The Cairo bulletin., 1905-11-22
REMAINS BURIED
IN A STEEL INC0T
Strange Funeral Service Over
Forty Ton Chunk OF Steel
GRAVE BACK or SHOP
I'M WHICH MEN WORKED AT MID.
VALE PLANT--THE COM
PANY LOOKED AFTER
THE oBSEQUlES.


/ Philadelphiak Nov 2i.--A funeral
without parallel in modern times
took place at the Mldvale steel works
this afternoon, when a forty-ton ingot
OF steel, repres enting all that rema MS
Of the two workmen who were cree
mated in the molten mass more than
a week ago. was buried with cere-
monies as impressive as though the
bodies themselves were eng con-
| signed to the grave
As the snrplced priests recited the
| last rites of the Catholic church over
The ingot every wheel IN the works
was still Engines that have run six
months W thout single breathing
/ spall were stationary Long rows Of
machines which have night and day
filled the air with chaos Of noises
were silent
Big trip-hammers which send heir
1 crushing blows ringing out seven days
/ each week were permitted 10 rest
upon their anyils, and even the breath
ing Of the boilers pant ng softly under
their forced restraint, seemed hushed
and hesitating
II was an awed silence Of perhaps
an hour that cost one of the conntry's
greatest industries thousands of dol
lars Tor while the services were being
said over lifeless. forbidding. cold
mass of steel. orders aggregating mil
lions waited.
Last Fr day a week John Forkin
and Joseph Gorda, employees of the
steel works. were assigned TO dig a
pit in front of one of the. big furnaces
into which the liquid metal was TO be
run. They were working Is feet below
the yawning mouth of the furnace
when II burst and a torrent of boiling
steel poured down upon them. A
stified cry warned other employees III
the catastrophe.
When sngrowful circle gathered
around the pit lake of red glowing
metal there was not a single Ign
of he two workmen. Flesh. cloth ng.
he wooden handles of their tools and
even the hardened ste implements
themselves had been cremated in an
instant. Terror spread over the the
ring of swarthy faces that glared into
the boiling. bubbling mass.
It took many hours for the mass %
cool and a conference OF officials of
the company decided that the ingot,
although 1t doubtless did not contain
I single tangible ounce of the ashes
of the cremated men, should be buried
with every rte due to the bodies them
selves
A big pill was dug In the yard OF the
works. Huge cranes lifted and tugged
aud hauled the 40 tons Of metal out
IF the casting room and lowered II in
o the freshly made grave. The rela-
tiyes OF the two men were advised
that the services would be conducted
over the mass today
The services were in both Polish
aud English, as the workmen were OF
different natlonalities. but Of the same
faith Orders were issued early In the
week by the company prohibiting
spectators from entering the yard.
and when Rev Father Mclaughlin. OF
ST. Stephens church Broad and Bnt.
Ter streets, began the services a crowd
# many hudreds of curious men and
women swarmed outside the gates.
Gorda's two sisters were the only
mourners. as Forkinn left no one in
this city. A Polish priest accompanied
the sister TO perform the Polish cere-
mony Every workman who had duty
at the shops for the day. stood. hat In
hand. on three 5 des Of the inclosure
and the silence. as the first words Of
the ceremony We're spoken, WIS so in
tense as to almost be felt
There were no tears. there was no
1all. there We're no flower. Those
present stared down into deep pit az
= black mass Of steel as though un-
able to grasp the significance OF iis
grewsome burden.
The final sentences Of the Polish ser
vices spoken. planks we've laid across
the chssm. The workmen went about
heir tasks aud soon the busy hum of
.ndns'ry was once again at It's height.
Tho fact that no earth was thrown
In upon he ingot has aroufed sus-
pic on among some Of the supersti-
ious workmen thar the ingot is clan
iesiinely 70 be re-melted. II represents
! value Of about $4,000. and gossip
.bout the shops has Il that the com
,any viii not permit 50 much 10 re-
nan in the ground merely as mat
ar of sentiment
In their childish wav the uorsmcn.
lost of whom arc foreigners. declare
bar II this IS done the vengeance Of
be metal viii once AKA n assert Itself
nd will add a new tragedy 10 its al
eady remarkable record
They prophecy that Il rolled into
rmor plate woe vili befaH the proud
aTtle ship that has it boiled to her
.des- that If made into rails the nv-
x train viii meet disaster; that il