The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-01-24


Il stepped into the engineroom.
IN the bend OF the pipe from the
boiler was bleeder' to carry of the
condensation. Out of this wavered
the blue, dry steam. Kissing shrilly.
ION passed into the factory. where
six big square steam cookers were
sizzling Every minute expected to
hear the boiler blow off with roar;
for with that fire the pressure must
soon reach hundred. But listened
in vain. At last went up to the
second story, where fifteen or twenty
men and boys were soldering cans
Uncle Dukes bench was near a win
dow at the farther end.
"The room was full of fun. Uncle
Duke had appeared that morning in
a new pair of trousers striped black
and white. Everybody was joking
him, and he was giving back little
better than he got.
Il looked down from rear window
on the fiat gravel roof of the boiler
shed. In the middle was sag more
than foot deep. A rafter had evil
IDENTIFY given way. Suddenly / felt
weak and shaky; that hollow must
be pretty nearly over the safety
valves! What if the roof was holding
them down so that the boilers could
now blow off!
1T wouldn't do to start a panic
among the workers My first duty
was to see that the steam didn't get
above hundred.
mo man with so bad sprain ever
made quicker time down a fight Of
stairs. danced into the boiler-room;
the gage-needles stood at one hun
dred and five!
Leaning short ladder against
one boiler, climbed the rounds, UNI
til l could see over its top. A rafter
lay directly across the safety-valves;
| they wouldn't have blown off at a
thousand pounds!
Perhaps my knees didn't wabble
! as / backed down that ladder, yelling
for Joe! In he ran from the engine
room.
Haul your fires, quick!' l shouted,
pointing to the cages. He gave one
look and his copper face turned a
notified gray. He jumped for the
lever which turns the CRATE over and
pulled it toward him. The two-foot
bed of hot Goals clattered into the
ash-pan.
81 hurried out through the engine
room. Everybody must get away
from the. factory at once. | shouted
at the top of my lungs:
The boiler may burst any min
ute! Out Of this for your lives!
''You can believe there was STAN
pede. The workers dropped every
thing, and scuttled from the shop and
sheds, some so badly frightened that
they screamed, others so much worse
frightened that they couldn't.
81 limped back into the boiler-room.
Boys and men in the second story
were rushing helter-skelter for the
stairs. Crack! went a floor board.
For a minute I thought the whole
crowd was coming through on our
heads I Then heard them shutting
down the steps outside.
"Just as thought that all were out
I heard heavy feet running above I'm
Gle Duke had at first thought of jump
ing from a window, but had changed
his mind on seeing the way to the
stairs clear at last. He came on the
jump, landed on the cracked board,
and smashed through. The floor
caught him under the armpits, and
there he hung. kicking and yelling;
40 boys, get me outl Take me
down before the boiler bustsl'
IF 1t hadn't been for him, Joe and
would have run that minute, for we
held our lives in our hands. But we
couldn't leave him hanging there
helpless, so we began to rake out the
fires on the bricks, l had forgotten
all about my sprained ankle.
"The ceiling was ten feet high, and
Uncle Duke dangled right over the
hearth. his heels on a level with our
heads. We worked like beavers, dodg-
ing his kicking legs, and paying no
attention to his yells for help. It
would have taken several minutes to
extricate him, aud By that time prob
ably either the boilers would have
burst or the danger would be over.
THE needles climbed-One hundred
and n-eight-would they
never stop! A boiler, like chain,
Is no stronger than its weakest spot,
and at any second some rusted plate
might give way All this time Uncle
Duke was yelling the bluest kind Of
murder, and kicking his striped legs