The morning call., 1894-08-06
IS BEING SWINDLED.
Imperfect Shells Palmed Off on
the Government.
Charges Made by a Former En-
pIoye of the Carpenter Steel
Works.

NEW YORK, Aug. Ga World dispatch
from Reading, Pa, says: Wesley May. a
machinist OF this city. says there is rot
tenness 10 the Carpenter Armor-p piercing
Works, and Secretary Herbert has been
making an investigation of the Carpenter
shells piled up in the hayward at Wash
ington as result of Mays disclosures.
May was formerly employed in the
works of the Carpenter Steel Works at
North Reading. having charge of the shell
department. He says be saw enough to
convince him the Government was being
swindled.
May began work for the Carpenter Steel
Company on September l, 1898. In two
weeks he was put TO work on a lathe turn
ing out prOjectiles, and in few dayshe was
assigned to the grinding department. May
had not worked in this room long before
he came across a shell that had been
warped in tempering-that is, it was not
true. This particular projectile ran out of
center so far that May decided it would
not enter a gun. He called his foreman,
named Wilson, and asked MIN what
TO do with the shell. The fore
man then told him TO true up all
the shells and not TO mind whether the
rear end was out of center or not. The
foreman explained that the main object
was to get true and square band around
the burly, so as not to dlsfgure the shell.
Otherwise it would make bad impress
sion on the Government inspector when he
came, and if be measured with his d-
yi1ers be could see something was wrong.
May said then be was satisfied that all
responsibility had been removed from him,
and so be worked along up to May 10,
1894. He was taking the place of another
emDloye who was sick for many weeks.
While May was taking a lathe a very
large proportion of the shells which he
turned were far from being true, but be
kept no account of their humber, though
he kept a quiet investigation as to the
quality. They had been warped during
the TEN pering process.
May went 10 Washington on May 90.
He inquired for the Office of the Secretary
Of he Navy. and was told that Mr. Her
bert was in Alabama. He learned that
tue matter in which he was interested was
under the administration of Captain Samp-
son, Chief of the Ordnance Bureau.
To Captain Simpsons Office, therefore,
he went. Captain Sampson got Nay to
tell him the defects in tue shells, and May
says be was surprised when Captain
Sampson made this remarkable state
ment:
Young man. that warping, as you call
it, does not affect the efficiency of the
shell at all. The copper bands around the
base of the protective will attend to ali
that and keep the parts you speak of from
wearing away the bore Of the gun"
May obtained entrance into the navy
yard and saw the ptojectiles banded, and
discovered the way in which they we're
placed in the lathe; that the machinists
and presumably the inspectors at the
yards had no idea the shells wers not
straight.
May visited Washington and saw Secre-
tary Herbert. who gave him an order to
inspect the shells at the navy-yard. They
were treated as May had said, and he
went away more convinced than ever that
fraud was being perpetrated.
May, however. failed to impress this
belief ON the Washington officials, the at
ter declaring no irregularity existed in
connection with the shells.