Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1918-11-09

AiAty VI OIneF lndu
those with which the United States
has been at war, all of whom were
no-declarants and had asked for ex-
emption on the ground that they were
aliens. These were all sworn to Just
prior to the explosion at the plant, and
the chairman of the draft board told
Mr.. Rose, the latter claims, that he
had informed the Gillespie Company
of the fact that they were employing
aliens and alien enemies.
Adolph Greenbaum testified to the
fact that he owned a farm in the vi
cinity of the plant and that In fire.
quent trips to and from this place he
had failed to notice but four guards
along the Cheesequake road. a dis
tance of three miles at least.
subStantiation OF the statement
made on the previous day to the ef-
feet that Myron Slater of Red Bank,
an employe OF the plant had said that
he had been informed that there
were matches sticking from cases OF
I N I which were being carried about
the plant several days after the ex-
plosion was made by Mr.. Slater HIM
self. who told of the time he was told
and of workmen who told him and
1t was promised that this workman
and other witnesses would be pro-
duced from the plant today. The
| statement Slater declares he heard
was We've just found seven matches
wedged in the cases."
At this point Mr.. Gillespie took the
stand. He testified as to his past his
! tory and then told Of the munitions
works which he is interested in finan-
| cially. These include the American
Shell Company Of Paterson where, on
private contract with the govern
ment and at unit price, the company
manufactures steel proJectiles. Second
comes the International Steel and Ord
nance Company of Lowell, Mass,
where complete rounds of Frencn
fuses are made. The third operation
is the International Loading plant az
Gillespie, N j., near Parlin, where
| shells are loaded that are manufac-
| tured in the various other companies
plants. This plant is the same as Nor
gan, Mr.. Gillespie said, in that the
various component parts of the shells
are shipped to the plant and loaded
there for shipment overseas.
The Runyon Corporation at Run
yon where AT and 6-inch shells are
loaded for the u. s. Government,
shells that are manufactured else
where and loaded there. is another
OF the Gillespie subsidiaries and Mr..
Gillespie said that the Oliver Loading
Company of Old Bridge was also one
OF his interests. where are loaded
fuses and fuse parts which are made
at Lowell. This plant also has a con-
tract with the government for loading
boosters. Mr.. Gillespie said that he
was chairman of the Board of Direc-
tors OF all these companies and that
they were all operated under the same
government contracts for the manu-
facture OF shells. The last men,
toned interest was the Evans Engl-
neering Company whose plant Is at
Runyon whore seventy-five millimeter
shells are loaded.
At this point Mr. Gillespie had to
stop and think IL there were any other
interest of his In the manufacturing
line and he replied that he thought
that was all with the exception of
plant in Jersey City in which he is
interested.
He said that he had had no practi-
cal experience with explosives before
his first contract for the Russian gov
ernment signed In 1915.
He said that the location of the
huge industry at Morgan had been de-
cided upon after much thought and
many conferences because OF the fact
that it was on high water, in a good
labor market, the other subsidiary
plants were located in this vicinity and
he had a good organization capable OF
putting the job over in this section.
He said that while the Gillespie COM
pany bought the land II is rented to
the government and will belong to the
government as soon as the full rental
Is paid. The government owns the
buildings at the plant, he averred. He
said that he had suffered no personal
monetary loss as the result of the big
explosions of October 4 and 5. He also
said that the government had absolute
control over the plant but admitted
that he was the boss there and that
he had entire charge of the fire and
police work and protection there.
Questioned by the senators as TO
the number OF guards at the plant
Mr.. Gillespie said that there were
about $50 and that they were divided
into three shifts Asked as to the
largest number of guards in any of
the other plants, he referred the
question to John Birmingham, su-
pervisor over several OF the indus
'ries. who replied that at the Parlin
plant. where there were s75 men en-
ployed, there were but fourteen
guards working in three shifts. but
that the plant was an integral part
of the Union Powder works
Mr.. Gillespie said that he had ask
ed for u. s. soldiers to be sent to the
plant as guards but that the govern.
ment would not send them.
The witness made a rather start
ling statement when he said that he
did not believe in the sprinkler sys-
tenn for fire prevention.
He said that the company has kept
up continual investigation since the
time OF the explosion to determine,
II possible, the cause of the catas-
trophe. He said that no one had been
able to arrive at a conclusion as to
the cause.
The witness explained the compo-
sition of amatol which caused the
worst explosion and which is the ex-
plosive substance loaded into the
shells. Amatol, he said. Is composed
OF trinitrotoiuol (TNT) and nitrate
of ammonia, the formula calling for
eighty per cent. OF the latter sub
stance and twenty per cent. of the
former, or for a fifty-ffty mixture.
CONTINUED on page So
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