New-York tribune., 1918-10-08
IS Bodies Are
Taken From
Blast Ruins
29 Still Missing When
Darkness Ends Day for
Searchers

The smouldering ruins Of the T. A.
Gillespie she'll loading plant at Nor
gan, N. j., reluctantly gave up the
charred, mutilated bodies Of its vic
tins yesterday while q steady stream
Of refugees in little family groups,
half afraid Of the danger they believed
still lurked behind the shell-scarred
hills, made their way to their destroyed
homes in the stricken district.
Before darkness forced the search
ing parties to stop thirty-fve bodies
had been recovered. This leaves twen-
ty-nire men unaccounted for according
to the figures given out by r. A. Gill
lespie
The refugees faced new terror as
they trudged YEARLY across the Perth
Amboy bridge to their homes. Spanish
influenza has broken out and the au-
thorities anticipate great difficulty in
checking the epidemic because Of fhc
exhausted condition of the people. SO
far 270 cases have been reported and
the Red Cross is preparing to handle
many times that number. The refugees
are being examined as they near the
stricken district and those who show
any signs of illness are rushed to hos
ritals.
Joint Funerals To Be Held
To-day while the Catholic, Protest
ant and Jewish clergy chant funeral
services the bodies of the unidentified
dead will be buried in the South Am
boy graveyard, just across the road
from where they met their tragic
deaths. monument will be erected
over them, perhaps by popular sub
scription. The government will ruy
the expense of the funerals.
Mr.. Gillespie yesterday gave out q
statement after officials Of the COM
pany and officers of the ordnance de-
partment had made g survey of the
plant. The statement read:
''The r. A. Gillespie Loading Com
pany plant consisted of 700 buildings,
of which 325 were destroyed. There
were thirteen complete units for the
loading of shells. Twelve of these we
know to be destroyed. The thirteenth
unit we have not been able to examine
thoroughly, but it has been Iamaged
and occupied by the superintendents
and their families, together with the
administration building and mess halls,
have been destroyed. The labor camp,
consisting of forty buildings, is prac-
tically intact. The power house, docks,
trackage system through the works and
the storage warehouses and magazines
have not been damaged to any great
extent"
"The first explosion occurred Friday
evening about 7:4O O'Clock in the
6-inch No. plant. From there it trav-
elled to the 6-inch No. 2 plant, and it
is our opinion that that plant was de-
stroyed by fire caused by the explod-
ing shells from the No. / plant.
In the No l plant seventy-sjx men
were working, twelve being United
States government inspectors. Of
these, twelve are accounted for, in
Guiding two inspectors; the balance,
or total of siXtyfour are missing.
less than this number of bodies having
so far been recovered"
Blast Cause Undetermined
After careful inspection on the site
of the plant it is clear that the initial
explosion in all probability did not oc-
cur either in the INT service magazine
or in the low pressure steam jacketed
amatol kettles as previously reported
in some of the press dispatches. All
the available evidence points to the
initial explosion having occurred in one
of the regular operating rooms in which
the 155 nm loaded shells are handled
under established methods, which have
been successfully in vogue in this
plant, without accident, for over three
months.
ANY more definite information as to
the original cause is purely matter
of conjecture; one of the possibilities
being an inadvertent act on the part
of one Of the operatives-a risk of this
character being unavoidable in connec-
tion with an operation of this kind.
"The spread of tire and the subse-
quent events which involved the other
units and parts of the operating area
of the plant were primarily due to ex-
ploding shells, and the main storage
area of the plant, including the prin-
cipal magazines located at suitable
distances from the operating plant
area was not involved in any way"
Yesterday for the first time since
Friday night and all day Saturday
q few persons were given passes to