1918 — Dec 31, Odd Fellow Hall acetylene gas explosion and fire, Lebanon, NJ    —     10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 5-12-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–10  Warren. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019.

–10  Washington Star, Washington, NJ. “Lebanon Explosion Takes Ten Lives.” 1-2-1919, p. 1.

Narrative Information

 Warren: “Hunterdon County….Lebanon gas explosion – Ten men died and Lebanon’s Odd Fellows hall was destroyed when a gas explosion struck the town on December 31, 1918.”

Newspaper

Washington Star, Washington, NJ. “Lebanon Explosion Takes Ten Lives.” 1-2-1919, p. 1:

“Odd Fellows Lodge’s Heavy Loss of Members and Property – Cause of Explosion Undetermined.

“Death and destruction in a horrible form, came like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky to the peaceful town of Lebanon, in Hunterdon county, at 7:40 Monday night, and as a result, ten of the prominent and highly respected citizens were hurried into eternity, while two others are in the Somerset hospital at Somerville, critically ill from injuries. The great loss of life was due to an explosion of acetylene gas in the post-office building, also known as Odd Fellows Hall. Ten of the twelve victims were members of Vesper Lodge, No. 239 of Odd Fellows, the owners of the building.

“Four of the men who were suddenly brought face to face with death were pitching quits in the lodge room on the second floor when the explosion took place. They were members of the team that had planned to rehearse Monday night for installation ceremonies Saturday night. If the explosion had taken place a little more than half an hour earlier the loss of life would have been much greater, as the post office would then have between open and is usually filled until closing time. Postmaster Carl Shurts closed the office shortly after 7 o’clock and was on his way home when the explosion occurred.

“….The origin of the blow that plunged the community for miles around in gloom is not known. It is a fact, however, that the acetylene plant had not been in good working order and had never given complete satisfaction since its installation eight or nine years ago.

“Some declared that one of the victims had gone into the cellar to examine the lighting system, and probably struck a match and caused the trouble. This theory is based upon the fact that the force of the explosion had apparently been outside the tank, and not from within. This leads to the assumption that the explosion was due to a lighted match or other combustible, coming into contact with the gas that had accumulated beneath the first floor of the large building. As none who were in the building at the time are alive to tell the tale, except the two in the hospital, their knowledge of events immediately before the explosion is anxiously awaited.

“Those first on the scene declare that when they arrived from nearby homes, within two or three minutes from the time the jar of the explosion was felt, that the building had been settled so that the ruins was not more than 12 feet high, with flames shooting out from every side from the live coals distributed from the three stoves, one each in the lodge room, post-office and store, added by the liquid from the acetylene tank. From the ruins came the cries of five or six of the ten imprisoned victims who begged to be released, their cries dying into moans and then to silence within a short space of time.

“George Manning and Leslie Apgar, who are in the hospital, were pulled from beneath the front porch roof. Manning was just entering the store and was hurled to the porch floor and caught beneath the roof which fell so suddenly he had no time to escape. Leslie Apgar, whose father, Oscar Apgar, was killed, was pulled out from between the wall and safe in the post-office part of the building where he had been caught. In rescuing the pair, the crowd was sickened by the fact that in pulling on one of the pair of legs the flesh came off the limbs where it was so badly burned by the quick fire. Mr. Manning, who is about 50 years old, was a farmer employed by George Clark. He is married. Yesterday’s reports from the hospital gave a slight chance of the man and boy recovering.

“Some of the odd features of the explosion were shown by a cash register blown intact, and very little damaged, through the partition and out into the adjoining yard. A box of Moxie was also hurled out and deposited upon the ground without a bottle being broken or emptied.

“There was no janitor for the building, each part being looked after by the tenants. The first Odd Fellow to arrive tended to the stove in the hall. Furman [unclear] Alpaugh, one of the victims, had build the fire in the lodge room on the top floor Monday night. He and Wesley Burd, Henry Bragg and Clarence Emmous [unclear] were pitching quits when the dreadful accident occurred. John Stryker, son of one of the victims, had left the building and gone to the home of Wesley Conover to get a check for the Jr. O.U.A.M. signed and thus barely escaped the fate of the others.

“Oliver A. Farley, financial secretary of the Odd Fellows, also left a few minutes before the explosion and went home to do some writing, thereby escaping the fate of eight of the other members.

“The flames communicated to the home of I. B. Yawger, on the east side of the hall but the efforts of the fire department of High Bridge and Clinton, aided by volunteers from the crowd this quickly gathered, extinguished the flames.

“The volunteers also dug into the ruins as soon as they were cool enough. One by one the victims bodies were recovered until nine of the ten missing ones were laid in the old paint shop nearby, improvised as a morgue. Only one of the nine had a recognizable head. In most cases the head, arms or legs were missing, having been blown or burned off. The bodies were identified by clothing, moles, trinkets in pockets, etc.

“One of the victims was Peter S. Niper, the only undertaker in the town. His body had not been recovered up to last night, although at one time some charred bones were thought to be part of his body. He was about 60 years old and was born at Hackettstown….”

Sources

Warren, Michael Sol. “The worst disaster in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties.”  NJ.com, 2-25-2019. Accessed 5-12-2025 at:

https://www.nj.com/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/02/6c318b30e95860/the-worst-disaster-in-each-of-new-jerseys-21-counties-.html

Washington Star, Washington, NJ. “Lebanon Explosion Takes Ten Lives.” 1-2-1919, p. 1. Accessed 5-12-2025 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-star-jan-02-1919-p-1/