The following news article appeared in the Nov. 27, 1917 edition of The Allentown Leader under the headline “GAVE LIFE TRYING TO SAVE TWO MEN: Three Die from Effects of Fumes of Ammonia at Steel Plant.” Just a month later, another Hellertown man would die prematurely in a work-related accident at the company’s coke works.
John Laux*, a young American of Hellertown, employed in the Lehigh plant of the Bethlehem Steel Company, yesterday afternoon heroically gave his own life when he was overcome by the fumes of ammonia in a by-product pipe while attempting to drag two men to a place of safety. His noble efforts, however, were futile, as the two men, Domonic Ferreira and Manuel Rois, were also asphyxiated.
Ferreira and Rois, aged 20 and 24 years, respectively, were engaged in cleaning out the pipes which lead from the coke making furnaces. The tubes are used to carry away by-product materials and had become clogged. The two men were put to work at noon and when neither of them made their reappearance at 2 o’clock an assistant, another foreigner, notified Laux. The latter, a member of one of the first aid teams in the steel works, set about single handed to rescue the men and he in turn was overcome.
When the three men were taken from the pipe there were hopes that they could be saved, Laux especially. Dr. Loyal A. Shaudy, surgeon in charge of the Bethlehem Steel dispensary and several other physicians worked for three hours over the unconscious forms, using pulmotors and lungmotors, but their efforts proved futile.
The three bodies were taken in charge by Undertaker McGovern. Later Laux’s body was taken to his home in Hellertown, where it was received by his grief-stricken young wife, two children, parents and a brother. Mr. Laux was aged 24 years.
*An entry on FindAGrave.com identifies him as John E. Loux. Loux is buried in Hellertown Union Cemetery and was 25 when he died, according to his gravestone.
The above article appeared in the Nov. 27, 1917 edition of The Allentown Leader. It details the tragic death of a young man from Hellertown. John Laux died trying to save two other workers at the Bethlehem Steel coke works from ammonia fumes.
About this column: Olden Days is a Saucon Source series in which newspaper clippings in the public domain are used to highlight area news from the early 1900s.
