SABOTAGE?

During World War I, Newark was a prime location for wartime manufacturing, especially ship-building. The extensive Submarine Boat Corp. was located in Port Newark, while the Oak Island Rail Yards served as a main transport point for finished goods going out, and raw materials coming in.

A Newark city atlas map shows the extensive plant of the Submarine Boat
Corp. facility in Port Newark. Doremus Avenue sits at far left. At upper left,
a small area of the Oak Island Rail Yards is visible, showing the yards in
relation to the shipbuilding plant.

In less than two weeks during 1918, two major fires struck these areas, with a third fire only a short distance away. While the causes of the two major fires were listed as "undetermined," the third fire was labeled as the work of an incendiary. It's hard to imagine that the two major fires weren't the result of the same. What you'll notice is that neither of the two major fires went to multiple alarms as they were in secluded places that lacked exposure problems. Back in those days this was a common practice. Here are the stories... you be the judge.

JANUARY 18

Two hundred U.S. soldiers, 60 special policemen, and a squad of Newark detectives were put on special guard at the Submarine Boat Corp., in Port Newark, after Mayor Gillen received information that there was possibly a plot to blow up or set fire to the Government shipyards there. A tour was made of the facility by government officials, and after their visit, alien truck drivers were barred from entering the area. In addition, all others entering the premises had to have permits and be able to satisfy the guards they were Americans. Firefighting and police services had been put on alert earlier after rumors of an extensive plot by Germans to blow up shipyards and munitions plants had surfaced.

JANUARY 26

During the early morning hours, the military guard stationed at Port Newark spotted an oil scow burning at the western end of the 4,500-foot U.S. Navy pier. The guards fired a volley of shots, bringing the military terminal fire apparatus to the scene. Upon arriving, firefighters found four oil scows, containing about 600 gallons of oil burning and rapidly spreading to the pier and other barges. In immediate jeopardy by the spreading flames were the 14 ways of the Submarine Boat Corp., where 150 ships were to be built, and the sprawling complex of U.S. Quartermaster Corps buildings.

Newark’s Bravest were called to the scene at once, along with all available fireboats from New York. Firefighters and soldiers immediately went to work to try and control the spreading fire, but the $750,000 pier was doomed. All efforts were turned toward protecting the ship ways and the Quartermaster complex. Several times, buildings under construction closest to the pier caught fire, but they were quickly extinguished before much damage was done. A large number of freight cars on the pier caught fire, as did six barges loaded with building materials that were tied up at the pier. They were the "Eulah," "Admiral Dewey," and "Dorothy," of the Washburn Towing Co.; and the "Hudson River," "Epoch," and "Number 10," of the Morgan & McGreele Towing Co., of New York.

Drums of oil stored on the pier exploded, sending geysers of flaming oil out onto the ice in Newark Bay. Heavy smoke from the burning building materials hampered firefighting operations by cutting visibility to zero, and resulting in several firefighters being overcome. For a time, it looked like the entire waterfront was doomed, but the heroic efforts of Newark firefighters, and fireboats from Manhattan and Brooklyn, were credited with keeping the flames from spreading to the warehousing complex and three, 500-ton ships that were under construction.

Flames shot hundreds of feet into the air and were visible for miles, bringing thousands of spectators flocking to the scene. All available Newark police officers were sent to the scene to handle the throngs, while soldiers were taken away from firefighting duties in an attempt to push the crowds back out of the forbidden zone and away from the waterfront. When all ordinary efforts failed, shots were fired to scare the crowd back, and then bayonets were fixed to slowly push the crowds back away from the government property.

It took firefighters 12 hours to bring the flames under control, but all through the next day, firefighters and fire boats remained pouring water on several areas that continued to burn. The cause of the fire was attributed to German incendiarism, especially after a German plot to destroy the port facilities was unhatched eight days earlier.

Army Sergeant Mack McCabe, who commanded the night guard on duty at the time of the fire, started that shortly after the fire was discovered, he saw a man jump off one of the barges into the basin where the barges were moored. McCabe gave chase, but lost the man in the darkness. He was still trying to locate him when he spotted a man running along the roof of one of the warehouses. The Sergeant found a ladder and climbed to the roof, where the fugitive opened fire on him just as his head appeared at the gutter, sending a single shot through McCabe’s hat. Hitting the ground, McCabe was then joined by other members of the guard who had heard the shot. They all climbed to the roof and fired a volley of shots, but were unable to find any trace of the man seen by McCabe.

Three women and 14 men were on the barges at the time of the blaze. They were all questioned by the guard commander, but none of them could give any explanation as to the origin of the fire. About 25 others were detained for questioning by Government secret service agencies in connection with the fire, but only one was known to have been arrested. Andrew Evanoff, a Russian, of 191 Lafayette Street, was arrested after he was found loitering around the fire area after being laid off from his employment with the Quartermaster Corps. He was questioned by military authorities and asked to explain the blueprint that was found on him. He explained that he was a mechanical engineer and worked at the warehouse complex as a day laborer. He was then taken to Newark Police Headquarters, where he was locked up. After being questioned the next day by U.S. District Attorney Lynch, he was released after being found innocent of any wrongdoing.

Rumors ran rampant, but all that could be proved was that the fire started on one of the oil scows, which was unoccupied at the time. It was said that a saboteur seeking to destroy Government property at Port Newark could not have found an easier way to start a fire than by lighting the barge.

Following the catastrophic fire, security at all shipbuilding plants in Newark, and in the Newark Meadows, was beefed up. Soldiers from Governor’s Island, militiamen from the 5th and 6th Battalions of New Jersey, a detachment of Newark police officers, and about 200 sworn civilian deputies, armed with a rifle and pistol each, were placed at the various shipyards in the area. However, New Jersey Governor Edge wired Secretary of War Baker and advised him that guarding the federal facilities was not a State function, and that Federal troops should be sent at once to relieve the state militiamen on duty. The use of State troops would only be a temporary measure.

FEBRUARY 9

A spectacular midnight fire destroyed the frame Lehigh Valley Railroad Depot, which was located in the Oak Island Transfer Yard near Bay Avenue. The building was of heavy timber construction and measured 150 by 1,000 feet. About 20 railroad sidings ran into the building, which was used to receive cargo from New York and other Eastern cities and then ship it out to the Midwest and Southern States. Numerous freight cars filled the depot at the time of the blaze.

Three railroad watchmen had discovered the fire, which was burning in a quantity of old records stored under the stairs in the office of the depot. While two of the men attempted to fight the fire, the third ran to a nearby tower to send in the alarm to their Jersey City offices and to summon the Newark Fire Department. The fire quickly grew out of control and consumed the entire two-story frame office building.

High winds helped spread the fire to the freight depot, and to several rail cars standing alongside the building, one of which was one filled with oil for a transformer station. The heat became so intense the car ruptured, spewing flaming oil over the loading docks, railroad ties, and freight cars. Railroad crews braved the intense heat and spreading flames, and were successful in saving at least 60 cars from two of the tracks inside the depot. However, before they could get to the cars on a third track, the flames engulfed them.

Among the cars involved were four flat cars loaded with huge steel keels for the shipyard of the Submarine Boat Corp., in Port Newark. The nearest fire station was three miles away from the building, and by the time the first-alarm assignment arrived at the scene, the entire building was a rolling mass of flames. As there were no exposures and the building was beyond saving, the Deputy Chief called Fire Headquarters and advised them that it was useless sending any additional apparatus to the scene.

The units at the scene worked at trying to save some of the freight cars, which were filled with goods, but low water pressure greatly hampered their efforts. Firefighters were also hampered by the fact that because yard engines were being used to save the loaded rail cars, they couldn’t stretch hose across the tracks. The fire destroyed 20 freight cars loaded with Government materials, and damaged another 13 empty cars.

Even though none of the cars contained munitions or war supplies, a detail of soldiers was sent from the Port Newark Quartermaster Base to make a report of the fire to Major Lamphere, commander of the guard at the base. Damages were estimated at $200,000, which would equate to $2.7 million today. The cause of the fire was undetermined.

At 05:45 hours, while the railroad depot was still blazing, Clarence A. Hodes, of 210 Astor Street, a watchman at the Klaxon Co., 194 Wright Street near Avenue A, discovered a fire in one of the firm’s small buildings. As he was coming out of the shipping room of the warehouse, he noticed a reflection around the corner from the main building. As he ran across the yard toward a driveway, he slipped and fell, dropping his lantern and clock. As he was getting up, he saw a man running not ten feet from him. He ordered the man to halt, but when the man continued running, he fired a shot before getting up. He then fired four more shots after getting up, none of which struck the intruder. The fleeing man then climbed over a coal box and jumped over a fence. The fire destroyed the hardening building, at a loss of about $3,500, equal to $50,000 today. The firm manufactured automobile horns and was also doing work on Government wartime contracts. The fire was of incendiary origin.

There you have it. With rumors of saboteur's plots abounding, it's hard not to be drawn into a conspiracy theory. After all, it's been said that much rumor is often based in fact, is it not?