The Iola register., 1902-06-27
WORK. OF HoUsE-wRECK ING.
A Trade I'm which sISiII md Expes
rience Count for Much in the
Salvage.

"Housewrecking, said dealerin Sec
ond-hand building materials, according
to the New York Sun, "has come to bd
a trade which men follow steadily
just as they do any other employ
ment, working at it the year round
and year in and year out.
There are some hundreds of house,
wreckers, take them altogether, in
New York, men who are constantly
engaged in pulling down buildings or
in handling the secondhand mate
rial, and in all the various branches
of this work skill and experience
count, as they do in any work.
ut might seem as though any man
that has strength enough for it could
go into house with crowbar and
rip up the floor, and so he could, but
an unsklled and inexperienced man
would split and splinter the stuff
and make it useless for anything but
kindling wood, while a capable man
would take up flooring, tongued and
grooved stuff. it might be, in the
same time, without iniuring It, get
ting IL up in such condition that it
could be sold again for flooring.
"One way of doing the work would
result in loss TO the dealer in mate
rial who had contracted to remove
the building, and the other in a
profit. So, while II might look as
If the work of demolishing a build
| ing was being carried on without n
thought of anything but getting it
down and out of the way, as n mat
ter of fact care ~ constantly exer-
cised to get the stuff out in such con-
dition that il can be used again and
so can be sold again.
"1n pulling down walls, and that
sort of thing, there is n call not only
for strength and skill, but for courage
and nerve as well. Housewrecking is OF
course hazardous employment. and
J the rates of insurance on those en-
| gagged in II are high.
"The beginners at this work start
on the ground level knocking the
plaster off bricks, carrying out stuff,
and so on, and piling bricks, and
that sort of thing. From this they
get into bar work and up onto the
various floors of building at work
of one sort and another. and finally
onto the walls.
"At first in the various employ
ments in the business above ground
they work where there are still re-
naming floors. or at least floor
beams. but coming gradually, If they
are able TO do the work. to standing on
the top of bare and unprotected
wall, where an ordinary and incXpe-
rienced man would have difficulty in
keeping his balance at all. but where
the housewrecker not only does that
but works away all the time with q
crowbar.
"But not even every housewrecker
is up to that 10y any means. Some
men, in fact, never get above the
ground.
"Take. for instance, the case of {
high wall standing alone, after fire
and it might be actually moving
when the wind struck it. Out of 20t
men there would be only two oi
three men who could walk along ant
work upon the top Of this wall, anC
these men would be daredevils.
"Housewreckers work for on,
; concern and another as opportunit!
: offers; one concern may have il
hand at one time but little tearing
down, while another has n lot of j
going on, with n consequently in
creased demand for wreckers. Blu
the big dealers in secondhand ma
( terials aim to keep all their bes
} men at any rate permanently EN-
ployed,"