The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-06-16
Dangerous Plumbing.

AO S8S III Laot AHo ~ VIA
other lesson that ought to be needed.
There was a guilty carelessness somewhere.
Gas is a luxury which no one can afford to
do without. where it can possibly be had,
but it is fraught with too many dangers to
be left in careless hands. 1t is clearly q
case which demands the Immediate exer-
else of the police power of the State, and
in the absence of State control the munich
pal authority of the several localities where
itisused should at once be applled. TheJour-
nal will not anticipate the result of the
investigation which is to be made
as to the responsibility for the recent
explosion in this city, but it undertakes
to say that as soon as State legislation
can be had, such carelessness as that which
resulted in the death of one victim at
Haughville, should be dealt with in the
criminal court. We punish criminally a
great many acts not as mischievOus as these
which lead to such damage. This is the
only security the public can have. and this
is hardly adequate. We are at the mercy
of plumbers and so-called gas-titters whose
honesty and skill cannot be known until
tested, and the amount of imposition prac-
ticed by them is incalculable, not to men,
ton the imminent peril of hundreds
of families who little suspect danger.
A case has recently developed which
nay be representative of many. Rev. T.
A. Goodwin had his house piped nine
months before the street mains were laid,
hoping to be among the first of his neigh
borhood to be supplied with the new fuel.
Not to be imperiled by unskillful work.
MAN ha op,1~yoI ~ Af tho hacf Enoun
plumbers in the city at about % per cent.
above the price his ~neighbors paid for like
work, but it had so shrunk, or warped, or
got out of joint, during the hot weather,
that it leaked at a half-dozen points
when gas was finally introduced.
Still intent on having a first-class
job, he chung to the high-priced
plumber when it came to the
making of connections, and he at last got
his fuel, supposing that of course the boys
mere youths, about sixteen or twenty
who were sent by his high-priced plumber,
were skilled workmen. During the winter
a leak developed here and there. but he
was told that was unavoidable, and he paid
frst-class prices for repairs on his first
class job, until, a few weeks ago, on going
in the morning to light the fire in a stove
which had been used all winter, he discov-
cred that the connection with the mixer
was severed, and that the gas, when turned
on, escaped into the room. This dis
connection occurred in the night,
when no one was in the room,
and after the shutting off of
the gas, about 9 0'clOck-pOssibly by the
act of turning off the gas. On examination
it was discovered that the screw which con-
nected the pipe with the mixer never had
been screwed up, and could not be. because
the threads would not correspond. A con-
nection had been made merely by the in
complete hitching-on process, which is pos
sible where the threads will not work to-
gether, and thus it had remained all win
ter. That a fatal explosion had not oc-
CURED at any time is not to be credited to
the plumber or his cubs. whom he passed
Off as skilled workmen, intrusting to
their skill and integrity the life and
property of his employer. Now, who can
tell how many families are living over just
such a minef May not the explosion of last
Friday be attributable to some such a
fraudf Is there any protection but to hold
such wretches criminally responsiblea I'm
til the Legislature can make such offenses
against life and property subject to GRIM
inal prosecution, the city authorities should
do what they can toward seeing that men
shall not be intrusted with this business
who nave not the skill to do it we'll, and
the honesty not to palm off such a job as
this as first class and safe. Will another
explosion be necessary to secure action ON
this subject ~