A 14-year-old Bridgeport boy sustained severe burns when a piece of phosphorus he carried from school ignited inside his coat on his way home, sending him to the hospital.
Phosphorus in Coat Explodes, Sets It Afire
When Edward Chisaski, 14, a high school student, started home about 5 o’clock last night, he carried with him a small quantity of phosphorus from the school laboratory which exploded, setting fire to a sheepskin coat he was wearing and badly burning his back.
He was taken to the Bridgeport Hospital.
According to the story of the hospital physicians and Connecticut Co. officials, Chisaski boarded an East Main street car, taking a seat near the middle of the trolley. When the car reached Central Avenue the conductor thought at first that there had been an explosion as he heard a report and then turning saw the boy’s coat smoking.
He jumped off the car and the conductor and several bystanders threw water on him but not before he had been burned. The emergency hospital ambulance was summoned and he was taken to the Bridgeport Hospital.
Source: The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.), 08 Jan. 1920.
