The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-12-28
THREE D l.
NARROW ESCAPES HAD BY WORkMEN
IN A PULP MILL.
One of Them Crushed to u ~ShapeIess Mass
Between Iron Rollers-Another WhirIed
Around on "a BeIt-ThriIling Experience
With u Log Jam.

Il never hear of persons narrowly es.
Gaping death or surviving extraordinary
injuries" said the New York represen-
tatiye of a big pulp mill company, that
! DO not think of some remarkable i'll
tance of the kind that have occurred at
one of our mills in the northern part Of
this state. On one occasion "A workman
named Wolf was engaged in cleaning a
machine used at a certain stage in the
process of pulp manufacture. The prin-
cipal feature of this machine was two
very heavy iron rollers-one above the
other. When IN operation. the upper
roller wa pressed closely down on the
lower one. and they revolvel in opposite
directions. To clean these rollers the up
per one was raised sever or eight inches.
the machine Of course being at rest.
In the course Of his work Wolf. who
Wa, Il young German. thrust his head
and shoulders between he rollers to see
better TO clean the lover roller. While
he was i'll that position some careless
person turned IN the water power. The
rollers started at on .. and before the
alarm could be Civ Il and the wafer
turned off Wolf was Drawn clear through
between tnes roller, and dropped Oh the
other side, as much ike pnlp. SO far as
appearances went. a. anything could be.
| happened to be il that part of the mill
at the time and saw the frightful mishap.
Il ran to where the limp form of the
workman lay and dispatched "A messen-
ger at once for a doctor. merely as a
matter of form, however. for that any
thing could be done for the shameless
mass of humanity never entered my
mind. 1t was impossible TO lift the body.
We shutfied it on toa blanket and car
ried 1t to the unfortunate mans home.
! noticed that. although there was not
the slightest evidence of consciousness.
Wolf was still breathing and that his
heart was beating. When the doctor
came. he declared that from the shenl-
ders down there was positively not Il
single whole bane III IL Wolf, h5a1r
He said there va. not one change in 1a,I
thousand Of the mar living.
lit would taEe 10 doctors ii week. IL
set his bones, i:e >,la.
He incasei the ty.E III Lis>.er fFs-.
the neck down. aud }-n#H Is c.I.4C H..
day was amazed to Glai Lat Wolf VIZ.
still alive ana had re@a.l"l rorsriaJ..-
ness. Wolf lay inc;-el IN p3a+sar ful
several weeks. Hi bones knit alti crew
together again. bat III such ii way t4at
when he WI, able 10 get around inc Wa
covered with knobs and ridges and qars- +
corners ami angles from head to ieet. f
But he was alive. He was our nigh.
Waterman for 10 year, after that AMI Is
alive today.
Another time IA workman in a dlf-
terent part Of the mill named sannenan
Was caught III a ing belt by a fell apron
he Wore, and before the works could be
stopped he WAS whirled seven times
around the p~ulleys. striking the ceiling
with Tremendous force each time. He
was taken mp for dead, | examined him
before the doctor came. and there wasn't
even thu sim IT ali abrasion or mark oil
his body. Ten minutes later. when the
doctor came. he was a. black as coal all
over. There wasn't a spot on him that
was not di-cnlpred. The doctor exam
med the man carefully, and to his
amazelnent found that there was not a
broken anywhere about him. His
Were 50 slight that he was at
again within two days. Yet he
mad passed seven times through a space
the pulley and the beam not
over seven inches wide. !,
Once the dam of one of our mills be-
So clogged with logs that they in
,erfered with the water power. It was
Necessary to release the jam or shut down
he mill. The work would necessarily
'ndanger the lives and limbs of all who i,
'ngaged in il. and volunteers were asked !,
or, handsome extra pay being offered.
Plenty of men We're ready to take the .
isks, among them Pat O'Brien, an Irish !
nan, 81 years old. He insisted on being
of the gan and Joined it against the
'rotest Of the superintendent.
The work Of releasing the log Jam
sent Il right until the key log that held
be main jam was to be removed. There
~ the danger. The key was removed.
nd the men made a wild dash to escape
rush. They all got out of the way but
among them the old freshman, Pat
|Brien. These four Were caught among
ne logs and Went over the falls, a sheer
escent Of IS feet. Men and logs went
yer together, and everybody supposed
nat the men would be ground to atoms.
a most astonishing thing happened,
n falling a number Of logs fell On end
! . group. their upper ends topping to-
forming an almost perfect tent, OF
eaked hut, with the down stream side
pen. The men had escaped injury, not
from the logs in the fall, but from
be tremendous plunge itself. and it was
. they landed IL the water below that TIM
emit of logs formed with them beneai4
s shelter. This saved Them from being
by The water that plunge
own from the great height.
There was constant danger of tine
heller OF logs Delug forced from lis