Ernest W. Schilke  (1921-1944)

Shortly before midnight on the night of May 6, 1944, a gas explosion occurred at the Broad Street rolling mill of Wallace Barnes Company. Two men, Patrolmen Ernest W. Schilke, 22, of Mt. View Avenue, and Harold J. Pryor, 38 of Laurel Street, were killed as a result. Deputy Fire Chief Orrin Porter, Fireman Peter Devoti and Patrolman Joseph Lozinski were victims of being gassed along with other minor injuries.

Working outdoors, Harold Pryor and Michael Formagioni were replacing a gasket after a valve had blown. They were working at a steady factory man’s pace when Pryor was overcome by the carbon monoxide gas. Even though Formagioni suffered some of the same effects he managed to climb down and summon the authorities.

Patrolman Schilke and Lozinski were dispatched to the scene, meeting with Deputy Chief Porter, who had just arrived. The deputy chief was quickly overcome and fell some 25 feet into a coal pit: Schilke was slumped over the landing. They were both lowered with ropes, but Pryor was dead on arrival at the hospital.

The Company issued the following statement, "There was an unusual amount of gas accumulation about the outside platform due to the muggy weather," and pointed out that, "the operation of replacing the gasket was unusual."

Employees of the Connecticut Light and Power Company, along with the policemen and firemen worked on Patrolman Schilke for more than three hours with pulmotors, after which the medical examiner pronounced him dead.

Four ambulances including the Red Cross ambulance used by the police department were at the scene of the accident, as well as Mayor Daniel Davis, Police Chief Edmund S. Crowley, Fire Chief George C. Graham, and Drs., William R. Stevenson, Frank S. Vogel, M. Alford Gore and Benjamin B. Robbins.