Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-10-23
JOHN T.. T~ENBROECK,
Mayor, Perth Amboy.
"AIFRED Il. KERR,
Mayor South AmhOy

AA1gOtf ANith EhitADNNs
"AIFRED T. KERR,
Mayor, South Amboy.
Mr.. Gillespie. in reply 10 a question
as to the precautions being taken In
the reconstruction of the she'll loading
plant to prevent Il recurrence of the
accident. went into a lengthy eXplana-
ton of the construction of the plant
and the method of its management.
He said that in the plant that was de-
stroyed there were thirteen units. In
the new plant there were to be but
eight units, although each unit was
going to be a little larger than the old
ones so that the production will not be
cut down. The reduction In the num-
Der. however. will enable the placing
of the buildings a little further apart,
he said.
In this regard. however. Mr.. Giles
pie declared that, in his opinion, 1t
would make no difference If the build
ings were n thousand feet apart. an
explosion in any one of them would
likely cause the others TO go off.
Mr.. Gillespie told OF the number OF
guards on duty at all times; that the
| greatest precautions we're taken in the
employment of men; that their rec
ords were searched to prevent unde-
| slrable help gaining access to the
plant. He said he himself had been
held up and asked for any matches
that he might have about hin ana
that Mr.. Yates. the general manager
of the plant. has actually been
searched before he was permitted to
enter the plant.
MIR. Gillespie said that II was TO his
interests as we'll as TO the interest or
the general public that every precau-
ton be taken; IA his own family was
endangered along with every other
family in the community whom any
thing happened and h a everything
possible was being done to assure
safety.
Representatives of the Ordnance
| Department, he said. were always
present and they had made constant
inspection; hat he himself had been
all through the plant frequently and
he had every confidence in the men at
the head of the industry here.
Discussing the magazines in which
| tho T N I is stored and about which
so much has been heard. Mr.. GILES
pie stated that there were ~forty-six
| OF them stretching for two and a hair
miles along the Cheesequake creek:
| that each magazine contained any
where from 10000 to 200. 900 pounds
OF T N T. He declared that none or
them had exploded and he did not be-
lieve there was any danger of them
doing so.
AS to guards. Mr.. Gillespie said
there were 500 United States soldiers
there now guarding the magazines,
that the creek was guarded by SOL
diers: hat the magazines were bed
ded in concrete located behind an
embankment with bulkheads In front.
He did not know about the protection
OF the roofs. but would have that in
vestigated al once and IL feasible
have n sufficient amount of earth
placed on top to prevent danger from
that source. He said the magazines
were built in conformance with the
plans furnished by the government.
AS to the feasibility OF having the
TINT stored further away n brought
to the plant in smaller quantities, Mr..
Gillespie did not seem to think it
practicable. He said the stuff was
now taken from the magazines to the
various units in quantities sufficient
to last half a day; he said 1t would
be next to impossible to furnish the
transportation to bring the INT from
any greater distance Than 1t Is nov.
Besides. he said. the magazines were
already built and IL would take con
siderable time to build new one else
where.
Mr.. Gillespie seemed to think that
most of the explosions that did the
damage heTeabouts were shells OF
various sizes going off. One big ex-
plosion. however. he said. might have
been the INT that was In freight cars
that had just been hauled into the
plant TO be supplied the units for
loading shells,
A number of questions were asked
Mr.. Gillespie which would indicate
that some OF those present had been
doing a little investigating on their
own account. but whether the result
of these private explorations differed
from what Mr.. Gillespie said were
the facts, was not brought out.
Following the conference informal
discussions o place between groups
of citizens. the trend Of which was
that something more could be lone
TO safeguard the community and
there was a determination on the
part of a majority of those present to
keep at the matter until something
definite was accomplished.