Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-09
GRETA POISON GAS
WORKS ERECTED BY
HARRISBURG PLANT
Wonderful Factories For Manufacture of Most Deadly
Agent of War Erected by Central Construction Corpo
ration For Uncle Sam; Product Would Have Annihi-
lated German Army in Short Time

containing no mustard In rSality, but
taking the name from a similar odor.
OF all the gases made by America
Esd other countries, common salt Is
the basic element; that is from salt
and electric energy they get chlorine
and the later appears in almost every
gas
Much Gas Ready
One of the big plants the Harris
burg Company erected was used in
making chlopicrin gas. A great
amount of this was in storage in the
big warehouse packed in drums
ready to be shipped when the Huns
begged for mercy. 1t was used lar
ly and Is known as tear" gas. 1. ef-
fects the eyes and nose and has a
toxic influence, the bursting of which
puts the soldier temporarily out of
commission. 1t is the most humane
gas, since 1t Is rarely fatal. BY lis
use mog could be dispersed with
out any serious after consequences.
The Harrisburg Company put up
three big plants for the filling of
shells. All employees wore masks
but often these availed nothing. The
shells were first cooled by being run
through a refrigerating plant. This
was to prevent bubbling over while
nlling as gases are quickly suspecti-
BILE of heat. Connected with these
establishments were the painting
and shipping places where each shell
was coated with paint, striped and
marked to indicate the kind of gas
wooden boxes. The filing, painting
and shipping plants had a capacity
of $4,000 shells day, not counting
the Lvens projectors, made OF huge
cylinders of light construction for
n range of 1900 yards. These car
ried thirty pounds of gas each and
would play havoc with city or
trench. incidentally, just two days
before the Huns asked for peace the
Edgewood plant had shipped 100000
shells of all calibers. and were turn
ing them out at 5000 per day.
The actual construction work was
colossal job and Colonel Walker
was especially earnest in praise OF
the Harrisburg firm which did the
bulk of the work. Some idea of what
the Central Construction Company
had to furnish may be had from the
carload list, as follows: Lumber.
$40; stone, s5T;<sand, 1s7; cement,
304; tile,> 100; common brick, SO;
firebrick, 81; cinders 500; Stag, L.
003; wood pipe, 113; piles. SO: rails,
81; ties. 116; roofing paper, 19; feed,
90; hay and straw, SO; nots, IL;
coal, 327; equipment, lis; ice, Sc;
tanks. 127; machinery, 72; boilers
and stacks, %: sewer tile, 54; pro-
visions, II: steel, 1875.
Death Watches
In addition to high power energy
night and day on the part of the
contractors there was always the
uncertainty of suddenly going up
several miles and never coming
down to be worth much thereafter.
The entire neighborhood was a ru-
NOR factory. Baltimore newspaper
men kept death watch at all hours
expecting the landscape to blow up.
One day a loaded transport kicked
up a great cloud of dust and some-
body started the rumor that the
mustard gar had exploded. A fierce
scramble began among five thou
sand employees and q vast mass of
struggling humanity wrestled its
way out of danger. The crew Of
freight train lost no time in get
ting away and the stationman set
his signals and is still running. The
Harrisburg contractors lost 500 men
from this false alarm.
Edgewood is twenty-five miles
from Baltimore and 1t is greater in
extent than the Sparrow's Point
works. The men who operated took
their lives in their hand and were
brave as they. at the front. In one
instance n Chicago boy coming in
contact with the deadly phosgene
gas. invented Y the Germans, lost
his left arm and was burned from
head to foot, being still in a hos
pital. Another Chicago lad was in
quisitive to learn how the mustard
gas smells and tried to get a sniff.
The moment he unscrewed the top,
called booster, his whole face was
burned off. AS the work progressed
casualties lessened greatly.
The Harrisburg men who are re-
sponsible for this enormous activity
sometimes wonder what will be done
with it. What are the possibilities
of using It? The Maryland Con-
gress is agitated, too, about that,
and the opinion is that the Edge
wood plant will be useful. There
are 800 acres in the tract.