Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-11-23
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LET JUSTICE BE DONE

Unless the Gillespie company can produce some witnesses 10 ON
cat ,he startling testimony that government inspectors have Deen CIV
inc before the senate investigating committee during IN past
DAYS there would seem to be ample ground or the grand jury y po-
sent soatc indictments for criminal negligence.
We an ;eaye out of reckoning entirely the vast property dam
H.. "a tbiss section bv the explosion that took place at the Nor
a plant on October 4 and 5 we will also ignore the depreciation III
raol ast,ta values that has resulted. These are material things that, In
time, may be recovered, although the loss for the time Deng IN inc
great ANNOYANCE and inconvenience can never be made good
Putting aside these superficial results that are S o apparent to ALL
- No consider opIv the loss of life, the awful nervous strain and the
lowering Of the vitality of the people who passed through the dread
e., orle.l IF their distress and suffering could be reckoned in the
same va that the distress and suffering in Belgium and northern
France are reckoned, then, indeed, would all be willing to snare he
burden and take what fate has brought to them.
But the people Of the Amboys and vicinity are not living III Bel
cium or France. No war has been waged at their doors. When driven
from their homes they could find no solace in the realization that
after all, it was for the cause of liberty and human freedom that they
~ thus subjected to want and privaion. There was no glory or
martyrdom for them.
The war was being fought over three thousand miles away, yet
here were thousands of refugees fleeing they knew not whittier, old
folk and Young children trudging along, mile after mile, now and then
getting a lift by automobile, but most of them walking, taxing ther
strength far beyond human endurance. lnvahds and sick persons
were carried out of doors to spend the night and day in the open,
many of them suffering a relapse which proved fatal. Others sitting
all day in the open with hardly sufficient clothing to cover them, fen
an easy prey to the ravages of the deadly disease which followed 81
closely in the wake of the disaster, carrying off whole tamlles IN some
instances and leaving many children fatherless and motherless.
Even today comparatively few people have fully recovered from
the shock. The nerves of women and children of the entire eommun-
iy ire still on edge. Let "a door slam, a book fall or eve a sudden
ringing of the telephone bell and there Is hardly a household wherein
someone will not start. The whole community has been disturbed and
unsettled and it will take months, if not years, to get over it.
Now, thanks to the insistance o n the part of the Perth Amboy
Council of Defense, the facts regarding the explosion are becoming
known. All the evidence has not yet been heard and the attorneys
for the Gillespie company insist that Judgment should not be formed
until their side is heard as they promise some sensational testimony
to refute some Of the damaging statements that have been made. In
all fairness the Gillespie side must be heard and given the considera-
ton that is due ii. But unless those responsible for the most careful
management OF this plant can show that they are entirely blameless
for such awful conditions a just punishment should be meted out