Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-11-16
TO WIND UP INVESTIGATION
NEXT THURSDAY And FRIDAY
fContinued from page ~

the part of the spectators. who in
cluded ordnance officers. were mixed
with surprise hat the committee had
not made the trip long ago. One ord
nance officer declared There were
many things said during the past two
days, that would have been much
caster to understand had they gone
over the ground beforehand"
The same officer suggested that the
metal pictures probably drawn in the
senator's minds of the explosion Gene
would probably undergo a rude
change when they arrived there. Fol
instance, testimony mad created h
impression that asphaltic floors and
galvanized iron roofs might have n
ed to so protect the structure against
the blasts as to permit a portion OF 1T
to remain standing. The senators
may find. he limited. a scene some
thing like this: A small area of ground
with a crater. swept by the blast as
"clean as a whistle" or to put 1t
more plainly. as though 1t had been
| swept by a broom. such a scene may
dismiss the theory hat the contents
OF the building detonated progressive
w instead of collectively In one great
blast.
Senator Frelinghuysen's persistent
questioning of all witnesses, particu-
larly the company officials. relieved
| the counsel of the Perth Amboy Coun-
ell of Defense of their major duties.
The senator's cross-fire examination
left a highly satisfactory impression
with the members of the council and
| other Perth Amboy citizens who have
followed the investigation closely. He
showed early in the investigation that
he was determined to learn how n
| why the disaster a occurred rather
than why no one was to blame be-
| cause II did occur.
CzrxN41- Ltra1tnUhnucnn had nlannad
to question one more witness before
iadjournIaent yesterday afternoon but
| counsel for the company continued
examination of +. A. Yates. a vice
president and general manager OF the
company, after senator F~relinghuy-
sen a declared he was through
with the witness.
In detail Mr.. Yates vas asked to
explain the operating process of shell
manufacturing and loading. The mix
ing kettles were on the second fioor.
From these, after the INT and nj
trate of ammonia had been molten
into a liquid, the product IA poured
through a steam jacketed valve oper-
ated by gravity to the floor below
where it was received in pals and
loaded into the shells. This descrip-
ton was typical of the arrangement
in the loading building of Unit ell
NneIe the lullldi pidSt GU.
With the exception of but fifteen
minutes Mr.. Yates was in the witness
chair during all of yesterdays ses-
sion. He had continued over from
the previous day when he had testi-
fed for about two hours. Mr.. Yates
will again take the witness chair
when the hearing is continued next
Thursday.
1t Is very likely hat Senator FIRE.
linghuysen alone will sit for the con-
Guiding testimony. At least, the SEN
ator declared he would be willing to
do so II his colleagues found it in
convenient to attend. Newark was
mentioned as a suitable place to con-
tinue the hearing, but the fact that
SO many of the witnesses resided in
this vicinity decided in favor of this
city.
Since Senator Frelinghuysen's line
of inquiry has largely filled the de-
sIres of the Council of Defense coun-
sci, bringing put facts that were I'M
savory to the case OF the company, 1t
remains now for the company to pro-
duce a deluge of evidence and facts
to offset impressions made and evil
dence read into the records. Just
how capable the company will be in
doing this remains to be seen next
Thursday when the hearing is con-
|tinued.