Part 2

            In 1987, local journalist Vic Attardo authored an in-depth article on the Perkiomen Trunk and Bag Company fire for the Town and Country newspaper.  The item appeared in the Pennsburg Centennial Edition of the publication.  The account

The burned out factory of the Perkiomen Trunk and Bag Company in Pennsburg smoldered for days and attract- ed curious visitors.  This photo was taken a few days after the fire.

of the event presented here represents a summary of his work, plus newly discovered information.  The headline read "Skeleton Finding Shrouded in Mystery."  One of the sub-headings professed "Ruins of 1930 Perkiomen Trunk and Bag Company Plant Give Up Gruesome Secret." 

            Pennsburg Doctor Joe Schantz was summoned to the scene, and, after examining the remains of the skeletal remains in the ruins, declared the bones to be those of a human being.  A local reporter at the time described the unidentified skeleton as being "warmly dressed and of rather large stature." 

            Shreds of clothing were still clinging to the bones.  The material appeared to be blue denim, commonly used for overalls.  With the body were a small wrench, a pair of

On March 7, 1934, six Civil Works Administration were removing bricks to be used on a nearby road project when they found the skeletal remains of a human buried beneath the ruble.  The body was found on and located near the center of the photo.

pliers, a screwdriver and a pocket comb, all in good condition."  County Coroner John C. Simpson declared that the remains were that of a man, approximately 5-feet-7 and less than age 40.

             Theories abounded.  Heightening the whole incident was the belief that no one in the community had disappeared since the night of the fire, nor has there been any disappearance since that time with which this community is known to have been even remotely concerned. 

            County detectives James V. Gleason and Irwin C. Anderson said they had uncovered no evidence to support the theory of murder.  In fact, according to the detectives, the evidence seemed to support the theory that the man met his death in the building at the time of the fire.  Gleason said the body was covered with bricks from the front wall. 

            However, photographs showing the front wall of the factory still standing 10 days after the fire contradicted that.

            On the other hand, Max Brunner, of East Greenville, the factory's former foreman, said he visited the ruins the day after the blaze and the spot at which the body was discovered was already covered by a considerable fall of bricks, supporting the detectives' conclusion.

            As the story unfolded, it was learned that three brass sprinkler heads were found on the body.  Brunner said the pieces bore unmistakable evidence of removal by screwdriver.  Now the theory had the dead man looting the ruins of the burned-out factory and the wall collapsing on him while he was scavenging.

            But, there was another theory that held some weight:  the belief that the man died while setting the fire that destroyed the factory.

            Negating that theory was the fact that, in May of 1931, Samuel Greenfield of Atlantic City, New Jersey confessed to the arson while serving a prison sentence in Philadelphia.  Already doing time in Eastern State Penitentiary on another arson charge in the city, Greenfield accused Lewis Lang, an insurance broker and adjuster, as the "master mind in Philadelphia's million dollar arson ring" that operated for nearly two decades to defraud insurance companies.

             Greenfield said he was hired by Lang to set fire to the Perkiomen factory and others and had come to Pennsburg with Lang on Dec. 8, 1930 to visit the plant and get a set of keys.  Lang was arrested and released on bail.  Greenfield, already convicted and implicated in six other fires, told attorney Horace Schell that he was alone when he set the Perkiomen fire.  He had used gasoline, he said.

            In August of 1931, a private detective and three other men were held in Philadelphia on charges that they conspired to get Greenfield to swear that he set fire to the Pennsburg factory to stop Perkiomen Trunk President Jacob Cramer from collecting $403,000 in insurance. 

            Greenfield's wife testified that her husband falsely admitted to setting a series of fires "as a means of obtaining clemency."

            In December of 1931 Lang pled guilty and was sentenced to six months to a year in jail.  When the plea of guilty was accepted, the trial of Samuel Greenfield in the Pennsburg fire was called off .  He continued to serve his sentence in Eastern State Penitentiary for the Philadelphia arsons.

            No one ever stood trial for the Perkiomen Trunk and Bag Factory fire.

            As time passed, the mystery of the body found in the ruins of the Pennsburg factory grew.  Detective Gleason was now declaring that it was "more and more doubtful" that the man lost his life in the fire that destroyed the building.  County chemist Abner O. Miller's analysis of the bones and clothing showed no evidence that either had been subjected to great heat or actual burning. 

            Reports of missing local men were now surfacing and required investigation by Gleason.   Town and Country reported that Gleason interviewed some 25 people in one four-day period.  The news item reported: "In this, the sleuth was scouting the theory that the remains found in the ruins were those of the incendiary or his accomplice, the authorities recognizing the proposed possibility that the man may have been overcome while tampering with the plant's sprinkler system." 

            Confusing, yet open to both possibilities.

            Almost as an afterthought came the report of the presence of a "strange automobile bearing New Jersey license plates" on the night of the fire.  This car was said to have been seen driving back and forth for some time while firemen were engaged in battling the blaze.  The driver was reported at the time to have had an argument with a firefighter that refused him permission to drive his car across a line of hose.  Of course, there was now speculation that this motorist was looking for his partner.

            It seemed that with each new piece of information, theories changed or new ones emerged.  Attardo characterized it best when he wrote : "If sitting in your living room now, in 1987, you get the feeling the facts in this case suddenly fit the theories and not the theories fit the facts, you're not alone."

            There is one other theory that has surfaced since Attardo penned his article. Eighteen months before fire struck the local plant, the location was the object of a dynamiting rumor: the factory was supplying New York buyers during a tumultuous labor strike by factory workers in that city. 

            For a period of time in July of 1929, the building was kept under the watchful eye of the Pennsylvania State Police.  At the time one of the proprietors of the Perkiomen Trunk and Bag factory said he placed very little credence in the reports.  "Our pocketbook plant is so small compared to some of the plants now operating in Philadelphia."  It is interesting to note that some of those plants operating in Philadelphia were also the victims of suspicious fires during the eighteen months between the dynamiting rumor and the Pennsburg fire.

            After an extended court battle over whether the insurance companies were liable for paying the claims on the Pennsburg fire, a jury found that the company should be paid for their losses.  Most of the money was returned to local stockholders.

            Four years after the fire devastated the community, a newspaper account seemed to sum up the case by reporting that "despite the intense investigation, no promising clues have been uncovered toward explaining the identity of the man or the presence of his remains in the ruins." 

Detective Gleason was quoted as having said, "It is not likely now the mystery will ever be solved."

            Nearly 90 years later, he appears correct.

What was once the location of the Perkiomen Trunk and Bag factory in Pennsburg is now home to the Pennsburg branch of the Tri-County Federa; Credit Union and an open field.  In 1962 Keystone Transformer Co. opened a ballast manufacturing and assembly plant in the old planing mill along the railroad tracks, the only section that escaped the 1930 fire.