Camden Courier-Post, December 23, 1949View transcription
Man Is Killed Here When Keg of Beer Explodes in Club
Gay Holiday Party Ends in Tragedy; Bar Damaged
A Christmas party at a city Republican club ended in tragedy Thursday night when a member was injured fatally as a beer keg exploded.
John W. Kmicic, 56, of 912 North Thirty-first street, a machinist of the Pennsylvania Railroad for more than 25 years, died shortly after 1 a. m. in Cooper hospital from injuries received when the barrel exploded. Part of the interior of the first floor barroom at the Ninth Ward Republican club, 536 Broadway, was damaged.
According to Hobart Corson, chief clerk of the city fire department and president of the club, the accident occurred while more than 100 were making merry at a Christmas party on the first and second floors of the clubhouse.
Peculiar Noise
Standing beside Kmicic at the time was his son, Theodore Kmicic, of 105 Park avenue, Gloucester, and H. Allen Wolfe, acting chief of the city electrical bureau.
Wolfe said Kmicic, known by all his acquaintances as a jovial type of person, came to the end of the bar at the rear of the first floor to inspect the keg, which was making a peculiar noise.
Wolfe said Kmicic leaned over the barrel as the blast ripped the barrel open from the bottom, caused a hole to be made in the flooring and tore a piece off the end of the bar. Kmicic, Wolfe said, fell to the floor beside the keg, his face severely battered. A police ambulance removed him to the Cooper hospital, where he died two hours later.
Skull Fractured
Corson, who was on the second floor at the time of the explosion, said the party was ended immediately.
Although many were showered with beer and flying glasses, no one else was injured.
Coroner Healey was summoned and said County Physician R. Dean Cavalli would perform an autopsy on the body today. When admitted to the hospital the vic-
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Keg Blast
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tim was listed as suffering a possible fracture of the skull, fractures of both arms, loss of the left eye and numerous cuts and bruises.
Kmicic lived in an apartment at the Thirty-first street address with Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wychowanec. They formerly lived at Thirteenth street and Keswick avenue in Haddon Heights.
Leaves Widow
A resident of Camden for 35 years, Kmicic was also a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA.
Also surviving are his widow, Catherine; a daughter, Mrs. Irene Curtis Gerard, New York City; a grandson; his mother, Anna, in Poland; three sisters, Mrs. Helen Polnar, Camden, and Valeria and Mary, both in Poland, and a brother, Michael, in Poland.
Requiem high Mass will be celebrated Wednesday at 9 a. m. in St. Joseph's R. C. Church, Tenth and Mechanic streets. Relatives and friends will meet at 8 a. m. in the funeral home at 1458 Mt. Ephraim avenue, where friends may call Tuesday night. Burial will be in St. Joseph's cemetery, Chews Landing.
Gay Holiday Party Ends in Tragedy; Bar Damaged
A Christmas party at a city Republican club ended in tragedy Thursday night when a member was injured fatally as a beer keg exploded.
According to Hobart Corson, chief clerk of the city fire department and president of the club, the accident occurred while more than 100 were making merry at a Christmas party on the first and second floors of the clubhouse.
Peculiar Noise
Standing beside Kmicic at the time was his son, Theodore Kmicic, of 105 Park avenue, Gloucester, and H. Allen Wolfe, acting chief of the city electrical bureau.
Wolfe said Kmicic, known by all his acquaintances as a jovial type of person, came to the end of the bar at the rear of the first floor to inspect the keg, which was making a peculiar noise.
Wolfe said Kmicic leaned over the barrel as the blast ripped the barrel open from the bottom, caused a hole to be made in the flooring and tore a piece off the end of the bar. Kmicic, Wolfe said, fell to the floor beside the keg, his face severely battered. A police ambulance removed him to the Cooper hospital, where he died two hours later.
Skull Fractured
Corson, who was on the second floor at the time of the explosion, said the party was ended immediately.
Although many were showered with beer and flying glasses, no one else was injured.
Coroner Healey was summoned and said County Physician R. Dean Cavalli would perform an autopsy on the body today. When admitted to the hospital the victim was listed as suffering a possible fracture of the skull, fractures of both arms, loss of the left eye and numerous cuts and bruises.
Kmicic lived in an apartment at the Thirty-first street address with Mr. and Mrs. Walter Wychowanec. They formerly lived at Thirteenth street and Keswick avenue in Haddon Heights.
Leaves Widow
A resident of Camden for 35 years, Kmicic was also a member of the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA.
Also surviving are his widow, Catherine; a daughter, Mrs. Irene Curtis Gerard, New York City; a grandson; his mother, Anna, in Poland; three sisters, Mrs. Helen Polnar, Camden, and Valeria and Mary, both in Poland, and a brother, Michael, in Poland.
Requiem high Mass will be celebrated Wednesday at 9 a. m. in St. Joseph's R. C. Church, Tenth and Mechanic streets. Relatives and friends will meet at 8 a. m. in the funeral home at 1458 Mt. Ephraim avenue, where friends may call Tuesday night. Burial will be in St. Joseph's cemetery, Chews Landing.
