The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1897-04-17
A POISON FACTORY,
)SE OF TIE STRANGEST ESTsE-
LlSHMENTS IN TUE WORLD.
1t is Dangerous Even to Uss the
Power CT Smel!ing-Workmen's
Horrible Longing-lntoxicat
Effects of Ether Swallowing.
hacked away behind o wilder
. ness of gigantic warehouses
and &umh1a 1oun taroroDkr


6 in remote suburb OF South
London is one Of tho strangest estab.
lishments in the world. 1t is factory
but what factory! From morning
till night its great chimneys are con.
tinuously belching forth clouds of
fetid'smelliug smoke. Occasionally
great column of steam will shoot high
into the air; not honest, white steam,
but purple and green and yellow. re-
minding one OF some bloated and
gigantic serpent. During the hours
Of darkness lis location is betrayed to
the most casual observer by the red
glare in the sky from its innumereale
furnaces.
Tho massive gates leading to this
strange establishment are locked aud
jealously guarded, for inside them Turk
danger and death to the unwary tres
passer. Poisons of such terrific
strength as would suffice to send nm
army of men to eternity in the frac.
tional part of second lie around
loose. and are handled with as little
apparent care as If they were the most
harmless substances in the world.
AS has already been intimated, this
factory is a dangerous place to visit.
1t is not enough for the casual conan
to be careful where he steps AMI to re-
train from touching. He must, in ad.
dition, refrain from using his olfactory
powers without special permission, for
there are poisons there which it is
death even to smell. One OF these is
the pure or anhyarous prussic acid
terrible preparation, which is seldom
or never seen outside chemical
laboratory. The original discoverer
OF this, the dead]iest Of all known
poisons, was stricken dead through
accidentally inhalins its fumee, aud
scores of other deaths have happened
FROM the same cause. It is this anhy.
drouS acid from which the ordinary,
and infinitely weaker, prussic acid of
commerce is made, by diluting it with
from l;lnety-fve to ninety seven per
cent. Of water. Even in this form,
however, it is sufficiently strong to
cause almost instant death. even when
taken in exceedingly minute doses.
"Next toanhydrous acid, remarked
the proprietor of the works in ques.
ton, while plotting tho writer around
the factory ono day recently, "thc
most deadly stuff we make is cyanide Of
potassium. Last year we turned out
over one thousand tons of it, and, five
grains being fatal dose, it follows
that our output of this chemical alone
would have been sufficient to kill q.
100000 people. Altogether, we man
ufactu1e, in the course of each twelve.
month, enough poison to dcpopulate
tho United Kingdom"
While We were conversing we had
entered one of the workrooms, where
number Of men were engaged round
sort of gigantic witch's cauldron,
containing over huudredweight of
molten cyanide. And ever and anon
phantom face, cnyelopca in IN IN.
canny-looking glass mask, pcering
through the thick unctuous fumes,
right into the heart of the horrible
mixture.
In another room were tons upon
tons OF the finished product, looking
for all the world like white cryetal.
LIKED sugar.
ut looks good enough to eat" re.
marked joc,'larly.
"Ah," replied my guide, gravely,
'that is just oue Of the dangers we
have to guard against. For some in.
eSplicsble reason, cyanide Of potassium
exercises a remarkable fascination
over the men engaged in its manufac.
ture. They ore haunted by constant
and eYer.recurring desire to eat it.
They are perfectly alive to the fact,
however, that to give way to the cray
ing would mean instant death, and are
consequently usually able to resist it.
But not always. During the time
have been here three Of our best and
stesdiest worl1men have committed
suicideinthis strange manner, impelled
thereto apparently by no cause save
this mysterious, horrible longing.
myself have felt the same strange lust
when have been long exposed to tho
cyanide fumes, and have had to leave