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October 4 - A Chain Reaction of Human Misery
On this day in Labor History the year was 1918. That was the evening that a series of explosions began at the T.A. Gillespie Company near Morgan, New Jersey. The explosions would destroy the plant and 300 buildings and kill an estimated 100 people. The world was embroiled in war. The Unites States had entered the global conflict the year before. The nation’s factories were churning out munitions and other supplies for the war effort. On that fateful evening at Gillespie, workers were loading shells at the sprawling complex of 700 buildings that covered more than 2,000 acres. The initial explosion was likely an accident. Regardless the explosion was so severe that it cut the water lines to that part of the plant. Without water pressure, fire fighters struggled to douse the flames. A chain reaction of explosions touched off as the fire spread in the plant. Houses in the nearby town shook from the massive explosions. Windows exploded and residents fled. Residents from three towns were evacuated due to the disaster. The New York Sun described the exodus as “streams of human misery—mothers and fathers, frightened children clutching still more frightened dogs; old, old people tottering along, all with the same dazed expressions on their faces, as if they scarcely realized what had happened.” When the fire was finally put out, nearly half of the plants buildings were destroyed. It was impossible to say exactly how many workers were killed, so bad was the carnage. Two members of the US Coast Guard died responding to the disaster. The disaster was then compounded, when a flu epidemic swept through the residents evacuated from nearby towns. The death toll and misery from these tragic events mounted even higher.
