The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-06-25
IN AN IRON MILL.
First Days Experience of n workman
at Homestead.

at Homestead.
McClures Magazine.
When / went to the superintendent and
asked for work he said. What can you
Anything. / am large, strong active
and willing. have been about machinery
all my life and want work badly"
he touched button and a boy appeared.
snow this man down 10 the converting
mill and ask Fred if he can do anything
Tor him. Good morning" he said. and my
put on my new overals and jumper
and followed my guide down through the
of stock. raw material. rolls, etc. and
came at last TO the huge converting mill
The superintendent was found and the
word delivered He glanced. at me mo-
ment' then said, not unkindly, You look
good and strong; jump in and help those
feIlows there on those vessels"
hardly knew what he meant, but
through the smoke and steam / saw some
men beneath one of the vessels, or con-
yerters, working with sIedges and bars to
ponderous and massive cranes, the i'm
mense vessels all covered with black scale
and SCOT. the flying sparks, the roaring
flames. the lights coming and going. the
air filled with steam and smoke, and final
ly the ,shril and deafening noise awed,
than should have liked to acknowledge.
seized the sledge lying near and
:. Jumped np m We at last got out the
hold the converter together and by the
help of a hydraulic ram took the bottom
off. This left a white-hot opening eight
feet in diameter and about six feet from
the ground. under which we must work.
1t seemed to me as though the skin my
My clothes even steamed and smoked. How
L wished 1 had been anywhere under the
sun good old Sob rather than under this
fiendishly hot sun hanging so very near
us.
When we had the new bottom on we
went up to the platform above the con-
might. be with ball stun
A shrieking engine passed by me and
of iron. Then the blast was turned on,
and cloud of yellow and saffron flame,
mixed with sparks and small particles of
converter into the air. One of the men
caught me by the arm and pulled me away
riously burned for 1 wsss not expecting
the flame.
BY noon was so tired 1 could hardly
stand, but stuck to ii for all was worth.
During the afternoon | frequently fell
down because my knees were too weak to
hold me up. My hands were burned and
blistered, and my new overalls were filled
with holes burned by flying sparks About
O'Clock in the afternoon, while working
stream of red fire run over the edge of
the platform and strike in the midst of
some workmen. As it touched the wet
ground it exploded with a report like that
of a cannon. The molten metal flew in
every direction. Many workmen were
burned more or less severely, and in the
still to think of 1.-THE steel came down
directly the head and back. We got
him out of the the steam and carefully h and
AS we placed him on the stretcher the
burned flesh dropped from his bones
seemed as If it would have been utterly
Impossible for me to live in that mill an
other hour i dragged myself to my room
and went to bed at once. All that night
tossed e and and tnTned pns hng
the last. / was tortured by thousand
grotesque fancies, and by the picture of the
poor fellow who was burned so badly. At
last l got into an uneasy browse, but 1
felt as If / had not been asleep a minute
when my alarm clock announced to me
that it was 445 and that i must get up to
rising and going to the mill Every bone
and Sinew seemed as if made of red-hDt
iron and the joints as If rusted together
1t a dark. foggy morning 1 found
when, having desperately got UP enough
will-power TO dress. l tumbled out to my
boarding house. The Pittsburg smoke and
fog are proverbial, but / really think that
on that particular morning one might have
cut tangible chunks out of the black, wet
air. The board walks in Homestead are
never in repair, and on the way to the
mills l stumbled along through mud and
stones, over boards and into holes, carry
ing In my hand my tin dinner bucket
which contained my midday meal.
On my first Sunday we refined the con-
verter. and it became my duty to stand up
in the inverted vessel and hand up the ball
stuff and limestone with which to refine
it. The vessel had been left to cool simply
over night, and / suppose the temperature
of the dry air inside CT Ii stood at about 40
degrees 1 worked rs hard as / could. but
near noon / tainted, fer the first time IN
my life
My experience at Homestead was the ex-
perience of the majority of workmen there.