Show a H Adventurers Adventurers' Club rf 0 The Burning Crypt By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter ITS IT'S TS T'S always the little things that cause the most trouble Jimmy of Maspeth L. L I. I can tell you that It was was a pencil that brought him the big adventure of his life I t And while plenty of people have got into trouble for being s. s too handy with their pens I dont don't think they went through t half hall as much grief as that little stick of wood and graphite brought to Jimmy It all happened on December 17 1931 when Jimmy was working for fora forn a n drug m manufacturing concern in Long Island City Jimmy was a stock clerk and one of his duties was to check over the shipments of whisky and alcohol as the they came in and store the stuff in a big foot foot square steel lined vault lined burglar proof That vault was the danger spot of the whole plant In it were i stored all the explosive and inflammable chemicals in the place There were tons of or such stuff as chlorate of potash and gallons of naphtha ether and the like In addition to hundreds of steel drums full of or alcohol And I was responsible for this stock says Jimmy Besides myself only the thc boss had the combination combination com corn r that would open open the thc massive door Just a Pencil Started the Trouble On that fateful December 7 17 that were we're going to hear about Jimmy was finding that responsibility Uy pretty heavy A shipment of foreign 1 whisky had arrived just an hour before c quitting time and Jimmy could couldn't t go home until it was all stowed away He and his helper hurriedly wheeled the cases into the rear of the Ule vault and started to open them and unwrap the bottles from rom the straw in which they were packed They worked rapidly for half an hour but butr but but- r when ure in something always happen j youre you're a hurry Jimmy wants to know And Ive I've got to agree with Jimmy Something always docs does This time it was a pencil the pencil the only one they had It dropped to the floor and rolled into a dark corner between two stacks of cases They didn't want wont to go back to 0 the office to get an another ther one so they did something that was s strictly against again t J the e rule rules Jimmys Jimmy's helper lit a match to look took for it 1 That match was hardly lit when hen footsteps sounded outside the door Could it be the th boss If U he lie ever cr saw that lighted match matchIn In that vault full of explosives welt somebody well somebody would get fired Quickly Jimmys Jimmy's helper threw the lighted match into what looked like a puddle of water Then In an instant that water had into flame Dame The water was a puddle of highly Inflammable Inflammable mable that bad nad leaked out of or a faulty drum Flames 1 Crept Toward the Explosives Instantly says Jimmy the flames caught in some of ot of the loose straw we had taken from the whisky cases Tongues of fire began to lick out toward the leaky drum the had come from For a second I was scared stiff There was enough explosives in the vault to blow the place to bits and on the upper floors there were more than It SOO people getting ready to go homeI home I leaped for a rack of sand pails grabbed two of them and yelled 4 to my helper to get the others The flame was creeping up the side of the drum less than an inch from the plug hole when I threw the sand t over it Grabbing the other two pails from my helper I yelled to him to run outside ring the alarm and hurry back with an extinguisher Then I threw the rest of the sand It barely sufficed to put out the still sun burning at the base of the drum but now the straw was burning furiously setting fire to the Ule wooden whisky cases It looked bad for Jimmy but In another moment it was worse ti k He heard a loud slam slam glanced glanced at the thc door door and and his heart almost stopped In running out his helper had Lad kicked away the stick sticks s used to keep the heavy y door open It had banged shut Jimmy was TRAPPED IN A BURNING VAULT full of explosives and the i only other person who had the combination was the thc boss W WHO O USUALLY LEFT THE FACTORY EARLY 1 Jimmy Made 1 a Gallant Fight I 1 was stunned says Jimmy For a moment I stared stared blankly at att t that locked door but the acrid smoke brought my attention back to the Y rapidly spreading fire There was a bare chance and I jumped for it Like a maniac I rolled the steel drums away from the flames With blistered hands I pushed and jerked away heavy cases of potash until I managed to clear a small space around the flames Every few seconds I had to 10 stop to stamp out flying sparks that threatened to set of off some stored explosive but in the end I had cleared the space and pushed all aU the burning straw and wood to the center of the fire Then with fear inspired strength I dragged up heavy steel plates used as a runway for hand trucks and set them like partitions around the blaze None too soon soon In another minute hell hen popped Cas Cases s of whisky inthe in inthe inthe the center of the blaze began falling apart Bottles went off in a series of shattering explosions Thanks to the steel plates none of the scattering glass and flame struck me but I had a busy time stamping out the flying sparks and burning splinters of wood For a full Cull 25 minutes Jimmy Cou fought ht that blaze Then over over- 1 i f come b by heat and aud smoke ho he was beati beating g a reluctant retreat when the door opened and men came running running- in with sand and sand andt and t fire extinguishers With my hair singed staged hands scorched and my face race as black as coal says Jimmy I must have made a sorry figure But boy did that air feel good And was I glad that my helper had enough presence of mind to run and catch the boss JUST AS HE WAS LEAVING THE BUILDING 1 Service I |