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Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH OUR COMIC SECTION ADVENTURERS CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF! 0 Snoopie Playing With Dynamite1 By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter ELLO EVERYBODY: The old phrase, Playing with dynamite has come to mean about the same thing as doing something foolhardy. Thats 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 of men were playing with dynamite, and T. N. T. and just about every other explosive known. We didnt 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 of Chicago wasnt juggling explosives in and out of some sort of firearms over in France. 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 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 no way to avoid the explosive that he was dealing with. His job was to handle the stuff and to handle it roughly, too. He was grinding salvaged powder that came in to him in chunks and long tubes that looked like spaghetti grinding it in a machine that looked a lot like an 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 unground 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-fiv- e by fifty feet, built about fifty feet apart, in aifiong trees, so as to obscure the plants hand-operat- ed M A tr T T E R position from the air. Even1 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 wasnt thinking about the chances. The view from the window was pleasant. The trees outside swayed in a I was at peace with the world, says Herman. . gentle breeze. 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 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. If they had been soaked with gasoline they couldnt have burned any more furiI was a The flames shot many feet above my head, he says. ously. living torch. He was stunned 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 ojit 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 until he dropped. And in his terror he was headed for another building a building that was filled with powder. O IP By C. M. Payne OWNU YOU NEEDN'T LOOK IN THERE IVE ONLY GOT A COUPLE DOLLARS ON ME YOU MIGHT HAVE " 6UESSED I'D VANT TO BUY , SOMETHING A Lie Down and Roll. 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 plight, that one voice, and that alone, penetrated his consciousness. Lie down and roll! Roll, it was' shrieking. Suddenly,-Hermaremembered. That was what he should be doing. That was 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. 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. 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 smouldered like one large, live coal. They rushed him into one of the shacks, sat him down on a box, and began tearing the charred cloth 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 was sitting on. The 'Lord only knows why the whole place didnt blow up. I know I dont. And I have two large scars, one on my right hip and one on the front of my left leg, that remind me every once in a while of what a close call I 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. I was working with the 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 dont believe Id be here to tell the story. n Copyright. WNU Service. ST o |