The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-10-06
through q window at Ford's Corner,
twelve miles from where Il started.

army outc9rb ~ Would nave been folly
to risk their lives near the magazines,
which were going of like a string of
colossal nrecrackers. The flremen were
told by one OF the guards at the plant
that the situation got out Of hand be-
cause In all this treasure house Of high
explosives no dynamite could DO found
with which to rare other buildings and
stop the flames.
But as the electric light went out and
the darkness was not really relieved by
the fire for an hour or 20 altar the first
explosion. II In difficult to SEQ how the
guards could have found the dynamite
even II II had been there. to say nothing
OF the idea Of blowing up buildings
which were blowing themselves up
about as fast as one could want
other Theories Advanced.
Another Gillespie employee thought
the first explosion was due to a de-
fective valve that he said was in use
to ascertain the heat and quality Of the
INT. sim another spoke of an excess
Of steam which caused the mixture to
explode before the temperature should
have reached q dangerous degree. These
and yarns about mysterious mon and an
airplane swooping over the plant carly
Friday evening are being looked into by
the investigators.
The danger Of whopping dig explo-
sion that would shame any OF its prede-
cessors was investigated by airplane, be-
cause the hundreds of soldiers, sailors,
militia, home defence men, Gillespie
guards and others who were risking
their lives in trying to get near the
tlaxing acres could not get near enough.
The situation was at last relieved
when an airplane was seen approaching.
Aboard II were Major H. L. Armstrong
and Capt. w. w. Watson. II spiralled
again and again over the big enclosure.
the aviators, with f1eldglassas to their
eyes, leaning over the edge of their
fuselage. peering down at the lurid Dit
beneath. then swooping upward and cir
cling again to get higher view Of the
spectacle.
Fly Low Over BarEes.
The notion that these men we're not
mere sightseers took hold of the crowds
that watched on the ground from a safe
distance. It gradually dawned upon
them that an airplane was being put to
new use. Where the loaded barges
were tied In Cheesequake Creek, not far
from the Raritan Bay. tho flying men
circled low. They scrutinized this par
ticuiar spot for more than fifteen min.
utes, then selected a landing place
without the danger zone and landed.
They then talked with army officers at
the administration building Of the GIL
lespie plant. which was far removed
from the INT loading houses and was
unframed 1t was then that the army
onicers said the danger of the
greater explosion seemed to have nassed
and that the terrified residents Of the
South Amboy district could return to
what was left Of their homes,
This Information being flashed to Man
haitian reopened the tunnels and bridges
and set the traffic tides flowing again.
But meanwhile the refugees VINO had
been struggling homeward from Perth
Amboy. having heard the news that New
York was scared to death, and figuring
that II New York was in danger they
certainly must be. turned back toward
Perth Amboy instead Of going home and
milled In panic.
1t took some time to convince them
that they were compare lively safe after
all. or as nearly safe as anybody could
be when vars hercest explosive, INT,
was shattering the armament almost in
their midst.
Morgan. N. j.. which Is the post ONCE
name Of the Gillespie works, is on the
edge OF zone that Is OF vast Importance
In the war. Directly westward are the
plants of the California Loading Com
Further away. but not too far to be
out Of danger OF communicated explosion,
are the plants OF the Hercules Loading
Company. the Parlin she'll plant one OF
the Du Pont plants and the plant OF the
Gillespie Loading Company. The United
States Department OF Labor recently
said that 81 per cent. Of the shells that
leave the United States are handled by
the T. A. Gillespie. California and Oliver
companies.
Site of the Plant.
Morgan Is on the western shore Of
Raritan Bay. Cheesequake Creek runs
through II to the bay. The town Of
South Amboy, whose population is about
10000. occupies the fats just to the
north Of Morgan and further north.
across the Raritan River, Is Perth Am
boy. whose normal population Of $4,000
has been swollen to 10000 by the war.
Behind Morgan. above the river, rises
blum which Is the edge of a plateau
that was waste land until the Govern
ment built there shell loading plant
and installed T. A. Gillespie & Co. to
load shells on the basis Of cost plus 10
per cent.
Near the river stands the Gillespie ad-
ministration building. Southwark of 1t
are about sixty rough wooden buildings,
In which shells were loaded. The ma
terials were started at one end Of these
lines Of buildings and came out at the
other as loaded shells. In other parts
of the enclosure OF about sixteen square
miles were forty other buildings. includ-
ing barracks for guards. From an air
plane the whole plant would resemble an
army cantonmen..
The building where the first blast went
M IN lnf
was known as No. Gil. About seventy
men were at work in that bidding The
the dead were there. No women were
at work at night.
Gillespie on Scene.
President T. A. Gillespie and Vice
President Yeats were in the admlnistra-
ton building when the first shock oc-
CURED. Running forth. they saw men
soampering from all the buildings across
the enclosure and through the high wire
fence into the darkness.
There was too much confusion and
danger then to try to find out what had
actually happened. Later Mr.. Gillespie
and the Government men were told that
few seconds before the upheavai in
building ell the electric lights suddenly
went out and then flashed on again, as
II somebody was tampering with the
wires. The men in that building were
loading three inch shells.
Romaine Heuer, foreman in building
90. where nine inch shells were being
filled, agreed that the thing started at
I:45 o'clock In building ell, and that