The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-12
MUuITI0N PLANT
 BLOWS UP; TOWN BAKED BY SHELLS
Bombardment at Kingsand N. J Work of Canadian Car Co., Continues for Hours-2 GOO Workers Flee Mid Fly
 ing shrapnel - Number Dead Unknown = Scores
 Taken to Hospitals Rails of D., L. & w. Bent and Traffic Halts- Shocks Plainly Felt In New York
 Missiles Pierce Buildings.

There was a ''No Mans Land'' ex. tending in every direction from the | inclosure in which the shells were
 stored, into which no one dared ven 1 ture all evening. There was nothing 1 to do but let the fire burn itself out :! No engines could get close enough to be of any avail.
 l Sc far as could be learned last night, the fire started because a de. | fective electric wire dropped some sparks into a container of gasoline ol i denatured alcohol in No. 30 building which is near the western end of the plant This is a long frame structure l where the shell cases were cleaned with those fluids before being filleC with their explosive mixtures in other buildings. ..}.
 There was flash of flame thai spread instantly to other containers of highly infiammable paterials and then to the wooden walls of the build l ing. About 200 men were at work in No. 30 building and were in the dead Hest sort of peril, for they were work Ting with the alcohol and gasoline, they l had it in their hands and their cloth l ing was spotted with it. They ran out, yelling an alarm to those in the other buildings near them. Missiles in Buildings Nearby Building No. 30 stood directly be- side a spur track of the D.. L. and w., over which ran freight trains into the yard to carry in materials and carry out completed shels. Across from this structure were buildings Nos. l2S and 25, used as storage places for the heavy war missiles, And about each of the buildings and along this line of
 tracks were standing hundreds upon
 hundreds of cases of shells. some con-
 taining eight shells, other 16, ready
 for shipment.
 Further west still, beyond Nos. 2s
 and 25, is another spur track and here,
 too, were great quantities of finished
 shells. Beyond this second railroad
 track stood buildings Nos. 2, 3 and 4,
 where the shrapne1 shells were conn
 pleted and made ready for export. All about, this corner of the plant stood shells by the thousands. AL though it was said by some men who worked directly in this corner that there were 100000 loaded shells with in "a radius of perhaps 150 yards in each direction. others declared that including partially loaded shells there were as many as 500,000. Workers Flee Towards Gates When the flames burst through the side of No. 30 building and the 200
 men there came running out, some one in the engine house, which was %hn hi IesfI a cord, and a long wall made known throughout the enclosure that some thing unusual was on hand.
 The men from No. 30, scattering in all directions, also gave warning by shouts and arm-wavings. Inside a couple of minutes every one in the whole plant, apparently, was running for the nearest point of egress.
 l Before the fastest sprinters could reach the edge of the plants grounds and make their way over the tangled field of barbed wire the shells began to let go-the H. Els with terrific concentrated force, tearing up earth and, ripping out walls, and the shra D. nel with great bursts that sent show
 CTS of pellets in every direction.
 A dense pail of black smoke arose that signailed for miles in every direction the news of the fire. Miss Tessie McNamara, the telephone oper- atof. the only woman employed in ,,.the plant, stuck to her switchboard l until she had summoned the fire de- 1 partments of all the towns nearby, and also had rung up every building l in the place. which was connected by wire, By that time the smoke was thick about the-A,ain office, in which she worked. and she was almost over | come She was assisted to safety | through the main gate of the plant. f From the time the shells started | banging. in the middle of the after nooon. t ey never ceased until early | this morning. For hours the roar and rattle was continuous.
 Shell Wrecked Auto Mile Away. There were not nearly so many shrapnel shells as high explosive shells, but both were dangerous. Fragments from the latter were thrown great distances Scores of persons far away from the plant had narrow escapes from injury by these, Chief of Police Burnham of Ruther- ford and Chief Mcintyre of Union
 Township were riding together in the front seats of motor, mile away,
 when shell fragments struck the ton- l neau of the car and wrecked it, but neither was hurt.
 Through the roof of the car shops of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, half a mile away,
 bits of shrapnel and heavy fragments
 of H. E. shells literally showered. All
 the windows of this place were shat tered. Two hundred men were at
 work there. They fled pell mell when the steel hail descended None of them was injured.
 Two hundred yards from the plant a body was about to be inferred in | a little cemetery. Shells began to 1 fall so thickly that the funeral party replaced the coffin in the hearse and 1 the mourners fled.
 Each morning over the tracks of the Boonton division of the D. l.. and w. runs special trail. from Jersey
 ity, which brings to work several