Evening journal., 1906-08-02

electric cars Of the big cities, drivers Of
ambulances and FIRE engines-in fact Of
most any kind Of a vehicle, chaunreurs OF
big power motors, navigators. Of airships,
etc, etc.
Unusual Occupations.
And this mention Of airships brings Il
mind a list OF unusual occupations-occu
pations that are exceedingly dangerous,
but are participated in by very few peo-
pie. Aeronauts and airship men like San.
tos Dumont and Roy Knabenshue ara
among them; Barney Oldheld, Webb Jay
and several other professional automobile
racers. the men who handle wild animals
at ZOOS and menageries and the broncho
busters Of the Western plains. The soldieE
In war time takes a good many risks for
his s15.60. but he fails to face the almost
certainty Of death that confronts the cir.
Gus performer every time he loops the
loop on a bicycle OF leaps the gap on an
automobile. The men who repair dan
gerous steeples and the divers who 90
down where MeGinty is supposed to be
Illuminating at the bottom Of the sea; the
bridge jumpers who leap for fame and
cash, and the circus tumblers and ath-
ical feats, the trainers OF wild beasts-all
as carelessly take their lives In theiE
hands and run as many risks as does the
man who makes living by blasting rock
or shooting oil wells.
Every shop that has machinery in ie
presents certain dangers to the workmen.
out they, having become used to the buzs
and hum OF the grinding wheels and
whirring belts, are totally unconscious OF
their danger until mangled by their Iron
servant. The tight-rope walker at a cir.
Gus thinks no more OF the danger he
runs than did the packer In a powder
mill, who was found calmly smoking his
cigar IN the midst Of enough stun to
send the entire Russian Army to heaven
OF wherever 1t deserved to 70. He had
lighted the cigar after lunch and forgot
TO put IL out when be entered the fac
4 tory. Men become familiar with the dam
| gers that surround them and forget
about them until II is too late Doctors
and nurses, for instance. think no more
/ OF entering a smallpox infested house than
/ you or | do Of crawling into bed at night
Though, perhaps the most dangerous
occupation there is-that OF healing and
caring for the sick-those who enter IL
thanks to their professional and scientific
training, take almost unconsciousIy, and
certainly mechanically, precautions that
effectively protect them nine times out OF
ten. Particularly dangerous along thiR
line IS the work OF the men in the bac
THEOLOGICAL Offices in the health depart
ments of all big cities, who examine the
| spittle Of supposed consumptives and the
culture of diphtheria patients, looking for
germs OF the disease. They usually wear
| rubber gloves. an antiseptic coat and a
81" mask
II alone IN the waking hours does
danger beset. Somnambullsts frequently
arise from their beds and walk from
roofs or plunge down elevator shafts.
Only recently a well-known ballplayer got
up from his berth on a coast line boat
and, mistaking a direction, walked into
the waters He was never seen again
and bis body was not even recovered.
Even so useful and harmless an article as
a plate OF false teeth can, like the worm,
turn and take human life. Several peo-
pie within the past few years have been
choked to death while in bed owing "a
the fact their false teeth slipped down
their throats. A wOman-a nervoun
sleeper. by the way-while dreaming
wound herself up in the bedsheet and
smothered herself. She was found dead
next morning. A little child. trying to
crawl through the Stats in the side OF
Its bed, got all its body through but its
head and hanged itself. Fires fire.
ger from this source. except In the most
modern Of buildings, is considerable. Nc
man knows when he may go 10 bed and
forget to turn the gas completely of, thus
courting death by asphyxiation. In one
week the papers Of the country showed
that "a individuals were killed by eitheg
Illuminating, natural or coal gas while
they slept Every day brings TO notice
from somewhere or other at least one in.
stance where individuals or whole families
have narrowly escaped a termination OF
existence from this cause. To revert "a
favorite theme OF the comic papers. a
boy engaged for the purpose, by watch.
ing the papers from all over the country,
discovered three cases in a month where
people were killed by the closing OF
folding beds, while one man actually
suffered death as the result Of the col.
lapse Of an ordinary old-fashloned bed
stead.
But despite It all, the last federal cen.
sus shows that one person in every 100000
population, or to be exact, 1904 people
were living at the age of 100 years OF
! over. SAMUEL WILLIAMS HIPPLER.