Aug 6, 2019 3 min read

James Dudt, mechanical engineer and part-time farmer, shifted his analytical mind into overdrive and still couldn’t formulate an answer.

Dudt was on his Scenery Hill property, where he and his neighbor, Randy Matthews, raise beef cattle. It was Wednesday evening, the twilight of a sunny, calm day, when the two men were preparing to remove Dudt’s tractor from mud.

Matthews saw something in the hayfield, got off his tractor and picked up a small paper. It was a canceled check from 1990, clean and intact, bearing the signature of Deborah A. Braden – apparently the woman whose North Franklin Township house had been blown apart by a gas explosion a few hours earlier.

Braden, who was exiting her home, miraculously received only minor injuries. She was one of five people treated at hospitals following the 3:50 p.m. blast at 100 Park Lane.

A number of nearby residences were damaged and debris was scattered across a wide area, some a mile or so away, by an explosion for which Columbia Gas has assumed responsibility.

The Dudt farm, however, is about 10 miles to the east, off Route 40. Ten hilly miles. On a bright, virtually windless day, it appears proof of a 29-year-old financial record – without a speck of dirt – somehow fluttered onto the property.

(Dudt sent a photo of the check via email to an Observer-Reporter news staffer. The author of that check, in 1990, had a different address from 100 Park Lane. For privacy reasons, the newspaper decided against publishing the photo. Braden could not be reached for comment.)

James Dudt works at Karpinski Engineering in Southpointe, where he heard about the explosion. Little did he realize he might soon have a link to the horrific incident.

As details of the explosion – including the homeowner’s name – became public, and after Dudt looked at the immaculately filled-out check, he went online, did a Whitepages search and found the name of the author, who was listed as residing at 100 Park Lane, Washington, Pa. (The explosion victim is the only Pennsylvanian listed, specifically, on Whitepages as Deborah A. Braden.)

“I thought someone was playing a prank,” said Dudt, father of four boys age 7 and younger. “I thought maybe it came from someone burning leaves or came floating up from the valley.

“I checked the address, saw what it was and thought, ‘This is unbelievable. Now it makes sense.’ But it doesn’t make sense.”

The circumstances didn’t make sense to Myranda Fullerton, either. She is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Moon Township. Fullerton checked records from Wednesday and said wind levels were low, although a light item like a single slip of paper is more likely to be lifted up.

“I don’t know how I can speak to that,” Fullerton said. “It must have been one forceful explosion – obviously.”

Dudt marvels over what he and Matthews found.

“The check is in perfect shape,” he said. “It looks like someone had it in a closet all these years and it ends up in hayfield.”

Individuals who find property that may belong to the victim of the house explosion may take those items to Washington City Hall, 55 W. Maiden St.