Show pad adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF F playing with Dyn dynamite arnite by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter HELLO H ELLO the EVERYBODY old phrase playing with dynamite has come to mean about the same thing as doing something foolhardy the figurative meaning of the expression but literally speaking the man who monkeys around with high explosives is usually one of the unsung heroes of our age over in france twenty years ago millions ot of men were playing with dynamite and T N T and just about every other explosive known we call those fellows foolhardy in those days it was generally considered that they were doing a brave and noble thing this is a story of another such lad who toyed with danger in a good cause herman beaver ol of chicago juggling explosives in and out of some sort of firearms over in france tie he was taking an even longer chance with the dangerous stuff on a hot day in july 1917 he was working in a munitions plant on the northern outskirts of milwaukee wis on the banks ol 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 h ad no way to avoid the explosive that he was dealing with his job was to handle the stuff and to handle it roughly hily too he was grinding salvaged powder that came in to him in chunks and long tubes that looked like sp spaghetti aglietti grinding it in a machine that looked 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 and the hopper into which he fed the powder was a steel plate fixed so as to shield his body in case anything happened while he was grinding on this day while herman ground away his eyes wandered out the window and down the row of a dozen or more wooden buildings where the work of loading the grenades was going on they were little better than shacks about twenty five by fifty feet built about fifty feet apart in among alees trees so as to obscure the plants J A terrible concussion threw him backward wi baja y a ailcy avri nci ic Y un cernea 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 Fl flames arnes 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 back backward ward 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 successor son they were catching fire then herman saw that his own lothing heavily saturated with powder dust was af afire ire too if they had been soaked with gasoline they have burned any more furiously the flames shot many feet above my head he says 1 41 I was a living torch lie he was stunned tor for a moment but he managed to stagger to his feet his whole body one 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 herman dashed out of the door and kept right on running he had lost all power of reasoning all that moved him now was a blind gripping panic he wanted to run and keep right on running t until in til he dropped and in his terror he was headed for another building a build hg that was filled with powder lie down and roll it if he had run into that building this story might never have been written ritten vv 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 plight that one voice and that alone penetrated his consciousness roll roil it was shrieking lie down and TOM suddenly herman remembered that was what he should be doing was the only way to save himself he dropped to the ground and pain was as flesh came in in contact with the hard earth he rolled over once twice and then he stopped it was all he could stand A workman ran over and tried to beat out the flames I 1 his apron caught fire and he stopped to tear it off then the superintendent ran up he ordered the crowd back and he himself began rolling herman over and over he burned his hands severely but he stuck at the job until the fire stopped blazing when the flames were out hermans clothing what was left of it glowed and shouldered ed like one large live coal they rushed him into one of the shacks sat him down on a box and began tearing the charred sloth oft off his body that shack was filled with powder herman says but in their excitement they never thought of that there was powder in the very box I 1 was sitting on the lord only knows why the whole place blow up I 1 know I 1 dont and I 1 have two large scars one on my right hip and one on the front ot of my left leg that remind me every once in a while of what a close call I 1 had nobody will ever know how that explosion started but herman thinks a percussion cap might have found its way into the powder he was grinding 1 I was working with the ud lid of the grinder open he says if it had been fastened down when the explosion occurred the whole machine would have shattered to bits and I 1 dont believe id be here to tell the story copyright service |