Document VKzNwezak0DpKVXBbq62QKRp8

REPRODUCED AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES 22 1925Re pr in t from T h e N e w Y or k Times June , . TETRAETHYL LEAD 11 at Delaware Hospital in Wilmington In the old tetraethyl plant there was and Dr. Harry W . Lee, chief surgeon and one of the doctors said to me once after doing some work in the plant- a series of explosions and fires, which of the du Pont staff at Deep Water, that he had never known an industrial The death certificate gives typhoid occurred from chemical reactions rushed the patient for treatment. malady which flew the red flag so ADWinca8DaanoslegIrhDandleFCiiterdnnhoAasaugemsdtTtsi,notpDArDSno3iPoiueaL0nereIln0csonpdedPqT1Nu1WueSPO1corih,rliiataonlyitnnwgeCMWtrInton,1hvAhCtieNeonPiKlrco.Cl.hGRaEsJhenea.RdettcsmhoSeIllness Begins W ith as the cause. Mrs. M ao' Casey o f 606 Spruce Street, Wilmington, a cousin of Demesse and his closest relative in this country, told me of a conversation with Dr. Lawrence J. Rigney, whom she called into the case. "He said there were typhoid germs in the body," she explained, " but that John's lead poisoning didn't help him any." Efforts to reach Dr. Rigney were un successful. Not he, but Dr- John R. Russo, a member of the hospital staff, while the autoclaves, huge mixing vats, were being emptied or cleaned. From these there were no deaths, but there were many injuries. C. D. Porch, superintendent of the plant, was him self badly burned, and some of the chemists required medical treatment. Arrangements were made with the Salem (N. J.) Memorial Hospital, to which the du Ponts give annual contri butions, to care for patients from Deep Water, and such cases have been its chief source of revenue- An executive of " the dye works" is on the hospital's Board of Managers. Even before this death Robert F. Huntsinger, 35 years old, had become ill and had insisted on going to his home at Bridgeton, twenty miles away in Cumberland County. He lived there at 120 Orchard Street. When he be came violently insane Dr. E. C. Lyon, who was treating him and who is the county physician, took him to the Bridgeton Hospital, where it was found that the patient's condition was such he could not be cared for. Then he was taken to the Cumberland County Hospital for the Insane, where six men were required at times to quickly. "The du Ponts are well known for their interest in their employees. They spare no expense to protect the health and lives of their men, and when one is hurt or loses his life, the company pays, in New Jersey and every other State where it has properties, higher compensation and pension rates than the law requires. It is a fact that we have a great deal of trouble inducing the men to be cautious. W e have to protect them against themselves." Mr. Weston had heard of the workers' name for the plant. Hallucinations signed the death certificate. When asked about the symptoms of the Demesse case he said he had no recollec tion of it and he reported several hours later that he could find no record of it at the hospital. The death certifi cate gave no contributory cause of death, nor was there any answer in the certificate to the question : "Where was disease contracted if not at place of death?" This space was left blank. A ll the men who died in 1924, and restrain him. He died there Feb. 16, one in 1925, were under treatment at two days later. Dr. Lee went from this hospital. They were hard to man Deep Water to help Dr. Lyon attend age on account of their violence, and the patient. the du Ponts, in addition to paying all medical expenses and providing for the families, sent male nurses to at tend and restrain the patients. A reporter for a Bridgeton news paper asked the county physician whether he would ask for an inquest. ." No," said Dr. Lyon, "it was not an An official of the hospital told me accident. It was an occupational that Joseph Cianci, the victim in July, disease, and there is no occasion to call a man of great strength, had actually in the Coroner." " Some of them drew pictures of butterflies on the walls of the plant," he said. "This disease is somewhat like delirium tremens. Instead of see ing snakes, the men see butterflies." Danger in Gas, N ot Gasoline. Since production began 300,000,000 gallons of ethyl gasoline have been distributed in twenty-eight States, from 12,000 filling stations, with no record of Butterflies and Term inates in Violent Insanity and Death. Demesse was a widower, 35 years by his insane violence overturned the old. A t du Pont headquarters the bed to which he was strapped; but Miss point was stressed that if poisoning Hanna B. Harris, Superintendent, Plant Closed Soon Afterwards. of poisoning or ill-health from its use, according to Mr. Weston. The name Dr. Lyon, who repeated this state "looney gas" is deceptive, in his view, had contributed to his death his rela denied this. ment to me, was warm in his praise in that it may apply to the ethyl gaso Deaths in Tetraethyl Gas %Production -a-t--a Single Plant Sept. 2r, 1923 -- F R A N K W . DURR, 37 years old, dye worker, died at Penns Grove, N. J .; at tended by Dr- Raymond B. Jarratt. 24July 30. 1924-- JO SE P H C IA N C I, years old, dye works opera tor; died at Salem !(N . J.) Memorial Hospital; attended by Dr. Harry W. Lee. 23Aug. 12, 1924-- F R A N K H A N LE Y , years old, dye w orker; received at Salem Hospital with gastric ulcer and underwent op eration, but went insane subse quently from tetraethyl lead poi soning; attended by Dr. F. HChurch. Oct. 20, 1924-- SIM JO N ES, 47 years old, negro janitor at plant; died in Salem Hospital; atten ded by Dr. Lee. Feb. 13, 1023-- F R E D E R IC K W . tives would ment. have demanded a settle "I've seen him actually lift the bed three or four inches off the floor by of the du Ponts for the care they ex ercised in behalf of their employees. line instead of ethyl lead. the fumes from tetra Death After Three Attacks The first tetraethyl poisoning of medical record was that of Harry A. Zanes, now 53 years old, who lives at 97 I street, in Carney's point, an indus trial town owned by the du Ponts ad joining Deep Water. He became ill on Sept- 9, 1923, and went to the emergency hospital maintained by the du Ponts on their reservation of six square miles across the Delaware River from Wilmington, where the chemical and smokeless powder plants are grouped. A fter treatment he went back to work, but a week later had to go home. He couldn't eat, and on rare occasions when he slept he suf fered from frightful nightmares. On Sept. 19 he became violent and two trained nurses were assigned to care for him. " The patient has twitching muscular contractions," the nurses recorded ; " respiration rapid, pulse shallow." And a little later; " Patient's head is thrown his struggles," she said , "but I'm sure he was never as bad as that." The facts about the death were print ed in the Bridgeton newspapers, and inquiries were made regarding it at Miss Harris did not admit at first du Pont headquarters. A statement that Frank Hanley's death in August was issued by the publicity department was due to tetraethyl poisoning. in which, after giving the facts of his " He had an ulcer of the stomach illness, it was said; and underwent an operation," she ex " Meanwhile the company, because plained. But when she was told that of his illness and the illness of Fred the death certificate specified "acute W . Fiebre (DeFiebre), a laborer who intoxication lead tetraethyl" she was later died, has shut down the plant to silent but later admitted it. As a fact make modifications to insure greater the man escaped some time after the manufacturing safety. * * * The du operation from the hospital to the Pont Company experienced trouble with street and was caught there. At du men becoming poisoned in the early Pont headquarters it was admitted stages of the manufacture of this chem that this was a case of poisoning. ical, but for a year difficulties have Sim Jones, negro janitor at "The diminished steadily and for the past sev House of the Butterflies," wore old eral months, under full production, only shoes and absorbed the poison through slight trouble had been encountered until his feet. It is fatal if inhaled or taken these recent fatal illnesses occurred." through the skin in sufficient quantities. The plant had, as a fact, been closed In all, Miss Harris said, forty-eight by order of Dr. Andrew F. McBride cases were treated at Salem. Sim of Paterson, chief of the New Jersey Jones was the last to die there in 1924. State Labor Commission,, Dr. Me- T3 r t r i Vi o ri H A f tri ir tr r o ^ Lit f P - Dr. Lynch, former chief surgeon at Deep Water, is now practicing medi cine at Wilmington and occasionally has tetraethyl cases. He was reluctant to discuss the disease because he is no longer associated with the du Ponts, and said he had refrained from pub lishing a paper dealing with his year's experience in their service for the same reason. " In several hundred cases which I treated during that first year," he said, "I did not lose one. Durr, who died while I was there, was under the care of his family physician. I had the first cases of the disease ever known. Although it is nervous and mental, neurologists had no clinical background for it. It was a brand new challenge to medical skill. " We found that nightmares were the first symptom and that these were followed by insomnia. Then came restlessness and inability to eat. Sometimes a patient lost as much as 1 1 - 1 *TM