The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-10-28
MOST DANGEROUS BUILDING

TT HERE is only one word hair-rais-
 ing'-to apply to the article in Ap- pletons for November on Life in a Smokeless Powder Mill" The author. "A. w. Rolker, says:
 Working in a smokeless powder mill is like sitting on the lid of Vesuvius, only more dangerous. Whereas the volcano grumbles and rumbles and quakes, the earth giving ample warning to those above before belching forth it's torrents of fire and lava, the powder mill is like a gigan- tic bomb filled with human creatures, loaded with tons upon tons of nltro-glyc- erne and gun cotton, primed and ready to explode from a score of known and un- known reasons Sometimes when dan ger house blows up, tearing men within to atoms, rending the building into match sticks and gouging gaping hole thirty feet across into rocks and gravel. 1t is im- possible to tell even what caused the ac- cident Other times the disaster Is trace able to the carelessness or disobedience of an employe. Occasionally catastrophe is due to an unavoidable accident, like the mere stubbing of toe.
 'Whatever the cause, when the crash comes 1t Is the most inconcevably fright ful ordeal to which the human nervous system can be subjected.
 How human creatures can be induced to take the risks of working in such an earthly inferno, ready to burst on the in- stant in all its horror, may seem past un- derstanding; still thousands upon thou sands of men work in these mills scat tered throughout the United States.
 ''The gun-cotton drying house, where the washed nitrated cotton must be dried ab- solutely, shares with the nitro glycerine building the reputation of being the most hazardous on the face of the earth.
 "The gun-cotton drying house, contain ing as much as five tons of the frightful explosive, a half-teaspoonful of which would be6enough to blow you into smith ereens, stands isolated on pillars above q marsh 400 yards from the next 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 aat it's very isolation you approach with deep respect. Only one person is permit ted in this house. an Italian; a medium sized, chunky man he is, dark and swarthy, with black eyes and a blacker mustache. You are surprised that this position of trust, requiring cool-headed- ness and the most faithful attention to
 
 he is a man of years of experience. so trained to caution that it has become habit exercised like second 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 If he were. he would not work where he is working. He knows, of course, that If he violates any of cer- tain rules he and his house are going to leave together; but he has no intention of violating precautions. 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 wear ring rub ber-soled tennis shoes, wherein he walks silent and ghost-like As he opens the door of one of the drying rooms heated to a temperature of no degrees, a breath of hot air from within strikes you.s You see what appear to be chunks and slabs and wads of dirty white plotting paper heaped in metal pans two by three feet, and set in series of spacious racks like