The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-16
BATCH OF ASBESTOS STORIES
Man With a Mine of Information AS
tonishes Another.
CNeW York Times)

An elderly man, with a gray mus
tache, looked up from plate of spa
ghetti which he was eating in a res
taurant. and spoke to three others:
Say he SAID what do you people
know about asbestos"
Two of his companions preserved a
modest silence, but the third, who was
little man, spoke up
4 know all about asbestos, he said.
Do, eh?" queried the man with the
spaghetti on his plate. Then how
longs it been in use?"
WELL said the little man, hesitat-
mgly, ''p'raps thirty years"
You're away off. OF course you did
not know that Charlemagne had an as
bestos tablecloth?"
Who's Charlemagne?"
We'll" said the elderly man Charlie
magne was king Of the Franks and en-
peror Of the Romans about 1,1G0 years
ago. He was a great fighter, and own
ed an asbestos tablecloth.'
Don't believe it,, said the little man.
Il never heard OF asbestos until the
centennial
We'll. Charlemagne had the cloth all
right" said the elderly man He used
to astonish his friends from the inter-
Tor by throwing the tablecloth into the
fire after dinner, and, of course, it
didn't burn. Asbestos became quite
fashionable after that for towels and
napkins. 1t saved laundry bills. All
a mans wife had to do was TO throw
the weeks wash into the stove and it
came out as clean as chalk''
"'Say," said the little man, incredu-
lousy, do you think you can string me
like that?"
It's So" declared the elderly man.
But, of course, you never heard that
Iff0r1i lit
purse?"
No: had he?" asked the little man,
with a sneer.
OF course he had. He took it over to
England with him, and sold it to a
man in Bloomsbury, London, for a big
sum-"
4 suppose said the little man, with
wink, that the EnSlishman was
friend of yours, and that you know his
name.''
No" replied the first man, q never
saw him. but he was called Sir Hans
Sloane, and he had a museum"
Dime museum" grinned the little
man
mot bit of it," smiled the elderly
man, goodnaturedly. 1T was a sure
enough museum. and, as a matter of
fact, it constituted the nucleus of the
British Museum. I dare say that Zen
there yet
The little man looked a little crest
fallen, but the elderly man consoled
him.
Don't worry" he said, there are lots
of people besides yourself who dire shy
on knowledge regarding asbestos. Ii
wasn't much used during recent cen
turtles. In 1876 an asbestos handker-
chief was shown to the ROYAL society
U h-- DT I,
had bought it<fTom a traveller on his
return from China. They called il sal
wool. DR.. Plot saturated the
handkerchief with oil and threw it into
a fierce charcoal Gre. The oil hurned
off, but the handkerchief remained in
tact. The Fellows of The society were
much interested, and were not greatly
SURPRISED when the price Of asbestos
in Chinese Tartary was quoted at $500
a Chinese ell. which isn't much more
than an English yard. It's likely that
the price had risen since the days of
the ancients. for those old fellows had
big sheets Of asbestos. which they
wound around corpses before crematng
theyn'
That's a long time ago." said the
little man, Sententiously.
We'll" continued the elderly man,
'"f you want to come down 20 later
years, there was a book published in
London, forty years ago. giving ac-
counts, among other things, Of remark
able experiments previously made at
Milan. in Italy, by the CheValier Al
DIM. who had used asbestos in the con-
struction Of q suit of fire p-9of armcr.
The coverings FOR arms. lc%s and booy
were of heavy cloth, which had been
soaked IN a strong solution of alum.
The helmet, gaUntlets and stockings
were of asbestos. Then there was an
overdress covering the body, Thighs
and feet, OF wire gauZe, twenty mesheS
to the inch. With this armor on men
stood on a big gridiron over a blazing
lire Cor ten minutes, and buried their
heads in piles of burning hay and shaw
ngs, but, nevertheless, they came out
lnharEed. They also handled bars
If white-hOt iron and did other things
which seemed cutie miraculous That
was over forty years ago.
We'll, said the little man, its hard
% believe that for several hundreds %
thousands OF years the world was so
'ull of chumDs that there wasn't rouisl
'or man smart enough - Utilize as
oestos. On the whole, l guess I'll go
IN doubling"
"AH right" returned the elderly man.
I've got $4,000 that says I'm right.
Perhaps your doubts are strong enough
o uphold a bet OF $40 against it :
But the little man wouldn't bet.