Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-11-11

committee hearings this morning,
into the causes of the explosion II
disaster at the T. A. Gillespie Loading
Company's plant at Morgan on Oeto-
Der 4 and 5, T. A. Gillespie was again
on the stand.
Senators Myers and BecKham were
| not sitting today and Senator joseph
s. Frelinghuysen conducted thls
mornings session.
/ The fact was developed today that
| the Morgan plant received completed
| shells from the other Gillespie inter-
ests before the disaster, and that
these shells led to the congestion at
the plant.
When the committee completed Its
i session yesterday afternoon 1t was IN
| possession of valuable and starting
| testimony, and the grilling examina-
| ton of Thomas A. Gillespie. father OF
the Il. A. Gillespie Loading Company.
| and many allied interests was about
completed. =
In the course of the afternoons
testimony it was developed that with
| the knowledge of the Gillespie con-
Germ an alien enemy inspector had
worked In the plant. He was a gov
ernment employe by the name OF
| Odendahl, and since the explosion
that wrecked the plant on October A
! and 5, he has not beer seen, has not
| been at the plant and the officials or
the factory themselves express ignor-
ance as to his whereabouts.
1t was also brought out at the
hearing that ten alien enemies a
been employed at the plant prior to
the explosion and that of these ten
two were. guards entrusted with the
| proper policing of the 2,200 acres of
ground hat the huge operation COW
ers.
It developed that the actual force
of guards maintained at the plant by
the Gillespie company was about $50
men employed on three shifts. aver
aging about III men to the shift. the
police force and patrol for the vast
pan the works covered. In the
employ of the company at the time
of the explosion, it was testified,
there were $500 men and at the
present time there are about 5000 on
the rolls.
The head of the company said that
the number of shells at the plant
was not in excess of what the gov
eminent allowed. He also said that
there was a congestion of shells at
the plant despite the fact that the
company had ample facilities for
storing shells. HI blamed this con-
gestion and the fac that there was
congestion on the railroad tracks. to
the fact that rails could not be pro-
cured.
One million. two hundred thousand
shells were at the plant at the time
of the fire. The highest average
number of shells stored there at any
time, Mr.. Gillespie said, was less
than on the night of october A.. He
said hat there were many shells
stored there from the other plants
x,hinl, moro fnonnnlnfO not having
boosters attached.
Mr.. Gillespie reiterated his asser-
ton that lack of transportation facil-
tiles was the cause of the congestion.
The absence of the boosters was also
blamed, to a certain extent, for the
congestion, the witness said. On the
day before the explosions this trans
p~ortation was again resumed, but as
0 1000 shells a day was the capacity
of the dock at the plant IT was evil
dent, he said, that it would take from
ten days to two weeks to clean out
the supply of shells.
There was no suggestion from the
Wal Department to cease production
of shells, he said, despite the lack of
transportation. He admitted that the
recent fire and explosion proved the
fact thai 1t vas dangerous to have
a large amount of explosives and
smells at the plant.
Senator Frelinghuysen said that he
wanted to prove that owing to the
pressure from the Ordnance Depart
ment the amount of explosives was
que to that. Mr.. Gillespie told of a
Iwo-day visit to the plant in Septem-
Der by General Williams, chief of the
Ordnance Department. General Will
liams did not warn against excessive
loading or storage of explosives, n
witness said.
What was the number of shells in
the plant when General Williams was
there" Judge Lyon asked and the
witness replied that he did not know.
Judge Lyon developed the fact
that up to the time of the explosion
there had been shipped out but
$40, 900 trench mortar shells sent to
the Raritan arsenal and 1900 shelA
to another source, so that since oper-
alton started at the plant these were
the only shells sent from the plant.
The rules and regulations regard
ing the carrying Of matches and
hands of the officials of the plant, the
witness said. He admitted that off,
GERS of the company might have had
whiskey or liquors in their private
bedrooms. There was no liquor in
the business offices of the plant. Sem
ator Frelinghuysen said that h fact
that there was whiskey in rooms of
the officers was contrary to the rules
and articles of war in having them on
government property. The witness
said that the houses were in the
hands of the Gillespie company and
not the government. The senator said
that had he been head OF the plant
he would have seen that there was no
whiskey in the plant. The greatest
amount Mr.. Gillespie said he had
ever seen there was one bottle.