While World War I raged in Europe, America scrambled to supply the
Allies with ammunition, and several munitions plants were constructed
near the Jersey Shore. The hastily built plants hummed with hardly a
mishap until the fateful night of October 4, 1918, when a series of
explosions killed one hundred people. Firemen and other volunteers were
powerless to stop the destruction as it devastated the Morgan-South
Amboy area and terrified the surrounding region. Strangely, though, this
woeful disaster has been forgotten by history. New Jersey historian
Randall Gabrielan re-creates this terrifying night and its aftermath in
the context of Middlesex County's role in the Great War.