Show adventurers club 1 4 N the burning crypts crypt cy by FLOYD GIBBONS GIBBON Sp famous headline hunter I 1 ITS TS always the little things that cause the most trouble jimmy Pez alano of maspeth haspeth Ma L I 1 can tell you that it was a pencil that brought him the big adventure of his life and while plenty of people have got into trouble for being too handy with their pens I 1 dont think they went through half 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 ing for or a drug 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 they came in and store the stuff in a big foot square steel lined burglar proof vault that vault was the danger spot of the whole plant in it were stored all the explosive and inflammable chemicals in the place there were tons of such stuff staff as chlorate of potash and gallons of naphtha ether and the like in addition to hundreds of steel drums full of alcohol and I 1 was responsible for this stock says jimmy besides myself only the boss had bad the combination that would open the massive door just a pencil started the trouble on that fateful december 17 that were going to hear about jimmy was finding that responsibility pretty heavy A shipment of foreign whisky had arrived just an hour before quitting time and jimmy coulden couldn t go home until it was all stowed away he and his helper hurriedly wheeled the cases into the rear of the vault and started to open them and unwrap the bottles from the straw in which they were packed they worked rapidly for half an hour but i something always happen when youre in a hurry jimmy wants to know and ive got to agree with jimmy something always does this time it was a pencil the only one they had it dropped to the floor and rolled into a dark corner between two stacks of cases they want to go back to the office to get another one so they did something that was strictly against the rules jimmys helper lit a match to look for it that match was hardly lit when footsteps sounded outside the door could it be the boss it if he be ever saw that lighted match in that vault full of explosives well somebody wot would 15 ge get t fired quickly jimmys helper threw the lighted match into what looked like a puddle of water then in an instant that water had burst into name flame the water was a puddle of highly inflammable that had leaked out of a faulty drum flames crept toward the explosives instantly says jimmy the flames caught in some 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 1 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 people getting ready to go home 1 I leaped for a rack of sand pails grabbed two of them and yelled 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 1 threw the sand over it grabbing the other two pails from my helper I 1 yelled to him to run outside ring the alarm and hurry back with an extinguisher then I 1 threw the rest of the sand it barely sufficed to put out the still burning at the base of the drum but now the straw was burning furiously setting fire to the wooden whisky cases it looked bad tor for jimmy but in another moment it was worse ile he heard a loud slam glanced at the door and his heart almost stopped in running out his helper had kicked away the stick used to keep the heavy door open it had bad banged shut jimmy was TRAPPED IN A BURNING VAULT full of explosives and the only other person who had the combination was the boss WHO USUALLY LEFT THE FACTORY EARLY jimmy made a gallant fight 1 I was stunned says jimmy for a moment I 1 stared blankly at that locked door but the acrid smoke brought my attention back to the rapidly spreading fire there was a bare chance and I 1 jumped for it like a maniac I 1 rolled the steel drums away from the flames with blistered hands I 1 pushed and jerked away heavy cases of potash until il I 1 managed to clear a small space around the flames every few seconds I 1 had to stop to stamp out flying sparks that threatened to set off some stored explosive but in the end I 1 had cleared the space and pushed all the burning straw and wood to the center of the fire then with fear inspired strength I 1 dragged up heavy steel plates used as a runway for hand trucks and set them me like partitions around the blaze none too soon in another minute hell popped cases of whisky in 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 1 had a busy time stamping out the flying sparks and burning splinters of wood for a full 25 minutes jimmy fought that blaze then overcome by beat and smoke he was beating a reluctant retreat when the door opened and men came running in with sand and fire extinguishers with my hair singed hands scorched and my face as black as coal says jimmy 1 I must have made a sorry figure but boy did that air feel good and was I 1 glad that my helper had enough presence of mind to run and catch the boss JUST AS HE WAS LEAVING THE BUILDING C service |