Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-12-07
WHERE DEATH LIES IN WAIT.
SmokeIess Powder Mills Most Danger
Gus of BUILDINGS.

The volcano grumbles and rumbles
and quakes. giving ample warning be-
bore belching forth it's torrents Of fire
and lava. But the powder mill is like
gigantic bomb filled with human
creatures. loaded with tons upon tons
of nitroglycerine and gun-cotton,
primed and ready to explode from a
score Of known and unknown reasons.
Sometimes when a danger house
blows up. tearing men within to atoms,
rending the building into matchsticks
and gouging a gaping hole thirty feet
across into rocks and gravel 1t is i'm
possible to tell even what caused the
accident.
Other times the disaster is traceable
to the carelessness or disobedience OF
an employee. Occasionally, says APP
pleton's Magazine, catastrophe is due
to an unavoidable accident like the
mere stubbing Of toe.
Whatever the cause, when the crash
comes 1t Is the most inconceivably
frightful ordeal to which the human
nervous system can be subjected.
How human creatures can be In
duced to take the risks Of working In
such an earthly inferno, ready to burst
on the instant in all its horror, may
seem past understanding; still thou
sands of men work in these mills scat
tered throughout the United States.
the washed nitrate cotton must be
dried absolutely, shares with the nj
troglycerine building the reputation Of
being the most hazardous on the face
Of the earth.
The guncotton drying house, con-
tanning as much as five tons of the
frightful explosive, a half teaspoonful
of which would be enough to blow you
into smithereens,. stands isolated on
pillars above a marsh 400 yards from
the nearest building.
Nothing except the portentous word
Danger" painted in big black letters
over the entrance distinguishes this
house from the other structures. yet as
you gaze at it's very isolation you ap-
proach with deep respect.
Only one person Is permitted in this
house. an Italian; medium sized,
chunky man he Is, dark and swarthy,
with black eyes and a blacker mus
tache. He is a man Of years Of expe-
rience. so trained to caution that 1t has
hoh
nature.
The man in charge will not permit
you inside this house no matter how
favored a visitor you may be. The
most he will do is to open the door Of
one of the drying rooms to give you a
peep within.
He is married and has five children.
No, he isn't afraid. II he were he
He knows, Of course. that II he vio-
lates any Of certain rules he and his
house are going to leave together. but
he has no intention Of violating pre-
CAUTIONS. He never has been blown up
yet and he does not intend to be. Even
his family has ceased worrying about
him.
You notice he Is wearing rubber
soled tennis shoes wherein he walks
silent and ghostlike. AS he opens the
door Of one of the drying rooms, heat
ed to a temperature Of 110 degrees, a
breath of hot air from within strikes
you.
You see what appears to be chunks
and slabs and wads of a dirty white
blotting paper heaped in metal pans
two by three feet and set in series
of spacious racks like so many big pig
eonholes.
Even now there Is nothing in the ap-
pearance of the stuff to prevent you
from throwing 1t out of your way as
If 1t were an old piece of paper, and
you wonder afterward whether after
all this seeming rubbish can be the
dreaded explosive a mere fifty pounds
Of which could send an $4,000 ton
Dreadnaught to the bottom.
Yet the slightest sudden jar against
even a pinch Of this insignificant ap-
pearing substance and there would be
a flash and q crash that would shake
the earth for miles around, and moth
ing but q pail Of smoke drifting sky
ward would remain Of house or man.
The slightest grain Of sand undeFfoot
to cause friction against dust invisible
TO the naked eye. or a mere spark,
knocked perhaps from the head of g.
carpet tack, and the house and man
would be annihilated.
A spark Of static electricity Of the
sort with which you can light a gas
Jet by spark leapng from the knuok!e
of a finger after sliding your feet across
carpet. and you would have vanished
tracelessly. blown into atoms too small
to find with q microscope,
Owing to this deadly sensitiveness,
every precaution for safety is taken by
the man in this building. The floors
are covered with rubber sheets fasten-
ed by brass-headed tacks to prevent
danger of sparks. Dustpans and uten-
sils are Of brass or copper,
When the panfuls Of cotton are
transported In or out Of the place the
floors are covered with sheets Of can
vas to be removed and shaken clear OF
possible dust outside the building,
Twice a day the floors are sorupulously
brushed. In short, every conceivable
precaution Is taken to prevent eatas-
trophe.
What is this smokeless powder? 1t
is the modern high explosive which
has superseded the old style black
powder. even as electricity has super
seeded gas, and which Is used not only
in the field for sporting purposes. but
is used exclusively for the shoulder
arms Of the army and the navy as we'll
as for the machine guns, the rapid fire
guns and the huge rifles on the decks
of our battleships and within the
works Of our fortifications.
Practically 1t is nothing but mix
ture Of guncotton and alcohol and eth
er, or acc ne. or else acetOne with gun
cotton and nitrogiycerineShe two