The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-03-15
WORK WITH DEATH
PeriIous CallingS Where Life Is
Always In Danger.
HOW MEN LOSE THEIR NERVE
Sudden Peril often Causes Them to
drop Their Goats" and Then Their
Courage Never Returns-A Loss of
Heart and Race For Life.

Human nature becomes callous to
the daily association with peril. But
now and then something tears away
the callous spot and leaves the raw,
naked nerve exposed.
Structural steelworkers run many
chances of losing their nerve-"drop-
ping their goats they call it. Only
the other day one of them who had
never known fear was standing on the
outer edge of a lofty steel framework
and CHANGED to look down into the
street. He saw a trolley car run over
a newsboy. Instantly his mind was
swamped with thoughts of death. He
stretched himself fat on the beam and
crawled to an island of planking
When a man once does that on top of
a skyscraper he has finished his high
work.
They never come back" said an old
foreman. Its pity, too, for they
can never get quarter the pay at an
other job that they did at this before
IUey lOOkeu uOWu anu saw ucath'
Much of the worlds work is done by
men who have to keep their nerve in
the face of peril. Sometimes a man
will not go to pieces until after a long
run of danger. Primarily the cause
may be fatigue or bad liver or bad
nerves, but when 1t is all over he de-
cides he has had enough and seeks an
other vocation.
In the places where high explosives
are manufactured the men are subject
ed to a constant nervous strain. They
get used to 1t. like everything else,
but when an accident comes there Is
sure to be some one among the sur
vivors who drops out OF the ranks Of
the workers.
In n plant where more dynamite,
nitroglycerin, guncotton and other
pentup destruction are made than any
where else in the world nearly thou
sand lives depend more or less on a
thermometer.
In one step in the manufacture Of
nitroglycerin it is a quivering. sullen
fluid in big caldron brilliantly lighted
by electricity. Glycerin is continually
sprayed on the tons of heated acids
within. AS 1t mixes the glycerin
seizes the available nitrogen from the
acids, and the mass becomes nitro
glycerin. Round the caldron man
moves swiftly. noiselessly, dividing his
attention between the contents and a
thermometer that extends down into
the hot acids. The temperature Of the
mass must not rise above so degrees.
Glycerin has many vagaries that
have been never been explained. If,
through one Of them, the temperature
rises toward the danger point the first
thing the man on watch does is to
send more cool solution through the
pipes that coil snakewise round the
giant caldron. If the mercury in the
tube continues to rise he shuts of the
inflow OF glycerin. If this does not
have the desired effect he turns on
compressed air. so as to throw the
mass into violent agitation. II this
He opens a valve and empties the
charge into the drowning tank" Then
he makes a dash for safety.
Only few men who have ever been
Immediately exposed to explosions
have lived TO tell about them after
ward. Those who have escaped and
have continued in their hazardous en-
ployment are thereafter known only
by their first names. There are only
few of these. The other survivors
have sought other work where the
risks are less. Said one OF them:
you can't trust the stuff any more
than you could a sleeping cobra. /
was at work one day around the mix
ing tank and things were going as
usual when suddenly noticed that the
mercury in the thermometer was creep
ing up toward so. Quick as a fash
saw that something had gone wrong.
and. one after another, / turned on the
cold. shut off the glycerin and turned
thing more anxiously than l did that
thermometer. But the mercury kept
on climbing. Then made a grab for
the quick opening valve so as to drown
the stun. One of the officers of the
company was in the room. l had yell
ed at him to run. But he stood there
as cool as a cucumber, saying that he
didn't think there was much danger.
As soon as | opened the valve TO let
the stuff OF I made a jump through
the window. There were plenty OF
emergency doors, but didn't want to
take an extra step. The boss went out
by a door. The fraction of n second
that I saved by taking the window
probably added a good many years TO
my life. / landed on the ground and
was running with all my might when
| was lifted of my feet and hurled at
least 100 yards. / escaped with a
broken leg. The boss, who had run In
the opposite direction. was picked up
dead. There was hardly a mark on
him.
The explosion started in the drown
ing tank. The stuff settled at the bot
tom. where agitation was impossible
What sort Of n noise did Ii maker
Like the roar Of dozen tornadoes and
a score Of crashes Of thunder all com
bined. I've lived on a farm ever since.
and when The Fourth Of July comes
around l jump every time n cannon