested in diving deeper into the history.
Of the quarry, please check out those.
Lectures on YouTube from the Anandaga.
Historical Society. That I mentioned Richard Miller
(02:29):
also. Wrote a couple of books on split
rock. And they were limited edition
prints and it. Looks like a few.
Of them are out of print from the Onondaga.
Historical Society. But you may be able to find them
on eBay or through another. Source if you are.
Interested in finding them, I would have loved.
(02:49):
To. Talk to him about it and
potentially have him as a guest on the show, but unfortunately
it seems that he has since. Passed away I believe.
Before even finishing out the lecture series on Split Rock,
which is just incredibly sad. So in memory of Richard Miller
and. Just because it's cool.
(03:11):
Please take time to check out your.
Local Historical Society support.
Them and go visit them see. What cool piece of.
Information they may have and then let me know what you find
out about that. And with that, let's dive into
the episode the settlement of Split Rock, New York was.
(03:31):
Established by Irish. Immigrants in the 1700s the name
of. Split Rock stuck for a few.
Reasons First the French Canadians that lived in the
nearby settlement of. Rockville that were.
Working in the early quarries inthe area.
Where the larger split rock quarry would.
Eventually become were reminded.Of a split rock.
(03:53):
That they would pass on their way from Canada.
They would, on their travels, pass an area where the Hudson.
River split two hills. And in split.
Rock. There was a gully with.
A bit of a stream through. It that split.
Two mountains of stone One of the two mountains in the quarry
would end up being named Canada Hill.
(04:14):
Split Rock is also a. Quarry term.
So between the two items, there the name.
Stuck for the quarry Split Rock quarry originally.
Started out as a limestone quarry in 1796.
Some of its major contributions at that time was building the
original Erie Canal. As well as other.
Locks and canals in the state, and it even provided a stone for
(04:38):
the Washington Monument in Washington, DC the.
Quarry itself was active for a century before.
Becoming repurposed by another company. 1 interesting sidebar
before going on to that piece ofinformation was that.
The site of Split Rock. Quarry had some historical
significance in botany. Frederick Pirsch, A.
(05:00):
German botanist would find the American Hearts tongue Fern on
July 20th, 18 O 7. The Fern had never been recorded
before and reminded him of a similar Fern in Europe.
The Fern has long leaves that resemble a tongue shape,
inspiring the name. The heart spelled Hart is the.
(05:22):
Red stag of medieval times. So basically the Fern looks like
the tongue of a stag. To save the Fern, they had tried
relocating it to. Other areas of the state though
it. Sounds like that may not have.
Worked the best. And the plant was on the
endangered list for a long time.It was thought.
To have only been in this small area of New York, but they did
(05:44):
find another colony in Chittenango and more recently
found large colonies of it in Minnesota.
So it's been taken off the endangered.
List. So there's a little bit of
history. For any plant enthusiasts who
listen, I myself am a. Terrible real life gardener.
I often joke that I have a blackthumb and I cannot keep
(06:05):
succulents. Alive for the life.
Of me, but I am. Proud to say that.
In my current save of The Sims, 4I evolved some potatoes to
magnificent quality this morning.
So there is that. OK.
I've. Said this before, but.
One of the things. That I have loved.
About doing this podcast from the beginning is that as I am
(06:27):
researching a case, I come across other things that I want
to add to my research. List.
And researching this episode didnot disappoint.
In one of the video lectures on Split Rock, Richard Miller
alludes to the Filer family in the early.
Days of split. Rock The Feiler family was one
of the. Later of the early.
Settlers coming to the area theycame in the 1800 they ran a
(06:52):
company. Store which was the.
Center of the Community and Feiler Quarry, another of those
smaller quarries in the area of Split Rock.
He has a picture of the children.
Of Byron Feiler in front of the general store in his lecture
notes. And Byron's father was involved
in the sudden death of his wife.So I am going to have to
(07:14):
investigate that because. The way it was.
Presented seemed like a significant piece of local.
History. And I was able to find a book on
it so of. Course I ordered that.
And now it's on my reading list.Expect that story.
Sometime in the future. Back to the quarry itself,
Cement Solvay. Company was a Belgian company
that made chemicals in the 1860sBelgian chemist.
(07:36):
Ernest Solvay developed the. Modern form of producing sodium
carbonate, also known as soda. Ash, which is.
Used today in a large number of manufacturing.
Processes such as glass. Lithium ion batteries, food and
pharmaceuticals, including aspirin, the two ingredients
for. This are salt.
Brine and limestone. The lectures I watched.
(07:56):
On the Onondaga. Historical Society's YouTube.
Channel went more in depth on how.
This works so if. You're interested in finding out
more about that. I've linked it in the show notes
and on the web. Page for this episode.
But I won't bore everyone with the details and to be honest,
the. Whole process is far.
Beyond me but. He did a really good job of
explaining it. The Solvays would.
(08:18):
License two Americans, William BCogswell and Roland.
Hazard to produce soda. Ash in the United States and
they would partner with them to.Start the Solvay process.
Company in 1880. Four they.
Built their production plant in what is now Solvay, New York,
which is a bit NE from the quarry.
As time went on, the company started to move things.
(08:40):
Closer to the quarry, TNT started to be produced by Split
Rock Quarry. In 1900, by 19 O, 7A picric acid
plant was. Relocated to Split Rock Quarry
to help protect the process. Of making the chemical from
competitors, they wanted it in amore.
Isolated spot to. Help ensure their patents.
Were safe this will. Come back to play later in the
(09:00):
story. Picric acid was used by France.
Italy and England in World War One.
It was used in bombs and grenades and working with
Picric. Acid was an.
Extremely dangerous. Job it also.
Sounds kind of gross. There was a.
Picric acid plant in Yellowstonewhere 18 women had been hired to
do the packing and the public started calling the girls the
(09:22):
Yellowstone girls because. Working with the Picric.
Acid would turn their skin yellow.
They were also called. Canaries or.
Powder girls either. Way it just sounds like.
You could easily. Tell what they were doing.
This was an extremely dangerous.Job because picric acid is
highly explosive. There was a high amount of dust
that would result from the process of packing and if
(09:44):
anything, that was iron oxide innature.
Touched the dust, it would explode.
There was a picric. Acid plant that had a plumbing
issue and when the plumber came to fix the problem the whole
plant exploded when his wrench. Touched the dust.
On the pipe that needed repair, according to Richard Miller.
You could see where the split rack quarry was.
(10:05):
From a few miles away because there was a constant.
Yellow cloud over it due to the picric acid.
Production. Also produced as Split Rock
Quarry was poison gas. It's unclear where the.
Poison gas were exactly. Stored.
And if I wasn't already on a couple of watch.
Lists I probably. Ended up on some more while
researching this episode. On July 28th, 1914, World War
(10:29):
One began and because of this the Summit Solvay Company would
establish an ammunition facilityin Split Rock Quarry in 1915.
By 1918, about 2500 people were working in the facility the
munitions. Factory at Split Rock was.
Instrumental to the first. World War which?
I had no idea. About.
(10:50):
It was a bit mind blowing to me that a.
Piece of history was. Only a little over an hour's
drive from my home, and even more.
So to see it. In such a state.
Of disrepair, which we'll talk about.
Later on, I guess I don't know if disrepair.
Is the right word. Unpreserved.
We'll go with unpreserved, most of the people working at Split
(11:11):
Rock. Quarry were either older.
Than 50 or as young as 13 to 14 years old, since most of the men
in the area had joined the. War several of the.
Foremen were in their. Teenage years due to the.
War and the nature of what was. Being produced there, Split Rock
Quarry was. Highly protected, with perimeter
fences and watchtowers guarded by men armed with automatic
(11:33):
weapons to help prevent. Theft and sabotage.
So obviously for fun children inthe area.
Would put. Together dummies stuffed with
things. Like straw and cloth.
And they would head. Out to Split Rock.
Quarry and throw the mannequins onto the perimeter fence near
the watchtowers. Then they would yell to the.
Guards that someone was trying to enter the compound to get.
(11:53):
The guards to react. And shoot the dummies so they
blew in the bits. Sounds like fun summit.
Sulvey had also employed. Some Pinkerton men to help
protect the company secrets. And I feel like I've come across
the Pinkertons before, but I don't believe that I've done a
deep dive into them, so here is my second.
Rabbit hole for the day. A man named Alan Pinkerton
(12:15):
immigrated to Chicago in 1842, and though he had no prior
experience, he would end up having a tremendous impact on
the history of law enforcement he started out making.
Barrels but. Around 1847, while searching for
lumber on an island in the Fox River.
He came across a group of. Counterfeiters and decided to do
(12:36):
some more surveillance on them after gaining more information
about them and their movements. He reported all.
That he knew to. The local police.
Becoming a local. Hero there was.
So much publicity from the arrest that came from the
information that he. Gave that he.
Became inundated with people calling him for help on other
(12:57):
investigations. He became Chicago's first police
detective and then worked as an agent for the United States
Postal Service. Not long after that, in 1850, he
would open the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
By the late 1850s, the company was making a name for.
Itself through its work. Not only rooting out criminals.
But also with the private security.
(13:18):
Work that they were completing for the railroad companies.
The Pinkerton Company created a logo you may be familiar.
With a large. Unblinking eye and a slogan We
never sleep, which led to the nickname.
Private Eye for detectives. In 1856, the Pinkerton Agency.
Would hire its first. Female investigator, a woman
(13:38):
named Kate Warren. She was a master at undercover
work. I'm not going to dive deep into
her right now, but she sounds amazing and maybe.
I'll do a bonus. Episode on her sometime among
one amazing feat that she did. Was help.
The Pinkerton Agency potentiallythwart an assassination attempt
on Abraham Lincoln Allen Pinkerton had.
(13:59):
Allegedly discovered the plot. While investigating.
Rumors that there were plans to sabotage the rail.
Lines near Washington, DC Pinkerton had.
Heard that there were. Plans to try to assassinate
Lincoln during a planned train switch.
As part of his. Tour in Baltimore.
His tour schedule was highly publicized, so this was well out
(14:21):
there. For anybody to do anything with
Pinkerton, working with several other agents, including Kate
Warren, acted quickly. They disguised.
Abraham Lincoln and posed him asan invalid.
Brother of Kate. And had him secretly board an
overnight train that passed. Through Baltimore, several hours
ahead of his published schedule,he arrived safely.
(14:42):
But there was a lot of. Criticism that Lincoln didn't
stick to his. Published Schedule.
There were also not any arrests.Of the would be.
Assassins, leading to some speculation that the.
Plot was either highly exaggerated.
Or completely made-up. At this point, we'll never know,
however. To tie this up.
Kate Warren became. So valuable to the.
(15:03):
Pinkerton Agency that when she died in 1868, which side note,
she was super young like only 35at that point, Alan Inkerton had
her buried in his family plot. The Inkerton Detective Agency
would have the first national database for criminals, creating
the mug shot and keeing track ofthem.
With their Rogues gallery, they've had a.
(15:24):
Lot of other contributions too, but I think it's time to get
back to our story. Summit, Solvay.
Would end up buying a lot of. Property around split Rock.
In 1916, to build railways to help bring the explosives out, a
lot of the land around the area was owned by farmers and they
didn't want explosives being shipped through their land.
Of course, the city of Syracuse also didn't want Summit Solvay.
(15:47):
To use the trolley. System that was already.
Established obviously to. Prevent explosives from going
through the city. So they.
Would end up building a railway system in a different area and
you're probably wondering when are we getting to the explosion
while we're here, let's. Do it.
There was. Actually an explosion prior to
1918, the first explosion at. Split Rock Quarry.
(16:09):
Happened on February 18th, 1916.Summit Solvay Company had hired
an under qualified chemist to run the company sometime around
December 1915. So he lasted a long time, the
chemist decided. That he could easily double the.
Production of TNT by just doubling the.
Batches except. He neglected a very important
(16:31):
thing and that was to account for the additional fuel and
pressure that would be produced by doing so due to the
increased. Pressure a tank would.
Explode and threw five men through the brick walls of the
building. Due to the.
Weather at that time being February and snow and sleet and
all the other fun stuff that happens in February.
(16:51):
It was very difficult. For first responders to try to.
Get to the factory to try. To help the men one of the poor
men who died was. Working his very first shift.
Ever in the factory and another man had only been there.
A few weeks the. Explosion in 1918.
Occurred for a different. Reason.
And to an extent, it's still really unclear.
(17:14):
As to why but. It started in part.
Because of a fire. Fire was not uncommon at.
Split Rock Quarry. According to Richard Miller,
they happened every. Couple of days.
And the men were. Well prepared to deal.
With them, they had fire drills frequently.
There were gravity water. Tanks on site for them to have.
(17:34):
Good access to water to douse. The flames.
But one very important thing that the company had skimped out
on was sprinklers. The building that the.
Fire started in on July 2nd, 1918.
Per state. Regulations at the time should
have had sprinklers. Due to its height.
The building itself. Was truly three stories high.
But the company had managed to get it.
(17:56):
Classified as. A1 story building The building
itself was very open and insteadof having different.
Floors. There were actually catwalks for
the. Second and third levels of the
building the company. Would tell the state.
That the workers didn't, actually.
Have to go up. Into the.
Catwalks for their jobs. And that was basically how they
(18:17):
had gotten around having to install sprinklers.
Had there been sprinklers? It's likely that this tragedy
that was about. To ensue would not have
happened. The production of TNT in this
building meant that there were constantly explosive fumes in
the building as well. So on the night of July 2nd,
1918. It's believed that what started
(18:38):
the fire? Was an overheated gear on a
grinding machine. Though there would be.
Prevailing rumors of other. Causes, which we'll get.
To in a little bit. The building was not actually
attended at the time the fire started.
But the workers? Quickly became aware of it and
got to work trying to extinguish.
It with hoses. Around 8:30 PM.
The fire would quickly spread tothe.
(18:59):
Structure of the building and atthis point it became out of
control. To add to the problems that the
workers were having trying to put this fire out, they began
having issues with the water pressure.
The water pressure issues would lead to a.
Lot of speculation later that the explosion.
Was due to sabotage. Because there were conflicts in
the reporting as to when the. Water pressure issues started.
(19:22):
The issues with the water pressure occurred.
Because they had multiple. Hoses attached.
That were all pulling from the same water.
Source. So while they.
Didn't. Truly lose water pressure.
They lost nozzle pressure, whichmeant that the.
Water. Was not shooting out as far as
it had been. The fire continues to get out of
(19:42):
control and the men at that point are told to run for their
lives. They had.
Valiantly fought the fire for aslong as they possibly.
Could because there was. A really true concern.
That it would spread to the picric acid.
Production buildings and then across the gully to Canada Hill
where they had production buildings for poison gases and
(20:05):
if that exploded. A poison gas cloud could descend
upon Syracuse, causing utter devastation.
I mentioned that the water pressure concerns led.
To a lot of. Speculation about sabotage being
the reason for the explosion, and Richard Miller goes into
this quite a bit in his lecture,which to be honest, I.
Found it A. Little bit confusing, so I'm
(20:26):
going to tell you what. I got.
Out of the conversation, my understanding of what happened
is that in the media reporting the following days after the
explosion, the time stamps were based on daylight savings time,
which started during World War One.
The company did not follow daylight savings time.
(20:47):
So all of their. Records of the event have
different time stamps than what was reported on in the
newspapers. So the 830 started the fire.
Documented by the company. Was reported as.
Starting at 7:30 in the. Press.
So to the public, it looked likethere was this huge delay.
(21:09):
In trying to fight the fire whenthere actually wasn't one of
the. People who had.
Observed the explosion would. Also later describe.
Seeing a mushroom shaped cloud and there.
Is a real possibility. That there was work being done
on radioactive material as well at Split Rock Munitions.
(21:30):
Factory as there was. Some early work being done on
the makings for an atomic bomb. At this point, Dr. Alice
Hamilton had visited. Split Rock quarry well.
Before the explosion and she hadworked for the state government,
she had made multiple. Reports that Split Rock.
Quarry was incredibly safe and the munitions factories there
(21:53):
were incredibly. Safe due to the fact that all
the vats that they used to. Store TNT were.
Closed. They were covered.
There was a predominant theory early on.
That the fire had started as a result of a spark.
Falling into a VAT of TNT. And that theory came about just
to kind of give. People A.
(22:14):
Quick answer as to. What?
Happened to cause the. Tragedy, but that's.
Not an accurate statement. Immediately following the
explosion, an inquest was calledto investigate and this inquest
included District Attorney Walrath, the county coroner at
that time, Crane, John Wilson, astenographer and then Martin
(22:34):
Doyle. He was a.
Senior Chief Engineer and H Dwayne Bruce.
He was a senior attorney and both of.
Those two worked. For Summit Solvay Company,
coroner Crane was the lead on the investigation and they
wanted to know. What started the fire?
What caused the? Explosion.
And then what caused the man's death?
They would end up having about 700 pages of documentation into
(22:58):
the investigation, but most of that was spent trying to
identify what. Started the fire.
And again, that's. Still up for debate?
At the end of the inquest, they would announce that the company
should have had sprinklers. Duh.
And they would also conclude that there wasn't a spark.
That caused the fire, but they would say it was.
(23:19):
Related to organic material falling into a VAT and they
would spend the summer trying toprove that, but again the.
Vats were covered. So it doesn't seem like that is
an actual thing either. There were multiple other
investigations into the explosion being led by the
military, the government, the County Fire marshals, and all of
(23:41):
these investigations went on simultaneously when TNT building
#1 exploded. It would fly.
Up into the air and came crashing down on the picric acid
production building. This would cause a second
smaller explosion after the initial one, and then there were
subsequently much smaller explosions as vats of TNT blew
(24:03):
up. Due to the heat.
From the. Fire, but the day.
Following the explosion summit, Solvay Company would actually
announce in the press that they had been setting off explosives
and that was what blew up the plant.
And it seems like this was initially done intentionally
because on July 1st, the government had started taking
(24:24):
over different TNT plants and a lot of the companies began
threatening to blow up their ownplants to protect their
processes and the secrets of their patents.
The Summit Solvay Company would.Later clarify their.
Statement that they weren't trying to blow up their plants
intentionally, but they were trying to.
(24:44):
Create a fire break to protect the rest.
Of the buildings. This backfired because it blew
out. Towards the north, which?
Took out all of their administrative.
Buildings and their laboratory. Where all of their.
Documents were kept including all of their patents and on top
of that when the firebreak explosion.
Occurred there were still. Men working in that area, laying
(25:08):
down hoses. The men who had been standing
working on the hose. All died.
There was only one man who had been leaning down, working on
the connections and he was the lone survivor.
So if the company. Did try to set off.
A firebreak explosion. They never warned the workers
(25:29):
about the impending explosion inJuly of 1918.
The Syracuse Journal reported that the District Attorney
District Attorney Walrath. Had testimony from workers.
That. Three men had sabotaged the
plant and that those three men. Quote are or were workers for?
(25:49):
The company. So it was.
An inside job in August. There was a report for the
Syracuse. Journal that those men may be
charged with manslaughter and would get the wartime Max the D.
As record for this does still exist.
At the Onondaga County. Courthouse, But it is.
Contaminated with asbestos A. Copy of it was.
(26:10):
Made though and sent to the United States Attorney General's
Office. I'm not sure when that was, but
I'm interested to see if anything ever comes of it if.
It's ever released. Publicly, who knows?
There also was a. Prevailing theory that the
Germans. Had actually caused the.
Explosion for sabotage the. Archives.
Of what happened at. Split rock that were.
(26:31):
Published in the Syracuse Journal, however, most of them.
Except for the. The July and August report that
I just mentioned with the DA. All the rest of their reporting.
On this is gone. It just disappeared.
From the Syracuse library, not only the reading.
Copy, but all of the backup copies are just.
(26:53):
Gone just like they never existed.
Very strange. 60 men officially were on the record as being.
Killed due to the. Explosion Initial reporting had.
65 dead with 50. Injured.
They were. Able to get counts early on
because they did multiple. Roll calls, though there would
(27:14):
later be. Confusion regarding how many
people were missing after the explosion, and there's a
reasoning behind that that we'llget to in a little bit.
Two of the men killed were Pinkerton men, and this is.
Really sad because their. Remains were actually switched
for a period of time. One of the Pinkerton men with
(27:35):
the last name of Crowley was from Watertown, NY, and he was
shipped home to his mother and subsequently, you know, had the
funeral buried him a week later.After he was buried.
Coroner Crane came to his mother's door and told.
Her that she. Had been given the wrong body
and that the man she. Had buried was actually.
(27:57):
Another Pinkerton man with the last name of Baxter.
So they then needed to exhume her son.
Or who, she thought. Was her son and replace his
remains with other remains and the remains of.
Baxter were returned. To the morgue, so.
Just so. Heartbreaking.
I can't I can't imagine it wasn't just factory.
(28:19):
Workers that were. Killed in the explosion, there
were also government. Workers, Researchers.
And at least one soldier whose name was on the roster.
At split rock, but his. Body was never found.
So again, just incredibly sad. The reason that there was so
much confusion with how many menwere missing after the explosion
(28:40):
was. Because people were giving.
Fictitious names of employees totry to get into the morgue to
view the horribly dismembered bodies from the explosion, and
some of the papers at the time had even interviewed men who
were bringing. Their dates to the.
Morgue to view horribly dismembered bodies.
(29:04):
I'm sorry, but that does not sound like my idea of a good
time on a date. That's just going to be a no
from me. Later reporting would say that
over 100 men were injured or missing and there's no.
Record of. How many of the injured?
Died because of the. Explosion after the fact.
(29:26):
Either related to their. Injuries or from inhalation.
Of the toxic gases that resulted.
From the explosion so. Yes, there were sixty that died.
Initially, but more. Could have died later.
On on the railroad tracks near the plant they found 8
Winchester rifles just abandonedand the Syracuse Journal would
(29:50):
come out again and report that there were still 8 missing men
that they needed to go find whenthe vats cooled down enough for
like an actual search. However, Coroner.
Crane at this time. Refused to take.
Them because he had. The bodies he was.
Expecting already. So they would.
(30:10):
End up finding these 8 missing men and I'm sure they found more
but they had to put their remains into duffel bags and
just leave them along the ledge.At Split Rock because the
coroner. Refused to take them.
What the fuck? There were also reports.
That you can still to this day find.
(30:31):
Body parts of workers. From the explosion, when I went
with my dad, we did not find anything fully.
But according to Richard. Miller When he was going up
there around the times of his lectures, he was still finding
pieces of body. There was also one man who tried
to fake his own death and his. Widow would actually.
(30:54):
End up being awarded damages. This man fled to California and
by pure coincidence, someone whohad worked with him as.
Split Rock Quarry. Happened to run into him while
he was out looking for a job andhe reported him back to Summit
Solvei. So this guy ended up getting
caught and it's just a good reminder that it's a small.
(31:15):
World out there people to this day there are still. 15
unidentified sets of remains from the split rock explosion.
The 15 unidentified were all buried in a single grave at
Morningside Cemetery in Malone, NY.
They had a funeral ceremony that.
Included a Rabbi A. Catholic priest and a Protestant
(31:36):
minister. To try to cover.
Everything for them with their final rites.
There's also a memorial at. The cemetery.
With the names of. The deceased workers.
The man. Who faked his death?
Was caught before the memorial was placed so his name does not
appear on the memorial. In case you are wondering.
One other really sad fact is that Summit Solvay Company did
(31:59):
not carry workers compensation even though it.
Was a state law. The company had to pay damages.
To the widows which. Ended up being a ridiculously
small amount of money. $6 a week.
Plus an additional 2. Dollars a week if the widow had
a child. These payments did not fall into
an inflation. Clause.
So what? They got just remained.
(32:22):
As it was without. Ever being adjusted for
inflation as time went on, the families.
Also had to cover. Their own funeral expenses for
their loved one. If a widow remarried the payment
stopped. So I ran the conversion for $8
in 1918 to 2024 and it equates to $166.39 a week in U.S.
(32:43):
dollars for 20/20. Four for a.
Woman and a child, and I know that the cost of living and
everything is vastly different. All these years later.
But that does not seem like enough for a woman to survive on
and raise children in 1918. If I'm wrong, someone please let
me know. After the TNT factory explosion,
(33:06):
the company did continue. To produce picric acid.
And other. Materials at Split Rock.
Quarry for the duration of WorldWar One.
The site was then bought by the state of New York and used as a
site for the Department of Transportation until the late
1980s. While it's still in part owned
by the. State the site is.
Abandoned except for those who. Choose to hike, bike or
otherwise explore the area. It also seems to be a.
(33:29):
Popular spot for parties. Judging by the obvious signs of
fire pits and abandoned beer bottles and other litter I
mentioned that my dad and I wentout to explore back in May.
I've posted those. Pictures, the site is said.
To be haunted. Unfortunately, we did not
experience any paranormal activity.
But I will say that the site does feel very heavy with the
(33:52):
history. That happened there.
The only thing still standing isthe old stone.
Crusher, which is covered. From top to bottom with.
Various graffiti there are. Tunnels there again just.
Covered with graffiti, there areother.
Signs of what once was around the site, with remnants of
bricks and metal fastenings among the rocks and the weeds.
(34:14):
Some visitors to the area have reported hearing voices and
footsteps, or even hearing the engine of the old stone crusher
revving there have also. Been reports of spirits.
In green or yellow hues from thechemicals.
That were produced here if you choose to explore.
The area or maybe conduct your own paranormal investigation.
Watch your step and enjoy a piece of New York history.
(34:38):
With that, I'm going to close out today's episode with a
reminder. To check out our website.
For all source material and those.
Photos both historical. And from my visit.
There a while back. You'll also find the YouTube
lectures from Onondaga Historical Society presented by
the late Richard Miller. Check out your local Historical
Society or history. Museum if you have one in your
(34:59):
area and if you do, let me know what you found out.
About your local history that surprised you.
As always, please make sure you are.
Following the show on your podcast Platform of choice and I
am always incredibly. Grateful for a rating.
Review and Oregon A. Share to help others.
Find our community wishing you. All a great week.
(35:20):
Ahead an I hope. You stay curious.
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