Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-05

primer shop. and Capt. Beatty and other
officers FASTENED to the scene. There
they found John CAdemartori, an Italian,
about forty years Of age, dead; James
Griffith. about sixty years old, fataiiy
about fifty-five years old, painfully In
Jured. Scheide was conscious anu ms
nerve had not deserted him. He tried 70
talk with the commandant, but evidently
was suffering great pain from the con-
cussion and numerous wounds from the
flying glass that was driven into MS
back.
Body Taken to Morgue.
Cademartoris body was removed to the
morgue. and Griffith was taken to Cas-
ualty Hospital, where he died while on
the operating table. almost Immediately
after his arrival Scheide was cared for
by surgeons at the navy yard. but later
he, too. was taken to Casualty Hospital.
Reports of the accident, some or them
much exaggerated, rapidly spread over
the city, and soon the wives and MEM
bers of the families of men employed in
the yard were on the scene with inquiries
about their relatives.
The building where the accident oc-
CURED was shattered and in the center
of the room where the three men had
been at work assembling fuses as the
commandant said, long table on which
had rested delicately adjusted scales
was found shivered through the center.
The assembling table, some distance OF,
was not seriously damaged. Capt. Beatty
SAID ne was unable to account for the
accident. or even to conjecture how II
had occurred
He had appointed an expert board, he
said, to look into the matter thoroughly
and report to him. He added that the
duty OF the three men. who. he said, were
the only occupants of the building, was
to assemble fuses" of major caliber.
The fuses were used to fire the shells in
the larger guns They were composed of
several parts. which. after being loaded,
were assembled or put together.
According to Capt. Beatty, 5000 fuses
had been thus assembled without acct
dent. He did not know whether the ex-
plosion was due to the dropping of a
loaded fuse or not. In the room were
many parts Of the loaded fuses to be
assembled, but as rapidly as the assem-
bling was completed the fuses were taken
from the building. Capt. Beatty denied
that any experiments were being con-
Quoted by the men, who were the sole
all OF them were employees Of the navy
yard and that there was no one else en-
gagged in the work.
Were Conducting Experiments.
Inquiry of men employed in the yard
who pretended to know what had been
going on in the fuse and primer building
brought forth statements that for some
time these men had been conducting ex-
periments with powerful explosive
under the supervision of man from the
du Point powder works. 1t was said that
in the recent target practice of ships Of
the navy it was not very unusual oc-
currence for a shell to fail to explode
he n a
regulations the breech Of a gun is not al
lowed to be opened for thirty minutes
after shell has failed to explode.
This. it was explained. was a serious
was to make sure that the shells would
always be exploded that the experiments
were being conducted. Capt. Beatty,
when asked about this, said there was no
man from the du Pont powder works en-
ployed in the fuse and primer building;
all the injured men were attached as reg
ular employees to the navy yard, and they
were the only ones engaged at the time.
Lieut.. Ralph Payne Craft. L. 8. n, who
was about to go to the building to con-
duct an inspection when the accident oc-
CURED. is reported to have declared that
the danger to the men making the new
secret fuses is 80 great that the workmen
are protected by arrnor plate two inches
thick during all the processes. except as
sembling, which was being done when
the accident occurred.
There are three machines used to make
the fuses. it is declared. One of these is
a compressor. used to compress the ex-
posive in the detonator. Another is a
crimper. used to crimp the primer over
the end of the detonator tube and hold
the primer In place. The third Is an
unscrewing machine, used to take the
decorator out, SO that there will be no
possibility Of an explosion.
Machines Covered by Ar1nor.
1t is explained that all these machines
are under an armor cover. and the men
operating them can only see what is go
ing OIL inside. as they manipulate the
loading and other machinery, by gazing
into a looking glass placed before q
small hole in the armor. this hole facing
three-foot thick wall. banked by six
feet of earth. so that II there is an ex
ploson the charge will go out the hole
and toward the brick wall and embank-
ment.
Giving this explanation Of the machin-
cry in use and the protection accorded
the workmen, Lieut.. Craft is reported to
have added
There has always been a great waste
of shells. and In designing the new fuse
which is the product of the Washington
nevy yard, the object has been to get q
fuse that will positively make the shell
detopafo and eYnlCde uher ron choo