New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-12

factory were questions to which a
dozen answers different-were
given. Not one OF the officers Of the
Canadian Car and Foundry Company
would make statement, and the
guards Of the factory, who aided the
police in keeping back the curious as
wen as those who believed that they
still had relatives somewhere within
that shell-stormed forbidden ground
were equally reticent.
The c. c. and F. Companys plant
was being destroyed, that was all any
one knew about 1t. And II was pelng
destroyed thoroughly, and to the ac-
compartment of a racket which Verdun
alone might have equallSd.
One Thomas Reed, an employe OF
the company, told the most coherent
version of how the fire started. lie
had been employed, he said, In the
cleaning room. where the brass cases
of shell cartridges are sponged IN anu
out with alcohol before they are
charged.
Spark from Ceiling
"a spark came down from the cell
inc" he said, "and then there was a
bir fare Of fame and | ran ike the
! devil"
Reed believes that the insulation on
one OF the electric light wires We.
burned through and that the req no. no.
| end of the strand dropped INTO 'uu
of alcohol. There were eighty men ~
/ This building, according TO him. lie
does not know how many escaped
Few remember clearly what happehe1
between the beginning Of the hre aho
| Al. ,oiOhty pXDlOglOn.
Another story Of the fires start rays
| tho blame to shellaeing machine III
building S0-the Cleaning room
thjs. il is said, was operated TOO rap'u
| Iv and became so hot that 1t ighl'e'
a pan of alcohol near IT.
Whatever happened, the building wa
IN danes in an instant. Ten minutes
nassed before the first and mighties'
explosion. In those ten minutes PahI'
broke loose in the plant. IL Is peileVee
that there were 400 men worHihg II
the factory. Each of these realized
what would happen If fire caught hoiC
of anv of a dozen isolated buildings
Many Fight to Escape
They started TO get out. The entrance
to the building was by mario" gate
guarded by 12-foot walls; III nv
ment TINS WAS gdihh"0u ~ -.
mostly Italians and negroes, VINO 1ougn,
desperately to get away. GUARDS VIZ,
| forced at last TO drive pAch INC ''o'
with pistols and rlfes. ~, -.
, They broke and scattered. Many o.
liam ran TO the rear of the plant, whicf
! i separated from the swampy meaGo"'
| Inv a high barbed-wire fence. IheA
vent through this like a drove OF cat
tlo Frantic with terror, they PAID h'
attention to the wire, which cut some
NJ them cruelty, but went plougning
! the whole terror-struck crowd throuSi
tbe mud and thin ice OF the marsh
Many OF them who reached solld gr9uh'
| and safety were plastered WIN sllnh'
! Trou, head to heel. Many more "er'
| soaked with icy water =. :.
Then came the first great roar ~ !,
said that a building in which the Ioau
| cd shells were stored was the nls' y
| go. -, ,rood the manic
which had hitherto been conhned u
tbe factory ward, TO Kingsland and IN
edioining village of Lyndhurst. Afte
Tho Arst detonation came the steau!
roIl of bursting shrapnel and high e1
nlosive shells. In a minute the htIi
| Jersey towns were transformed 70 VII
Iages upon the European battle fronts
| Shells that had been intended for IN
ormies of the Car burst in terrlh
salvos over the roofs Of the houses
| shattered chimneys, riddled the ca
renair barns of the Lsckawanns Rail
! way and set two dwellings on hre'
Women Run Gantlet
Women grasped their children an
duckod through the iron sleet towsr
safety. Men ran until they droppe
painting, unable 10 go further. An
through this she'll sprayed confusion
n few walked calm and unafraid.
To the west OF the factory rise
Guinea Hill. so called because NOR
than a thousand Italians inhabit the is
houses on its slope. Immediately afte
the first explosion shells began to fal
like rain upon them. Most of the in
mates ran, helter-skelter, caring TO
nothing. One old woman could not rur
she was Mrs. Maria Frederick, i'll in he
bed with typhoid.
Through the terrified swarm o
Latins who ran down from Guinea Hi
came Father Thomas j. McDermott, rec
tor Of the Church Of the Sacred Hear
and pastor to most OF this panic
stricken crew. He came walking calml
up the hill as they rushed down. II
had remembered Mrs. Frederici, ha
telephoned for an ambulance TO com
and take her away, and was going to 81
with her in the bombarded house unit
il arrived.
Priest Aids Aged Patient
He did sit beside the stricken woman
while a house TO the right and nous
to the left we're ignited by shell hr'
while the roll of explosions quickene