Show f tad adventurers I 1 CLUB HEADLINES FROM T THE H E LIVE OF E LIKE B YO URSEL fl playing with dynamite by FLOYD FLOTO GIBBONS famous headline hunter I 1 ELLO EVERYBODY ah H the old phrase playing claying with dynamite has cune come to mean about the ahe same t thing hi ng as doing something fool hardy the figurative beani meaning ng of the expression but literally speaking the man who monkeys aro around with high explosives is usually one of the unsung heroes of oura our age ge over in france twenty years ago millions of men were P playing t Y in g with dynamite and T N T and just about ever explosive known m we call those fellows foolhardy in those day days it waa iene generally rally considered that they were doing a brave and noble thing this ls is a story of another such lad who toyed with danger in a good cause herman deaver beaver of chicago juggling explosives in and out oat of some sort of firearms over in F france rance he wasi was tilling taking an even longer chance I 1 with I 1 the dangerous stuff on t a hot day in july 1917 he was working in a munitions plant on an the northern outskirts outskirt of milwaukee wis on the banks of the upper milwaukee river grinding salvaged powder over in france millions of men were crouching in trenches avoiding the explosives that the enemy was hurling at them but herman beaver had ho no way to avoid the explosive that he was dealing with Ms his job ob was to handle the stuff and to handle it roughly too he was wag grinding sa waged salvaged powder that calein came in to him in chunks and long tubes that looked like spaghetti grinding it in a machine th that looked alot a lot like an old fashioned hand operated coffee grinder that powder when it had been reduced to bits would be used to load rifle grenades in only one way did that machine differ from a coffee grinder between the handle that he turned continuously an and athe the hopper into which he fed the powder was a steel plate fix fixed so as to shield his body in case anything happened while he was grinding on this day w while h I 1 le herm herman a ng ground round away his eyes wandered out the window and down the row of a dozen or more wooden buildings where e the work of loading the grenades was going on they were little better beiter than shacks about twenty five by fifty feet built about fifty in among trees so as to obscure the plants C N A terrible concussion threw him ba backward Award position from the air even in those days they were concerned about airplanes those shacks were filled with men and women and even boys and girls all taking long chances to supply our soldiers with ammunition blast and deadly flames but herman thinking about the chances the view from the window was pleasant the trees outside swayed in a gentle breeze 1 I was at peace with the world says herman and then without warning there was a deafening blast acrid choking smoke filled the air and fire bit into hermans flesh he felt the earth rock beneath his feet felt a terrible concussion that threw him ba backward it happened so fast that only when he was on the floor did he realize what had happened the powder that he was grinding had exploded behind him were benches covered with pans of powder in rapid succession they were catching fire then herman saw that his own clothing heavily saturated with powder dust was afire too it if they had been soaked with gasoline they have burned any more furiously the flames shot many feet above my head he says aj 1 I was a living torch he was stunned for a moment but bui he manag managed ed to st stagger agger to his feet Ms his whole body one mass mass of flame he ran to the door and out of it by that time people were pouring out of all the buildings in the group herms herman dashed out cut of the door and kept right on running he had lost all power ot of reasoning all that moved him now was a blind gripping panic he wanted to rune run and keep richton right on running until he dropped and in his terror he was headed for another building a building that was filled with powder lie down and roll iche if he had run into that building this story might never have been written but suddenly through his panic he heard a voice out of all the shouts and yells of that mob of screaming humanity that was watching his bis plight that one voice and that alone penetrated his consciousness roll it was shrieking lie ie down and roell suddenly herman remembered that was what lie he should be doing that was wag the only way to save himself he dropped to the ground and began rolling the pain was unbearable as burned smarting flesh came in contact with the hard earth lie he rolled over once twice and then he stopped ittai it was all he could stand A workman ran over and tried to beat out the flames his apron ca caught aught fire and he stopped to tear it off then the superintendent tran ran up he ordered the crowd back and he himself began rolling herman over and over he burned his hands severely but he be stuck asahe at the job until the fire stopped blazing when the flames were out hermans clothing what was left ot of it glowed and shouldered ed like one large live coal they rushed him into one of the shacks sit sat him down on a box and began tearing the charred cloth off 03 his body that shack was filled with powder herman says saya but in their excitement they never thought of that 71 7 1 there was powder in the very box I 1 was sitt sitting ingon on the lord only knows why the tha whole place blow up I 1 know I 1 dont and I 1 have two large scars one on my right hip and one one on on the front of my left leg that remind me every once in a while ot what a close call I 1 had nobody will ever know how that explosion started but herman thinks a percussion ercus slon cap might have found its way into the powder he was grinding 1 I was working with the lid of the grinder open he be says it if it had been fastened down when the explosion occurred the whole machine would have shattered to blis bits and I 1 dont believe id be here to tell the story copyright service |