New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-03

RUMORS OF PLOTS
Company Officials Insist
Big Explosion Was Not
at All Suspicious.
BUT TERROR GRIPS
WILMINGTON FOLK
Guards at Powder Plant Trebled
and Armed-All Teutonic
Workmen OuSted.
Irrom a stan Correspondent Of Toe Tribune. J

IFrom q stan Correspondent Of Toe IriSune'l
Wilmington, Del, Dec. "A policy Of
silence has been adopted by the Dr
Pont officials regarding the Hagle!
yards explosion, in which thirty-one
men lost their lives. The company Will
make few statements, official or indi'
vidual. Meantime more employees are
leaving the plant
The situation at the mills is con-
stantly becoming more acute. III mas
been estimated that the company stands
TO lose 100000 day by tie-up OF the
nlant. Should the supply of labor drop
greatly below the level Of demand, no'
alone would the Du Pont output be
crippled, but the business life OF Will
mineton would be in danger Of demon
alizstion. This city is largely depend
ent on a continuation Of activity among
the twenty-three thousand men en-
ployed in the powder mills.
Everything possible is being done TO
reassure the employees. An official oil
the company has announced that the
firm would spend Sl,0O0,OOO, II neces-
sary, to hunt down possible consplra-
tors in a plot TO destroy the mills. ~
is combing its employees for those OF
Teutonic birth, and all such found are
Immediately dismissed. An augmented
guard girdles the plant, and, as the
company owns the property WITHIN
radius of miles from the mills, there
is nothing TO prevent 1t from estaollsh-
ing a limit Of trespass.
But the biggest bait offered TO en-
nloves is the size of the wages. 1t was
NOT until the "big explosion" as the
workmen call it, that any public knowl-
edoe was gained of the rate Of wages
In the various Du Pont works. To get
the necessary number of workmen the
Du Pont company is offering an ap,,
proXimate 200 per cent increase all
along the line. In other words, chem
lists who were getting $40 a day are
now receiving as high as S25, and LABOR
ers are receiving So and 81 day where
formerly they received only $500 or 80.
The Du Pont officials do no. deny that
the fear inspired by such accidents as
that which caused Tuesdays loss OF
life is responsible for this wholesale
increase. =,
The wild rumors that naturally arse
with every explosion are terrorlzing
Wilmington. The city is on edge
Passers-by look suspiciously at one an,
other. Detectives have been stationed
in the Du Pont Hotel, and every bell
bow is a ferret searching into ones prl-
vate affairs. The constant topic OF con-
versation is Tuesdays horror and the
mysterious incidents which nave
cropped up since then.
The Du Pont company does not want
publicity. Nevertheless. accounts OF
what is taking place are leaking out
The guards and workmen are the wors'
offenders in this respect. for, being hu
man. they must talk. guard at tn'
/ Carney's Point plant told a Tribune re
porter to-day that the company wa:
exerting its utmost TO keep dark the
large number of serious accidents
which were occurring every week.
Something's wrong" said this guard
"These hare-ups and explosions aren
merely accidental. They seldom hap
pened before"
In defiance of the assertion OF d.
Pont officials that they placed little
faith in the rumor that placards OF
warning to workers of Teutonlc olrtf
had been posted on Salem Turnpike ant
at Carney's Point, it was pointed ou'
to-day that the company ordered it'
guards TO carry guns as soon as th'
report was heard. The fact that the
usual number Of guards has beer
trebled shows that the company fears
plots.
If the agents of the Department o.
Justice did any investigating here 70
/ day they did it quietly and without so
/ Letting the assistance of the Du Pom
company.