Ocean County , NJ History

from the New Jersey Courier 25 Aug 1892 At Pemberton, August 14, 1892, Catherine Clevenger

That was the headline of 12 Oct 1917 in the New Jersey Courier When Samuel Chattin of Pasadena yesterday noon saw smoke rolling up from the big Brooks Brae plant at that place, he and his son rushed to the plant, and peering through the window into the fiery furnace within, he saw the body ofhis own twelve year old daughter, Hannah, lying uon a cot beside that of a man. The interior of the room was flame and smoke, and the roof was tumbling in, so they dared not enter. With the aid of neighbors they got pieces of timber through the window and worked the cot nearly to the window, when the cot overturned and the bodies rolled off. Later the little girl's body was taken from the ruins, just the trunk and part of the head; that of the man was also found, with arms, legs and head missing. It was an Austrian, Gildo Plazziano, who was watchman at the brick plant. The big brick plant said to have cost from ten to twenty thousand dollars to build, was wiped out by the flames. Prosecuto...